Thursday, September 23

Howlin' at midnight, Winter Creepin In

Gonna get in my Mercury and drive around the world.
When I reach that mountain top I'll stand with flags unfurled.

Tuesday, September 21

Photos

I think the photos are messing up my blog formating so they have been removed, for now.

Thursday, September 16

Sexy Cat (Neko)

This message, from Neko Case, was forwarded to a music discussion board that I'm on. Too late to help out, but worth posting due to the WA State references and the dig on Madonna. She is just too cute. In Japanese, Neko means cat. purrr.


EMERGENCY! WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL SEPT. 14TH!!!!!

HELLO EVERYBODY! IT'S NEKO, THANK YOU FOR CHECKING ME OUT ON THIS WEBSITE. I MUST CONFESS I RARELY EMAIL, LET ALONE GO ONLINE, BUT I WANTED TO ASK YOU FOLKS FOR A BIG FAVOR. IT'S A BIT OF AN EMERGENCY.

I GREW UP IN WASHINGTON STATE, WHICH I LOVE WITH ALL MY HEART. I LOVE THE WEATHER, I LOVE THE KIND PEOPLE AND MOST OF ALL I LOVE THE BIRDS AND THE DEER AND THE TREES AND THE MOUNTAINS. YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS BUT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS TRYING TO TAKE 30% OF OUR NATIONAL FORESTS, NOT JUST IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON BUT EVERYWHERE. THEY ARE TO BE USED FOR LOGGING, MINING AND OIL DRILLING.

I AM NO SCIENTIST OR ECOLOGIST, BUT I DID WATCH MOST OF THE FOREST I REMEMBER FROM BEING A KID DISAPPEAR IN THE SHORT SPAN OF ABOUT 12 YEARS. IT BREAKS MY HEART. NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE LOSS OF SUCH BEAUTY AND THE ONGOING, NEEDLESS EXTINCTION OF WILDLIFE, BUT BECAUSE WE AS A COUNTRY ARE MUCH TOO SMART TO LET THIS GO ON. WE NEED TO FIND NEW WAYS TO FUEL OUR CARS, MAKE OUR ELECTRICITY- AND STOP POISONING THINGS TO DO IT.

SCIENCE IS SO WONDERFUL! SOUND ENGINEERING SCIENTISTS HAVE EVEN MADE MADONNA SING IN KEY!!! ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! I LOVE "RAY OF LIGHT"!
IT MAKES ME DANCE IN MY UNDERWEAR!!!! THINK OF HOW HARD YOU'D DANCE IN YOUR UNDERWEAR IF WE FOUND A WAY TO STOP RELYING ON EXPENSIVE, DESTRUCTIVE OIL!! EVERYONE COULD SLEEP A LITTLE BETTER AT NIGHT.
(AND NOT JUST IN THE UNITED STATES).

I REALLY LOVE OUR COUNTRY AND NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, I CAN'T HELP BUT HAVE FAITH THAT THINGS WILL GET BETTER AND MAYBE SOON WE CAN START USING OUR COLLECTIVE EFFORTS TOWARD GOOD, CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRESS, NOT JUST FOR OURSELVES, BUT FOR THE WORLD. EVEN IF THAT MEANS SOMETHING AS SMALL AS SENDING AN EMAIL TO TELL OUR GOVERNMENT THAT WE WANT TO KEEP OUR FORESTS JUST THE WAY THEY ARE.

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE THAT TALKS ABOUT THIS ISSUE - http://www.ourforests.org. I'M NOT QUALIFIED, BUT THEY CAN EXPLAIN IT BETTER AND HELP YOU OUT. PLEASE ACT SOON (WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL SEPT. 14TH!) AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS.
YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID, AND SO WILL SPOTTED OWLS AND TIMBERWOLVES AND BLACKBEARS. YOUR KIDS WILL BE GLAD TOO.

I HATE TO HARP, BUT DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!! IT IS SO IMPORTANT. EVEN IF YOU ARE GOING TO VOTE FOR GEORGE BUSH, MY HAT IS OFF TO YOU WITH MY MOST SINCERE RESPECT. JUST VOTE.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

LOVE NEKO

http://www.ourforests.org

P.S. HEY, I FORGOT TO ADD IN MY DEAL THAT I DID THE THING ON THE 'OUR FORESTS' WEBSITE AND IT WAS SUPER EASY, IT TOOK TWO MINUTES. LOVE N

Jacko

I guess everyone needs to feel like they have a purpose in life.

Wednesday, September 15

Music. Oppression. War.

"Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows."


That bit is from a Leonard Cohen song that I've had in my head all week. It's an eerie acoustic song about WWII and the Holocaust. That specific passage has been in my head all week, because I keep thinking about how it can easily be applied to any kind of struggle against oppression. Anne Frank, Emmit Till, MLK, Matthew Shepard, Lincoln, and millions and millions of others. Freedom soon will come; then we'll come from the shadows... How fucking powerful is that.

This is from "War," by Bob Marley -

"That until there is no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be pursued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war"

Similar themes to the Leonard Cohen song, but I especially love the way the song is so inclusive. I had it in my head for months after 9/11. It's so much bigger than Afghanistan, Bin laden, and Saddam. And it's so much closer to home than we usually realize. Just walk down any city street. It's too bad we don't fight that hard for democracy at home. Ahh, I think the election coverage is getting to me.

"When I was just a kid, my mother used to sing me songs. Now I've grown to be a man, but it still lingers deep down in my soul. Said it still lingers deep down in my soul." Okay, that's kind of random, but still beautiful.

Mind the Gap

My nose is shining, because there is a giant underground pimple growing on its tip. It fucking hurts, but at least it's below ground....for now.

The new Onion has a Cheney story that's pretty solid.

All this crap, in the news, about Bush's National Guard stuff is starting to get on my nerves. Let's focus on the last few shitty years already.

Went to THE MALL (zhay pur) tonight. Been busy wrapping up things for Rizzo Bizzo's Bachelor Party Weekend. Fucker's (aka-one of my best friends) getting hitched in a little more than a week. Holy shit. Another friend is taking the vow in December. That will make 3 friends in about 6 months time. Nesters! Making me feel all old. I feel it's appropriate to quote Billy Bragg at this moment.

"I understand you needing
And wanting is no crime
But I can't help feeling
That you and your mother are just wasting your time

Choosing Saturdays in Summer
I dare you to wear white
Love is just a moment of giving
And marriage is when we admit our parents were right

I just don't understand it
What makes our love a sin
How can it make that difference
If you and I are wearing that bloody, bloody ring

If I share my bed with you
Must I also share my life
Love is just a moment of giving
And marriage is when we admit our parents were right"

And look at ol' Billy in this photo. Looking a lot like Woody Guthrie.



Monday, September 13

Dems lose again

VP Cheney recently made these comments: "It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."

Obviously it’s a scare tactic. He’s said the same thing before, just wasn’t as straight up about it. It was more implied. So, what was the Dems’ response?

Kerry: “Outrageous and Shameful.”
Edwards: “wrong and un-American" and "intended to divide us."

That is terrible response. They will get nowhere by crying “foul” every time Cheney busts those kinds of moves on them. How hard would it have been to say, “That is the most ridiculous comment I’ve ever heard. This is coming from the same administration who said Saddam Hussein had massive stockpiles of WMDs. These are the same people who said we would be greeted as liberators in Iraq. These are the same people who said reconstruction would only cost about 1 Billion Dollars. The fact is, they were wrong before and they’re wrong now.”

And it even fits nicely with the “W is wrong for America” theme they keep pushing.

Of course the “who will keep us safer” question will play a major part in this election and the Bushies are playing tough. Kerry’s team better start throwing some elbows of their own.

Sunday, September 12

Yay

So I finally fixed my blog, which is no easy event for a html dunce like myself. But yay, I’m back on track. Haven’t been posting much lately. Been super busy being weird and lame. Plus, the freaky format of the blog discouraged me from looking at it, much less posting to it.

Another reason to be excited is that I just received my new shipment of Netflix dvds. This batch includes:

Six Feet Under – the final episodes of season 1
Queer as Folk – The first episodes of the series
A Clockwork Orange

Obviously I’m kind of behind the times with the TV show things. Cable does have its pluses, I guess. Like the Daily Show, whose webcasts I cannot watch on my mac. Boo Microsoft and the comedy central website developers.

And I’m really interested in watching A Clockwork Orange. I really have no idea what it’s about, but imdb had this for a tagline – “Being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven.”

IMDB was the source of some other interesting news a few days ago when I decided to look up the acting career of one Simon Rex, who birthday falls on the same day as mine.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005350/

Look at the early films, “young hard and solo?”