Ever.

David Bowie on Saturday Night Live with back-up singers Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias. Back when, you know, crazy shit like this was allowed to air on broadcast television.



"OK," you're saying, "a little weird maybe, but so what?" Ah, let's check out the second performance from that evening, shall we?



I know the Internet has largely supplanted TV as a format for weirdness and creativity, but it's so much more fragmented an experience I think something's really been lost.

Spotted on a church marquee while driving through Millbrae today:

"Give God a Tweet--Pray!"

From Wikipedia:

Dave Allen Mather (August 10, 1851, date of death unknown, most probably May 1886, but nothing confirmed), known as Mysterious Dave, or sometimes as New York Dave, was an American lawman and gunfighter in the American Old West.

I wouldn't have been able to choose between "Mysterious Dave" and "New York Dave" either.

Having been recently reminded of the song, I've once again stumbled over a lyric in Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day" that's always troubled me. To whit:

No barking from the dog, no smog
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog

No barking, check. No smog, amazing! But cooking the breakfast with no hog? C'mon Cube, you can't be serious! That would straight up ruin my day, starting it out without some wholesome bacon or perhaps sizzling ham shanks. I don't know about you.

Is there something I'm not aware of at work here? Is Ice Cube a member of the Nation of Islam? Is he trying to watch his cholesterol? Some bit of arcane slang from "teh ghettoe" that I don't know about? Fifteen years later, I still can't figure that line out.

001: Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper at their LiveJournal.
002: Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper.
003: Don't change your wallpaper before doing this. The point is to see what you had on.

( Read more... )

I found this on film_stills. It's from a collection of 70s grindhouse movie trailers. Do I have to explain why this is totally awesome? As my AP English teacher would say, "Juxtaposition!" Plus the look on the dude's face.

A couple small items to report from the last week or two:

* A follow-up to Xena Warrior Princess. Processing holds, I noticed another weird name: Jane B. Again, keep in mind that your library card must bear your legal name. I guess having "B" for a last name would have certain advantages...right?

* Saw an old black dude browsing the stacks, a clarinet case in hand. He looked like an old jazz musician for sure. On the case were two bumper stickers: "Drum Machines Have No Soul" and "There Used to Be Songs". I really liked the latter.

Most hardcore high school ever:

"I furthermore promise and declare that I will, when opportunity present, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition; and that I will hang, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants' heads against the walls, in order to annihilate forever their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poisoned cup, the strangulating cord, the steel of the poniard or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith, of the Society of Jesus."



How anyone could intone this passage and end with the word "Jesus" and not die from hypocrisy, I have no idea.

Also, read Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation.

I just got up, and I'm sitting at my computer blearily reading Wikipedia and eating cereal. The TV's on in the background, but the volume is low and the voices of the morning news casters has blended into a general murmur.

So I find myself reading about the 23 Enigma, the belief that the number 23 can be connected to almost every event, when suddenly I hear very clearly the traffic reporter's voice intone: "There are no accidents." The weird part is that he put the emphasis on the word "are". Anyone have an anti-paranoia serum they can inject me with?

drownedinink, this post is especially for you. You MUST own this game!

My latest big writing project has at long, long last finally gotten under way--my first deadline is tomorrow--so naturally my life has been taken over by one of my periodic forays into the realm of computer gaming.

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Hinduism, eh?



Christianity, eh?

The family cat Jonesy died today. He was 18, as best as we can figure.

My mom brought him home from work on her lunch break during the summer of 1991. He was about 6 months old when we got him. He had shown up one day on a co-worker's porch, and she couldn't take him in because she already had two other cats. So she was going to take him to the animal shelter, but my mom decided to bring him home for me instead. I'd been wanting a cat for a while by that point. He was orange (mostly), so I named him after the cat in Alien.

He was a crazy cat when we first got him. He'd been living as a stray for who knows how long--we think he was born in a garage because he always went nuts for any oil or grease smells..and he loved honkey tonk music--and he showed it. He hunted things, including our feet as we'd walk by his ambush points. He was skittish and terrified of strangers. His nose was crooked from a bad break. But I loved him, even though he gave me several gnarly scars on my arm from times when I'd be holding him and he'd freak out and turn into a whirlwind of claws and fur. My mom was upset because she said now people would think I'd tried to slit my wrists. I still have the scars.

Jonesy mellowed with age--it helped that I also got older and stopped tussling with him, I'm sure--and turned into the sweetest little house cat. After I moved out, he and mom bonded pretty tightly. No matter where he was in the house, if my mom curled up on the couch with a blanket he'd show up within 30 seconds, hop up, burrow into the blanket, and quickly fall asleep.

I got to see plenty of Jonesy during my last visit to Santa Fe back in October. He was having trouble eating then, too, although at the time it was due to stress from both my parents being out of house for most of the day. So having me around helped calm him down and he got back on a regular eating schedule. I'm glad I was able to have that time with him. A couple weeks ago I was talking to my mom and he came over and started meowing at her, so she put him on the phone with me and I got to hear him chirp a bit.

Jonesy was an old, old cat, and no doubt lived many more years than he would have if he'd stayed out on the streets, and he went really quickly--as recently as last week he was being more demanding than ever with his feedings--so his passing is neither shocking nor particularly tragic. But it's sad. Very sad.

( Some pics. )

I think that's about all that I can say without rambling. So here's to Jonesy, a great cat and companion and friend. You will be missed.

ETA: I was talking to my parents just now, and apparently that gray cat came around today (after a long absence), looking for Jonesy. She was specifically looking for him, because she methodically went to each of his window hang-outs, including a little bedroom nook he liked to sleep in. Desiree thinks she was coming by to pay her respects.

For tigerpillow:

"SOUTH PARK MURDERED ME LAST NIGHT AND IT'S PRETTY FUNNY. IT HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK! I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY EGO THOUGH. HAVING THE CRAZY EGO IS PLAYED OUT AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE AND CAREER. I USE TO USE IT TO BUILD UP MY ESTEEM WHEN NOBODY BELIEVED IN ME. NOW THAT PEOPLE DO BELIEVE AND SUPPORT MY MUSIC AND PRODUCTS THE BEST RESPONSE IS THANK YOU INSTEAD OF "I TOLD YOU SO!!!" IT'S COOL TO TALK SHIT WHEN YOU'RE RAPPING BUT NOT IN REAL LIFE. WHEN YOU MEET LITTLE WAYNE IN PERSON HE'S THE NICEST GUY FOR EXAMPLE. I JUST WANNA BE A DOPER PERSON WHICH STARTS WITH ME NOT ALWAYS TELLING PEOPLE HOW DOPE I THINK I AM. I NEED TO JUST GET PAST MYSELF. DROP THE BRAVADO AND JUST MAKE DOPE PRODUCT. EVERYTHING IS NOT THAT SERIOUS. AS LONG AS PEOPLE THINK I ACT LIKE A BITCH THIS TYPE OF SHIT WILL HAPPEN TO ME. I GOT A LONG ROAD AHEAD OF ME TO MAKE PEOPLE BELIEVE I'M NOT ACTUALLY A HUGE DOUCHE BUT I'M UP FOR THE CHALLENGE. I'M SURE THE WRITERS AT SOUTH PARK ARE REALLY NICE PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE. THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DRAW MY CREW. THAT WAS PRETTY FUNNY ALSO!! I'M SURE THERE'S GRAMMATICAL ERRORS IN THIS... THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW IT'S ME!"

In reference to this:

Warning: these rants are entirely based off rampant speculation and knee-jerk reactionism. You have been warned.

OK, first off: one of the hot books with a lot of holds on it here at the library is The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History. OK, I can dig why that book might be a high-demand item in this day and age. The author is Harry S. Dent, Jr., who the very cover of said book then points out is the "New York Times bestselling author of The Roaring 2000s and The Next Great Bubble Boom". So basically what we have here is one of the clueless boobs who, Jim Cramer-style, ra-ra-ra'd us right into the shithole we currently find ourselves sitting in, and now he's going to come down dispensing further "wisdom" from on high, still pedaling the same old self-centered greed-centric rhetoric that got us into this mess in the first place. How much you want to bet his methods are neither helpful nor constructive towards the greater good? In these uncertain times, I'm pretty sure that's a sure bet!

Secondly: I noticed on the news this morning a screen-shot of the top downloads on Walmart.com's MP3 listing (about as close to a vox populi of the current mainstream musical trends as I can figure). The top two spots were held by Lady Gaga and Flo-rida. OK, since when--WHEN--did it become acceptable for popular musical acts to have baby names? Next month's top musical act: Kaka-Doodoo-Bahbah. I mean, seriously.

::old geezer mode::
When I were a lad, and well before that even, musical acts had cool names. Evocative names. Names that made you go, "Wicked!" or "Boss!" or what have you. Guns N' Roses. Public Enemy. Nirvana. Black Sabbath. Even the silly ones, like Mötley Crüe or Run-D.M.C., still had a certain gravitas to them. Now, I say "Lady Gaga" or "Flo-rida" out loud and I can actually feel my brain cells dying. I don't even care what their music sounds like--I can't even get past the ridiculous names. Ah well, I am now officially old. Great.

Pirates have, of course, become fashionably kitschy over the last few years, but there's a really interesting article over on the Huffington Post that delves into the true motives of piracy, both of the "classic" variety and the most recent. Turns out, people don't tend to get into piracy because they're "evil" but because they're forced into it by economic circumstances often brought about by the very governments that would condemn piracy in the first place. In other news, the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.

Some choice quotes:

In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

***

When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."

***

This is the context in which the men we are calling "pirates" have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it's not hard to see why.

***

During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America's founding fathers paid pirates to protect America's territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different?

Head on over here to read the whole piece. Quite thought-provoking.

An eight-year-old girl has gone missing in a nearby community. As sad and tragic as this is, I couldn't help but laugh at one point during the report. Last night, family, friends, neighbors, and supporters turned out to hold a candle-lit vigil. At one point they sang the girl's favorite song..."Somewhere Out There".