If I had 5 million bucks laying around, I know what I’d do with it today. I might even move to Jersey for it.

Here it is, my dream home and business.

Ain’t it a beaut?

And now, for your continued amusement, more random notes from the ether.

When they said, “That kind of work is beneath you,” did they have any idea how far you’d stoop?

Good to see you’re not waiting on … oops, spoke too soon.

It must be hard to realize you were just a tourist all along.

You’re not crazy. You just can’t handle your rage.

On again. Off again. On again. Off again. On again. Doesn’t it make your head spin? Is that why you keep going back - because you’re dizzy and don’t know better?

You still have a long way to go to your all-time low. Start digging.

Good to see the new project is just as successful as the last one was.

Passionate ambivalence. That’s why you can’t intimidate an elder Goth.

You’re not an addict. Cool. Neither am I.

Get your life together first, then find the easy way out.

If we haven’t talked in a decade or more and you post a snotty comment here, does it make a sound?

Did you quit because you wanted to or because you’re out of shit?

A history with someone is comforting, but I still don’t understand how you live without passion.

Has sharing the secrets changed anything?

You didn’t tell me because you knew what I’d say.

Are you sure that’s outright hatred? Because it looks a lot like envious admiration.

Power comes in many forms, but indifference provides none.

Some people are just magnets for the bizarre.

You’re almost done. It would be a shame to quit now.

Don’t take it personally. You’re unique, like everyone else.

Usually I will just post the link to an article that interests me. Occasionally I think the entire article is worth reposting, because if the link is removed or changes, the story will be lost.

This is one of the stories I don’t want to lose. It was posted to the Miami Herald on November 21 (here is the link).

A TWISTED JOKE ON A TEEN GIRL
By Leonard Pitts, Jr.

They really paid Megan back. They really got her good.

This is the press photo of Megan Meier.

I saw this story on CNN while we were in Dallas and the Drews said they originally created Josh to find out what happened between their own daughter and Megan, who had experienced a falling out.

Let me alleviate that little dilemma for you, Mr. and Mrs. Drew: Your daughter was probably cold, heartless, and unforgiving.

JUST LIKE HER PARENTS.

Many people are wishing you physical harm for what you did. I don’t.

I wish you all the pain and suffering you have inflicted on others, in this case and in every other instance of your small, pitiful lives.

If what you did to Megan is any indication, trust me: You’d rather be dead.

Insert witty comment about Karma here.

This is what I want for Christmas.

But I will settle for one of these.

C’mon, what’s $1,000 between friends?

When we booked our hotel in Las Vegas for earlier this month, it became apparent that something was going on in town for just one night of our trip. That is, each night of the hotel stay was about $60 but one night - right in the middle of our plans - was going to shoot up to $200. On a Tuesday, no less.

So we opted to take a day trip and stay elsewhere that night. We hopped in the rental and drove from Vegas to the “ghost town” in Calico, CA, just outside of Barstow. I use quotes to describe Calico because it is a quintessential tourist trap: Each “abandoned” building in the former mining town has a gift shop or snack store or museum in it, so it’s not the least bit empty. Old-timey music is pumped out of speakers throughout the place, from the bottom of the hill to the church at the top, but it is only about 90 minutes from Vegas … and when you’re seeking a day trip from there, there just ain’t much from which to choose. (Death Valley, anyone?)

Here’s a couple of shots I managed to get of the place.

That’s a hearse carriage. It even has a coffin in it.

Inside one of the buildings was a lovely Day of the Dead display, fitting since Hallowe’en had just passed.

Turns out the place was bought and is on a perpetual endowment by none other than Walter Knott. Yes, the Knott’s Berry Farm dude. It’s now owned by San Bernardino County and will probably be there for awhile, but I do NOT recommend going during the summer months.

That night we stayed at Whiskey Pete’s in Primm, NV. It’s right at the state line with California, just 40 miles outside Vegas, and is the first stop on the Nevada gambling tour if you’re on a road trip from SoCal. The room was $25 for the night, the prime rib (with salad and loaded baked potato) was $8, the frozen drinks were $3 or $5 with an extra shot, the slots were loose (we won about $10), and there’s an outlet mall just across I-15.

So what the hell does all this have to do with Ron Paul 2008?

Because we were surrounded by nothing but barren, dry, brown ground, large black hills in the distance on either side, and passed the occasional, truly abandoned ghost town on the side of the highway yet, on this trek across desolation at the edge of the Mojave desert, there were homemade signs along the road. Most were stenciled, some were handwritten, all ostensibly by the denizens of that godforsaken part of the country, and they each said just this:

Ron Paul 2008

Some even included the campaign website address.

That region has traditionally been a bastion of Libertarianism, so seeing the signs just solidified my belief that Ron Paul isn’t really a Republican at all, or is at least a very, very old school one.

And trust me, if the Dems pick Clinton or Obama as their candidate, I’ll have no choice but to go Republican next year.

It almost feels like we have a choice this time.

To avoid the usual seasonal affective disorder days, these are the movies I’ve decided I just have to see this holiday season. Enjoy!

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Let me just emphasize that Joel and Ethan Coen - Raising Arizona, Fargo, O’Brother Where Art Thou? - did a movie based on a book by Cormac freakin’ McCarthy. If that doesn’t get $9 to fly out of your pocket to see it, nothing will.

SOUTHLAND TALES

It looks a bit like Brazil, I think, what with the dystopia and apocalyptic scenes. Still, I don’t think the man who brought Donnie Darko to the screen could do much wrong. The official website is plenty cool, too.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS

Am I right that Nicole Kidman plays the bad guy? That would be hot. Also, it will be good to see an effects-laden movie with talking animals but no Xtian subtext involved (that I know of).

I AM LEGEND

Can Will Smith live up to Chuck Heston in The Omega Man? Probably. And better, I’ll wager.

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

Directed by Tim Burton with music and lyrics by Steven Sondheim? Oh, you know that this is going to be pretty, even if it sucks a big one. I won’t be able to stop touching myself when both Depp and Rickman are on screen, either.

Just thinking about it now makes me wanna …

Thanks to our friends in Darker Days Tomorrow, I now have this lovely, insidious song running through my head on a daily basis.

And now you do, too.

Finally! A liquor company is advertising to celebrate the repeal of prohibition this December 5th.

Sure, the 18th Amendment became law back in 1933, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate it. Americans drink heavily every year on Saint Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo, even though most of the partiers on those “holidays” spend precious few moments with people of actual Irish origin or with folks from south of the border.

Eating at a Mexican restaurant on May 5th does not count.

The comments for my post about the death of Sophie Lancaster have been coming in at a rate of about one per day, with a total of 64 as of now.

There is also a Wikipedia entry for her and a MySpace memorial page. The latter has information on the memorial fund set up in her honor.

That’s S.O.P.H.I.E., Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred + Intolerance Everywhere. Again, you can get to more info via the MySpace memorial page.

There was a concert in honor of Sophie last Friday in Blackpool (UK). Anyone can write to her family using the e-mail address inmemoryofsophie@hotmail.com and the local paper, the Rossendale Free Press, has a memorial page for thoughts, prayers, and comments.

There is a new award at the Bacup Film Festival (UK): The Sophie Award is now given to the best experimental film of the event. The first one was given to A Self Critical Sinner’s Murder, a short by Mercy Liao. The film may be viewed here.

There is also a website/blog dedicated to keeping track of crimes against members of subcultures. It’s called Alterophobia, which is the actual medical term for “fear of the other.”

All of this gives me hope that like other victims of hate crimes - Brandon Teena and Matthew Sheperd immediately spring to mind - her name will inspire people and incite change.

If we forget, we are complicit.

Absinthe is once again flowing here in the U.S. So far, I have run across restaurants in Boston, NY, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and L.A. which are offering up the traditional ice water over sugar concoction or mixed cocktails using it.

Part of me is very pleased with this, because it means I may soon be able to find bottles of it at my local liquor store, thereby saving on shipping charges to get it from Europe. Yet I also find myself sad that our borderline-illegal vice, one we share with close friends who visit our home, is now available to anyone.

Then again, the absinthe being served stateside went through 5 years of U.S. government testing to be approved. This leaves open the possibility that the European brands will have the original recipes and ingredients from the 18th and early 19th century and that some brands will never be sold here.

There’s always an angle.