Archive for March, 2006

Don’t Mess with (the Alcohol Commission in) Texas.

Posted in SoForth on March 31st, 2006

If you are in a bar in Texas and you’ve had one too many, you could be arrested. ARRESTED FOR BEING DRUNK IN A BAR. Not for drunk driving, not for being drunk in public, but for just being drunk.

Who thought this was a good idea? Which of the state representatives said, “You know what we need? We need to catch the drunk drivers in the bar before they get behind the wheel!” and didn’t realize how idiotic - let alone Big Brother-ish - it sounds?

And who of his/her colleagues allowed it to become an enforceable law? What the Sam Hell is this world coming to? Isn’t “you can’t drink in a bar in Texas without fear of jail time” one of the last signs before the apocalypse?

Ron White would be in real trouble in his home state now.

Good Answer.

Posted in WhatNot on March 31st, 2006

Bias Magazine: “Who is the most dangerous thinker of all time?”

Emma Perez (Professor of Ethnic Studies, UC-Boulder): “Walt Disney.”

Ms. Perez just made my list of heroes.

Also found at Bias, Officially Licensed Meat Products.

And it’s pronounced “jizz’-nee,” by the way.

Evil.

Posted in WhatNot on March 31st, 2006

Another time waster taken, another not-so-surprising result.

Which Religion is Right for You?

Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Satanism! Before you scream, do a bit of research on it. To be a Satanist, you don’t actually have to believe in Satan. Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes. Do some research if you immediately think of the satanic cult stereotype. Your beliefs may also resemble those of earth-based religions such as paganism.

Satanism - 100%
atheism - 88%
agnosticism - 63%
Buddhism - 58%
Islam - 46%
Judaism - 33%
Paganism - 25%
Hinduism - 13%
Christianity - 4%

Years of Sunday school seem to have obviously had their effect on me, so now my intention is to get that last 4% out of my system. Then again, to be a Satanist, one must first be a Christian, no? I always thought they were two sides of the same religion coin, so to speak.

Since the Church of Satan doesn’t really believe in Satan as an entity, perhaps it’s time for a new name? How about the Hedonistic Church? Or the First Church of Doing Whatever the Fuck You Want?

And did you know that after Anton LaVey’s death in 1997, the church split into factions? How’s that for acting like a bunch of Christians?

Organized groups of humans frighten me.

Geek Fetish.

Posted in WhatNot on March 29th, 2006

Just when I ponder if I’m too much of a geek, someone comes along and makes me feel better about myself.

Gaming Now and Then

Star Wars, the Changes: Part One

Then there’s the kid who spent his Spring Break attempting to live in a Wal-Mart. Yep, no bikinis, bongs, and beers for this guy. Not now, and probably not EVER.

Oh we’re doomed as a race, we’re doomed as a race … c’mon, sing along!

Six Degrees.

Posted in WhatNot on March 28th, 2006

An old friend got in touch with me via MySpace this week. We’re talking someone I met via a BBS (specifically, The Garbage Dump BBS) in the early 90’s and with whom I partied for many years.

Turns out her son is now in a techno/darkwave/noise/industrial band. Yeah, weird, because I knew his mom back when I was mainly mundane and did goth/fetish on the side, not vice versa as I am now.

I listened to the cuts the band - EchosticBoyancy - has on their page and I have to tell you: They don’t suck. Actually, they’re pretty good. I think they have a distinctive sound which could actually go somewhere someday.

Other people have six degrees of separation; I usually have up to three.

Hot for Teacher.

Posted in WhatNot on March 28th, 2006

It’s official!

I’ll be a panelist on the Intro to BDSM seminar and I’m doing the House of Wax workshop at Convergence XII.

Back in the saddle again!

You Looked Better on MySpace.

Posted in WhatNot on March 28th, 2006

Have you seen the MySpace t-shirts at Hot Topic? My personal favorite has the title of this post on it.

The following list appeared in my bulletins over there and I just had to share it. I don’t know the author(s), so if you do, write me and I will give appropriate credit for it.

IF MYSPACE WAS REAL LIFE

You’d have a friend named Tom creepily following you around giving you bad news constantly.

At nights when you are asleep you would get people running in your room that you don’t know saying. “It’s 4 a.m., I can’t sleep, someone talk to me.”

Bands would go to your house and ask you to give them a listen because they see that you like a band they sound nothing like.

Anytime you walked into someones house they would have the same video or song playing all the time, non-stop, for three months straight.

You would look your very best at all times.

Some people would be holding their right arm out straight in front of them at all times.

There would be a lot of youthful looking 99 year olds.

Bands with 3 song demos could and would book stadium tours.

Most people would walk around with a full size mirror 2 feet in front of them.

Your driver’s license would have hearts around your name or quote from an emo song.

Blogs would be required reading and any random thought in your head would be shared with everyone.

People would inexplicably be stuck in their homes for hours unable communicate with the out side world because some asshole put up a large white wall in front of every door and window with a note attached saying “an unexpected error has occurred.”

Tila Tequila would know everyone in the whole world.

19 year old boys wouldn’t own shirts and 19 year old girls would not own pants.

Girls would always be posing, cheeks sucked in and lips puckered two feet off their face.

Your attraction to someone would be based on their favorite clothing label, their favorite band, and a survey.

All females would be bi and all males would drive import muscle cars.

The phrases “Yo,” “your hawt,” or “hit me back some time” would attract the opposite sex.

Lesbian women would not allow anyone with a penis within 50 yards of them, not even to deliver a pizza.

It would be no more unusual to see a man walking around displaying his erect, naked penis than it would be to see random women running around in a g-string w/nothing covering their breasts but their hands.

Everyone would make $100,000 a year or higher.

There would be alot of underage strippers in the world

Everywhere you would walk, an image of Angelina Jolie would be behind you.

Forbidden would actually be hot.

It wouldn’t be odd to have Brad Pitt in your circle of friends.

Hello Kitty would be a real person.

Conversations would sound like this: “How are you? sent.” “Good, how are you? replied.”

During a long conversation you’d have to say “Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: all right, well call me later.”

When it was time for bed you would say you’re “Undergoing Maintenance.”

You would have to paint your walls using Thomas Myspace Editor codes in your apartment.

Stewie from Family Guy would be your best friend.

In your circle of friends you would hang out with Scottsdale bars and clothing lines.

When someone said something funny, you’d actually roll around on the floor and laugh your fucking ass off.

“Friend Whoring” would be equal to STD’s.

People would run up to you, tell you a random message, and you’d have 17 minutes and 13 seconds to pass it along before a ghost came to your house and raped your dog.

That last one had me laughing out loud.

Have you noticed I never use web acronyms?

Classically Speaking.

Posted in WhatNot on March 25th, 2006

I got an 1865 printing of Paradise Lost on eBay a month or so ago. I wanted it for the Gustav Dore woodcut prints inside … that and I hadn’t read it since my first college English course, so I wanted to get into it again.

I am also getting back into MacBeth in a big way. Richard III has always been my favorite Shakespeare play, with the Scots tragedy running a very close second. These days I’m not so sure who is in front of whom.

Slings & Arrows, the Canadian TV show being run currently on Sundance, has a story line involving the superstitions and problems of staging the famously unlucky play.

MACBETH!

There, I said it.

The show also features two young actors playing Romeo & Juliet who have managed to bring back the passion of one of Shakespeare’s most overrated plays for me.

By the way, if you haven’t seen Al Pacino’s documentary Looking for Richard, I highly recommend it for both fans of the bard and those who don’t particularly enjoy him. It’s chock full of historical information and translation which helps to understand the play better. That and it’s worth seeing Pacino ask the man on the street about Shakespeare.

An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told. (MacBeth, Act IV, Scene IV)

Ghosts.

Posted in SoForth on March 25th, 2006

She sees. She may come to know us for who - and what - we are.

That doesn’t bother me. We know who we are. Those who aren’t ready blame us when they leave, but it should be noted that they are the ones who go.

We are still here. As the water grinds the stone, we rise and fall …

Deconstruction can be terrifying, at times ripping oneself to shreds to get at the truth. It only really hurts the first few times; You have to take your personal demons to lunch sometimes, he said. I did and I do regularly now. I don’t like them, but I’ve learned to live with them.

We are the only ones we know who have come this far. I’ve worried and waited and watched as those who showed promise took steps forward until the fear overtook them and they fled.

It’s not that I can see through people, it’s that most people choose to be transparent.

How many times have I said that and was never heard? Now I understand how he felt when I began to wipe my eyes and see him: Proud, strong, and content there was another like him in the world.

This is how I see her now.

Is it possible to find one so like me in a lifetime, let alone two? Is it not a miracle, then, to find three? The fourth of us may not be ready just yet, but how comforting to know there will be three to guide him where there was only one and then just two before.

We will wait. It’s what we do.

The date in May cannot come fast enough.

Quiz Time.

Posted in WhatNot on March 25th, 2006

I usually skip these things because they’re trite little time-wasters, but a) I can’t sleep and b) I’ve been discussing philosophy a lot with friends lately. So the subject matter and the title for What is Your World View intrigued me.

Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility.

Existentialist - 88%
Cultural Creative - 75%
Postmodernist - 69%
Modernist - 63%
Materialist - 63%
Idealist - 63%
Fundamentalist - 19%
Romanticist - 13%

I was rather surprised at the outcome in regards to my rating for Idealist. I mean 63%? Really?

I was also rated 80% slut, but that isn’t a surprise to anyone at all.