politik1

the end

2008-01-08T21:13:00.001-08:00

so this is the end of politik1. i've decided to squash this blog and move onto a new one. i've realized that with a new year, a new blog is in order. that's why i've decided to do away with politik1. the new blog will still be focused on my writing, and it will still be political. at first, there won't be much difference, just a slightly different look and a new name. i have formatted the blog so that it will be more conducive to photos. eventually i may turn it into a multi-media blog (writing, video, photos, etc), not sure yet. i may get a HD video camera so i can take video around vancouver to go with my panoramic photos, we'll see what the canadian dollar does in the next six months. i don't know if i will merge my photoblog with the new one, but the option is there. for now, the photoblog will continue as a separate entity.

anyway, the new blog is blinksociety.blogspot.com. nothing is there right now, but there will be soon. take it easy. - loring.

state of the union

2008-01-03T21:25:00.001-08:00

i thought about doing a best of list of what went down in the art world of music, writing and movies for me in 2007, but then i thought, fuck it. it's all in the past and the past doesn't matter. the future is where it's at.

and what's in my future? i don't know. but after a year of random crap, i know i have to refocus, and get back on track. and that begins with getting this blog back on track - sort of. i don't think i'll be doing much with this blog in 2008, except for its intended purpose, which is to focus on my writing. admittedly, i have written very little, virtually nothing, in the last six months. and i have no excuses. the truth is, creatively, there has been a drought. and i have been doing this long enough not to force it when it's not there. it's a lot like trying to start a car when it won't start. there's only so much you can do before giving up and just waiting it out. hopefully it will start up for you again enough to get you home, if you know what i mean.

the last week of 2007 has been my most productive, having written a total of four brilliant pages. no, not brilliant, but it's something. i've also done a lot of rewriting and rearranging, what with the plot changing virtually on a daily basis. as i write more, certain characters get pushed to the sidelines while others move to the forefront. it's typical of the writing process.

now what about the novel? this great canadian novel that i've been writing for the past two... three years? this novel that i wrote, then rewrote, then deleted, then subsequently wrote all over again? this novel, while political, is ultimately at its heart about two men looking for excuses as to why their lives aren't what they are supposed to be, why they fail to live up to the archetype of their fathers, and why they lay waste to their lives, not in a stylistic, over-the-top drug or alcohol induced way, but more in the subtle ways men tend to carve away at their own lives, only to wake up one day and realize they've made a mistake. ultimately what makes a man is not how much he can drink, or how much ass he can kick, but rather how he behaves in a crisis.

anyway, the question is will this novel ever be done? i don't know. it seems i've been writing the same novel for ten years, with each attempt at it being an improvement over the last, but not worthy of any sort of final product. hey, whatever. ultimately you can't regret anything. you just have to keep going, right?

little fucking robots

2007-12-22T14:58:00.001-08:00

a month ago i posted some photos of my latest obsession: transformers movie toys. for some reason i cannot get enough of them. i have now collected all the ones that i find worth getting, and i figured i may as well share them with any and all geeks out there, as well as a few of my thoughts on each figure. again, as mentioned before, i think the reason i got into these is because it reminds me of what it was like to be a kid.

i know this blog has deteriorated into, well, crap, and i do apologize. i've just been so lazy about writing in general, and since i can't muster any desire to complete my novel, this blog has pretty much gone neglected. anyway, here they are:

top: voyager classes - ironhide, optimus prime, ratchet and starscream.
bottom: deluxe class - 77 classic bumblebee, concept camaro bumblebee, barricade and jazz.

there are a few that are missing, like megatron, brawl and bonecrusher, as well as various other versions of the same models, but i find the rest just aren't worth getting.

voyager class:
optimus prime: personally, i'm not too excited about this figure, but it's the best optimus there is for the movie line. there's a leader version about three times the price and size, but i didn't find it very good at all. way too big, looked horrific on the shelf, and really limited in articulation. basically, an overpriced paperweight. this voyager optimus prime, however, is pretty decent with excellent articulation and light piping (clear eyes that allow light to shine through).

ironhide: probably my favorite voyager class figure. his alt mode is excellent and his robot mode is pretty badass with those big guns. it's pretty movie accurate. only real downfall is that he's so dark colored. hard to see details. his cannons combine into one large one that you can mount on one arm and fire the missiles out of.

ratchet: this guy i basically got because i wanted to get all the autobots. his alt mode is oversized compared to the other voyager models, and it feels really cheap, but his robot mode is kind of cool with excellent articulation. he does, however, look a bit like frankenstein.

starscream: the only decent voyager decepticon figure, the alt mode is pretty cool, with spring-loaded missiles. his robot mode is kind of awkward looking. sort of like an insect squatting to take a shit. he also has charlie brown knee caps.

deluxe class:77 classic bumblebee: this version is the japanese version, which came with clear windows and hard plastic bits, compared to the very plain looking north american version with painted in windows and dull cheap yellow plastic. i really like the alt mode. it's very compact and tight. the robot mode is pretty bad with clown feet and spring-loaded missiles that you can put on his shoulders or hands.

concept camero bumblebee: probably the best of the bunch, this version of bumblebee has amazing articulation very movie accurate, and all around fantastic, both in alt mode and robot mode. his gun actually splits apart to reveal a clear blue energy blade. yes, geeky but cool.

jazz: the worst figure, barely worth purchasing. he's pretty ugly, his alt mode is pretty plain, but his robot mode at least has good articulation and great light piping. however, he's got these near non-existent t-rex-like hands that are pretty ugly. again, the only reason i got him was to complete the autobots.

barricade: one of my favorites, he's pretty awesome. his alt mode is probably one of the best, and his robot mode is just mean looking. like a bodybuilder experiencing roid-rage. he comes with a miniature frenzy that comes out of his chest.

transformers supply has been next to nothing this christmas season, but i figure in the new year stores will be restocking. deluxes range in price from $9-$15 canadian dollars, and voyagers somewhere at $20-30, depending on where you go. i wouldn't hit up ebay because the major chains should be restocking. however, if you're prone to laziness, then by all means, take advantage of ebay.

finally, as i mentioned before, there are many alternate versions and repaints of these figures. i didn't find any worth getting except for the "evolution of a hero" pack which included the north american 77 classic camaro and the battle damaged version of the camaro concept bumblebee. this was exclusive to target in the united states, and zellers here in canada. but that's only because that deluxe model is really cool regardless of paint job.

and finally, just to round out this post, here's a photo of one of the coolest christmas gifts i have ever received. it's a convoy ultra magnus ipod player. this figure throws back to my childhood.

pimping for jesus

2007-12-20T22:55:00.000-08:00

british comedian pat condell on the u.s. election. well said.

why so serious?

2007-12-18T21:15:00.000-08:00

click me.

1-18-08

2007-12-15T01:05:00.001-08:00

david usher: music

2007-12-08T23:37:00.001-08:00

mitt fit

2007-12-08T13:46:00.000-08:00

republican nominee, mitt romney believes that "freedom requires religion. just as religion requires freedom." um, no. fuck you mitt.

via onegoodmove.

into the wild

2007-10-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

in april 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of mt. mckinley. his name was christopher johnson mccandless. he had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter...

that's what it says on the cover of the book written by jon krakauer. i'm not giving away anything because it's not a story about christopher's life: it's a story about his death and the life that was taken. the film version of into the wild is faithfully directed by sean penn. when i read the book, it quickly became one of my favorite books of all time. even though i knew the outcome, there was so much tension and drama on every page. i was gripped. what's so interesting about the story is christopher mccandless himself. a young man so principled with his own idea of morality. a young man so desperate to experience life.

those who have read the book seem to have two different opinions of him. one group believes he was a selfish, stupid, careless kid who caused his family incredible grief and ultimately committed suicide. another group believes him to be a very smart and intuitive kid who was after something bigger than this life, something higher than material goods and human pettiness, who touched people's lives, and who ultimately made a fatal mistake. i've got a different opinion of him, but i won't say it because the beauty of the book and the way krakauer wrote it, is in the way it leaves it open for your own interpretation.

now, the movie however sort of robs you of that choice. sean penn, if you have heard any of his political rants, is very one-sided and is very vocal about his opinions. and here, he's no different. he directs the movie, a movie he's wanted to make for ten years but couldn't without christopher's family signing off on it, with plenty of passion and love for the subject. the only thing is, he shows christopher off as almost jesus-like, which i think is a mistake. he also does some very heavy-handed things in the end of the film which i think sort of takes away from the power of it. what penn does is focus so completely on what makes christopher great, he doesn't include any of the negative aspects of chris - the selfish kid, the naive kid, the hurtful and spiteful kid. i think if he had, it would have made a much better movie. personally, i love a hero with faults. penn makes christopher's story cut and dry, black and white, and that's a shame. he sort of forces his opinion on you, and i sort of resented the film for that. i also had a general problem with the movie where i felt hardly any emotion. it may be due to the fact that i had just read the book a couple weeks earlier. the book drained me emotionally, which is perhaps why the movie comes off as kind of lacking. the film has been well received by critics and audiences alike, however.

the film also has a great soundtrack by eddie vedder. vedder shows off some great original work as well as some awesome covers.

i must say that all in all, i do identify quite a bit with christopher. i understand his desire to experience something beyond this life. i understand his frustration with his father as well as society. i also understand his wanderlust. as much as i love city life, sometimes i think it will swallow me whole, which is why sometimes solitude and being comfortable with being alone is a good thing. the big different though is that i don't have the fortitude that he has of his principles, and ultimately, despite enjoying solitude, i eventually find my way back. unfortunately for christopher, he couldn't.

the following is the video for the cover "hard sun" as well as "society," a video some fan made with pics of pearl jam. enjoy.

9/11 conspiracy nutters

2007-10-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

i am all about questioning everything. you shouldn't just blindly believe something just because someone told you it was so. otherwise, it borders on religion. however, there is a line where logic and reason is drawn, and conspiracy theories often test that. one such conspiracy theory is that the u.s. government purposely destroyed the world trade center towers on 9/11 in a controlled demolition. there are whole internet communities about this online. i've heard their arguments, and normally this is where i'd post a link to one website or another, but really, it's just not worth my time.

bill maher is back on the air with another season. these conspiracy theorists have apparently been getting at maher to bring up this topic on his shows, but he refuses to. it appears a couple of audience members decided they'd throw it in maher's face. what ensues is quite a funny little war of words.

and here is a more civilized discussion. maher interviews garry kasparov, chess grandmaster, and a candidate for president of russia. kasparov speaks with such intelligence and sophistication that it sparks remarks from maher and guests about how great kasparov is. very good interview.

Endings

2007-10-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

so i basically have the whole book written out in my head. it's just a matter of getting it down onto paper, which is getting easier and easier as the days go by. it should be, considering i've been meditating on this story for at least a good year and a half. over the past few months, i've managed to put to rest some nagging personal and professional issues that have plagued me for the past year. i think this has allowed me to free up time and thought to finally get this book done. the only real question marks are when will i have it done? (i'm hoping for the end of the year) and which ending will i choose?

endings are tough, because a bad ending can ruin a good story and a strange ending can pervert the whole story. at the same time, you want an ending with some balls. at least i do, especially considering the themes that i will be discussing. the problem is that the ending i have in mind is great, but it borders on foreign art-film type stuff, which usually turns a lot of people off. i have read and seen a lot of stuff lately where the ending would wuss out even though overall it was a good move. i don't want to do that.

that being said, i have three endings in mind, all different variations of each other, but the book will be drastically changed depending on which ending i chose. at this time, my plan is to just write all three endings, and have friends read the book with all three endings and give me feedback, even though most of my friends consider feedback as, "that was good." or maybe I won't release all three endings and I'll just chose the best one and just fuck the audience over. we'll see. it's still a long ways away before i even write them.

rootless tree

2007-10-11T23:55:00.001-07:00

Update

2007-10-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

brief update as to what i've been up to:

nothing.

however, i am planning for some future activities: it never snows in vancouver except maybe once or twice a year during december. i'm hoping for a bit of snow so i can go take some panoramic photos of the city under snow. i didn't get a chance to do that last year. when it does snow, i'll post some photos on my photo blog. i am also in the hunt for a missing roll of film from my u.s. trip. some great pictures of colorado were on that roll. i'd better find it...

in terms of writing, i've just been biding my time, not trying to force anything. what little i've written has been focused primarily on vancouver and how much i just love this fucking city. i was rollerblading near yew and 5th and there was this steep hill which allows you to see the rest of the city. say what you want, but there's beauty in the city. you just have to know where to look.

one of the things about vancouver that used to bother me so much was the fact that a lot of the buildings in downtown vancouver, especially the newer residential ones, are all the same: they all have that tepid turquoise coloration on the windows. one day as i was going over the granville bridge, on a particular cloudy vancouver day, i realized how gorgeous the city looked with that color. this is the only time when that color looks good. and since vancouver is so cloudy/rainy on a regular basis, i don't mind that color any more.

anyway, here's a snippet i wrote for the book. it took me five minutes to write it literally as i was thinking of a topic to write about on this blog:

Blink. And it’s gone. The love. You can be enamoured with something but give it enough time, it becomes pedestrian, and when it gets pedestrian, you take it for granted. Blink. And it’s gone. The love is something that you really want to try to keep a hold of. When you find it, you grab onto it with both hands. Feverish. And it’s this love that Monty feels, staring up at the lights. He sits on a park bench, wooden, steel framed. Bare-naked trees surround him, strategically placed in the artificial park. Manufactured life standing in for nature, like surrogates, surrounded by brick and steel. There’s a parking garage to one side and an alley to the other reeking of what god knows: Shit, blood and cum. Hanging from the bare branches are strings of blue florescent lights. Decorative. Small, sparkling beacons beneath the pitch black sky. Monty sits alone on the bench, staring up at the lights. He’s been there for almost two hours. The night gets deeper and so does the love: the love of the little peace that he craves. He doesn’t question where he finds it or when: he just accepts. And as this feeling soars, he cannot let go, because it’ll be a long way down.

got balls?

2007-09-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

jigsaw

2007-09-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

so i've been writing off and on for the past few weeks. i've only been writing separate little scenes, almost like self-enclosed short stories. sometimes i'll jump ahead to a part of the book i feel like writing and then sort of go back and piece things together, move scenes around... sort of like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle. the luxury about writing is that you can do whatever you want. the way you write one book, isn't necessarily how you will write your next book, and so on.

i've finally settled on the fact that the mood and pace of the book cannot be settled in just two parts. i'm just not that talented. instead, it will be three distinct, yet connected parts. think of it as three short stories all including the same characters. the first section will be an exploration of men and their relations to each other and the lasting influence of their fathers. the second section will be the nity gritty political stuff, involving the clash of civilizations. and the third section will be about redemption and proving to be bigger than your physical frame. i'm actually writing a disney screenplay, haha.

my writing is becoming pretty spare and bare bones which is kind of nice. there's a nice aesthetic feel to the work, where it actually just looks better on page. i know this is pretty superficial, but it matters. i find i am just not bothering with too much continuity from scene to scene. a character may act one way in one scene, and in the very next scene, they may act another way. the reason is that i don't find explaining what happened in between very interesting. most people can infer what went on. i just can't be bothered. overall, the book should come in at a very lean 150 to 200 pages. i just don't have the patience to write long books. i find i have to finish a book quickly, before i lose interest, which happens faster and faster these days. as one gets older, one finds they don't have much time for filler.

this book will be less explicit and graphic than my previous work. i am finding more often that with sex and violence, less seems to be more. if done correctly, a two or three line bit of violence can do more for the imagination than a dozen pages of overwrought, dramatized orgy of blood. not that an orgy of blood is bad. sometimes, in the hands of a very skilled writer, it can be quite good. personally, it gets boring to write such things.

i have been doing some research for the book. not a lot, because most of the stuff, especially the political stuff, i'm already really into so i get that stuff on a daily basis (eg: articles on political torture, renditions), but i'm looking into some other things that i'm not really versed with. learning how to accurately describe a gunshot wound by looking at gunshot victims online isn't really very fun, but it helps in the accuracy department. you kind of have to have a strong stomach to look at some of the stuff i've seen. there are some sick fucking things that people will upload or post on their websites. for example, i found a website that showed gunshot victims; detailed, graphic, pre-autopsy photos. the kicker is, the website speaks out against gun control. the point is, the teenage kid you see with the hole in his head could have been alive if he had had a gun to defend himself with. right. in that particular instance, it was his father that shot him. executed him point blank. kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, you think?

meanwhile, i have been reading a lot. in the past couple of months, i finished a couple of books that really aren't worth mentioning. sometimes you have to just try new things, and while somewhat entertaining, these books were pretty much just filler. i do have some better reading coming up (or at least i hope so). i'm waiting for the delivery from amazon.ca. the books are, in no particular order:

civilwarland in bad decline by george saunders.

into the wild by jon krakauer.

the tent by margaret atwood.

vfs

2007-09-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

youtube is a bed of copyright infringement, but that doesn't mean you can't get interesting art from it. most of the times it's an excuse to post clips of television shows and movies, but there are people that are using it for what it was meant to be for: broadcast yourself.

the vancouver film school has been posting videos of films made by its students. some of them are interesting, others are just plain weird, but they're all original creations, which makes it kind of fun to watch. below are a few videos that i found to be interesting:

guernica

to the door

piece of mind

kim campbell

2007-09-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

kim campbell, former prime minister of canada (the first female canadian prime minister), was on bill maher in 2004 which i missed somehow. anyway, in this clip, michael moore and maher are begging perennial pariah ralph nader to not run in '04. he was seen as the spoiler in the 2000 election that handed george w. bush the victory (which i personally don't think is true).

what is interesting about this clip is that campbell makes a very good argument against nader running. she is right when she says that politics isn't an abstract exercise, that there are real lives on the line, and nader isn't helping anything when he does what he does in this particular situation.

i like ralph nader, and i believe in the principle of what he is doing; the problem is that he is dictated by principle and principle alone on this issue, about bringing in a third party as a significant player into u.s. politics. sometimes he gets so riled up in his principles, that all reason and logic and humanity is forgotten. he claimed there was no difference between the two parties, and it didn't matter who you voted for. well, this is true. but who you vote for does matter: george bush proved this point. there can be someone worse. i cannot recall a president more destructive for his own country, as well as the international community. by 2004 people knew he was no good. he had to be removed. nader knew it, but he didn't care.

now i haven't seen any statistics on nader's effect in the 2004 election, but i do want to back kim campbell's point, that nader has influence, and influence can translate to power and the ability to effect change. he could use his influence to aid one side (in this case it would have been kerry). i'm not saying nader would have had any real effect, all i am saying is that sometimes you have to put aside principle when you have a chance to make immediate and effective change. yes, a third party will only arise if there is real movement and voice, and sometimes you have to break a few eggs to succeed. but this is easily said when those eggs aren't yours. it's easy to be principled when regardless of the outcome, you will be fine.

maybe it's because i'm pretty cynical and i don't think a third party will ever be effective in u.s. politics. but campbell makes a great point here, and it pisses me off that maher interrupts her for the sake of a really lame o.j. simpson joke. campbell was making a real political statement on a show about political discussion. but ultimately maher always has to get the last laugh, and it's a shame. i like maher, but sometimes, he just has to shut the fuck up.

thank you bill

2007-09-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

the darjeeling limited

2007-09-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

a trip down memory lane:

porno bush

2007-08-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

british artist jonathan yeo was commissioned to do a portrait of george w. bush, but was later told his services would not be needed. well, he went and did a portrait anyway, which is a collage made from fragments of 100 porn magazines. the picture above is the censored version. click on the image for the original image.

unkle

2007-08-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

john from cincinnati

2007-08-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

john from cincinnati is one of the wierdest shows i've ever seen. the writing is good, but at times, it is confusing and the acting is wooden usually on purpose. the premise is about a legendary surfing family that is on the verge of falling apart, in a community that seems disjointed and almost cut off from the rest of the world. in comes john... from cincinnati. he's an enigma. everyone thinks he's slow, and he may be that, but eventually strange things start happening, such as the grandfather levitating for no apparent reason, people healing from seemingly mortal injuries... and it all seems to come back to john. from cincinnati.

the writing is so purposely bizarre, that it's tough to get a hang on the tone and pace of the show, which is probably why john from cincinnati never really found an audience. it took me around episode four to finally get used to the pace, and really start liking it. then they canceled the show. typical. anyway, there are ten episodes to the series, and i've always felt that it was better to come up short, than to stay too long.

30 days of night

2007-08-16T19:58:00.001-07:00

um, i have to see this.

duchovny's back

2007-08-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

you know that actor that had a hit tv show and decided he was too big for the show and wanted to leave to do movies but did a couple and didn't go anywhere only to disappear for a few years to resurface every once in a while to blab about how wonderful it would be if there could be another movie based on his former hit tv show? well, that's david duchovny. i don't think david duchovny ever knew his limitations as an actor, because let's face it, he wasn't so great on the x-files. he was fox mulder, and only fox mulder. he basically comes from the keanu reeves school of acting, except devoid of all star power. anyway, i've always like him regardless, and now he's back in californication, a showtime original series. it's a surprisingly funny, raunchy show about a one hit wonder writer who is struggling with trying to rekindle his burnt out career, his ex-wife, and his precocious daughter.

the show starts out fun enough, (a blowjob from a nun), but it quickly throws in the the cliches (guy comes home and catches duchovny with his wife). there are some genuinely funny moments though, like when a girl he picks up at a book store punches him in the face during sex. twice. even though the cliches dampen the genius, the writing and dialogue is smart enough to be charming. witness the following exchange, where duchovny finds out that his ex-wife will be getting married again:

- Hank, I'm getting married.
- What?
- He asked, and I said yes.
- Why the fuck would you do something like that?
- Because I love him.
- No you don't.
- Yes I do.
- You don't!
- I do!
- You do not
- Yes I do!
- You don't!
- I do
- You don't!
- I do!
- You don't!
- How do you know?
- Because he's a fucking dial tone! He's everything you said you never wanted. I'm sure he means well and everything... I may be fucked up right now, but he's not the guy for you. I can see that.
- How do you know that?
- Because I know you. Now don't I get a say in this?
- No.
- Are you sure? Because it seems like I should. Maybe.

there are some other juicy lines, like duchovny talking about finger-banging a cat, and his ex-wife telling him that he smells like pussy and he says, "thank you" with a smile.

i really liked the pilot, and it looks like duchovny finally found his way back to television again. isn't that always how it happens? it's kinda nice. i haven't laughed this much at any pilot for any show. not even entourage, and that's saying something. hopefully californication will stick around for a couple of seasons, if only to amuse me. duchovny's back, baby!

muse

2007-08-13T23:12:00.001-07:00

muse [myooz] –noun

classical mythology.

any of a number of sister goddesses, originally given as aoede (song), melete (meditation), and mneme (memory), but latterly and more commonly as the nine daughters of zeus and mnemosyne who presided over various arts: calliope (epic poetry), clio (history), erato (lyric poetry), euterpe (music), melpomene (tragedy), polyhymnia (religious music), terpsichore (dance), thalia (comedy), and urania (astronomy); identified by the romans with the camenae.

b.	any goddess presiding over a particular art.

2.	(sometimes lowercase) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.

3.	(lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.

- dictionary.com

everyone has a muse. and if they don't, they should. it's interesting who you come across that can inspire you. that inspiration can drive you to create beautiful art, or it can drive you to destroy it, and everything in between. i think a good muse should do both. a muse, whether a he, she, or it, should be polarizing. it should grab hold of you and pull you apart in opposing directions. a muse should make you want to tear your hair out, yet at the same time bring you comfort. i think that sort of force creates good art. no, not good art, but great art. great art explores as many facets of human emotion as possible, both exploiting it and emboldening it.

my muse has been the same for as long as i can remember. she's always sort of been there, mostly in the back of my mind, sort of eating away at my subconscious. never really letting go. when a muse knows they are your muse, it can get complicated to say the least. trust me. ultimately though, a muse should outlast the physical self. in the end, the memory of a muse is just as good, just not as biting as the truth of it, for memory is not truth. any real police officer can tell you that.

at any rate, i've written some more so here's another snippet:

Elton gets out of his bed and makes his way to the stereo. He scratches himself through the boxers. The city noise filters in through the window into the small room. Sean watches him from beneath the covers, the pillow bunched up beneath her chin. Her eyes examine him thoughtfully. He turns on the stereo, sets it to blast. She makes a noise and covers her head with the pillow. There's a letter for him by the door, no doubt slipped under it the night before from the hotel manager demanding another couple hundred dollars for the week. He goes into the washroom and jerks off to the image of the girl on the shampoo bottle. Her head is tossed back, her eyes a flutter and her mouth is slightly parted. Her "O" face. When he's done, he goes to the mini fridge. Sean is sitting cross-legged in a chair in a matching pink t-shirt and panties, with an open jar of peanut butter in her lap. She's digging at it with her fingers. He's always hated that. She looks at him and doesn't say anything as she licks her fingers. Then she mentions that he looks like he's lost weight.
- What?
- I said you look skinny. Are you bulimic?
- Do you mean like you? Or was that anorexic? I can never tell the two apart.
- Don't say that, Elton. Why'd you have to say that?
- You opened that door.
- God, you're so mean.
- Hey, I'm sorry if you don't have an eating disorder. They're like Chanel handbags. Everybody's got to have one. Surprised you're not in on it yet.
- Fuck you.
- I'm just kidding.
- That's not funny. People die from it.
- People die from car accidents too.
- That's also not funny.
- No, what's not funny is if your pants no longer fit you. That's a tragedy. He looks at her. That was another joke, babe.
- You weren't joking. She sticks her finger into the peanut butter and sucks on it. Defiant. He's got his head in the fridge, refusing to look at her. She says, I'm not a savage. He then looks at her and his eyes wander down to her belly. He grabs a beer and walks away. She looks down at her stomach. It's a little rounder than she remembered. She frowns and tugs on her shirt, pulling it down to hide her roundness. She looks at the peanut butter and shoves it across the table.
- I need some more rent money.
- I don't have any.
- Why don't you call your dad?
- Why don't you get a job?
- Your dad's loaded and he loves you. That's like a rarity or something these days.
- Don't you find it emasculating that I pay for everything? I thought guys cared about that.
- Jesus. Forget it. He drops himself on the bed and stretches out on it, staring up at the dimpled ceiling. He rubs his thumb over the lip of the beer bottle.
- You can't live here forever.
- My god, he sighs. Are you still here? Sean gives him a dirty look and starts looking for her clothes. She says under her breath:
- You're a pagan. You don't deserve God's name on your lips.
- It's a figure of speech.
- Still a pagan. You're gonna rot in hell.
- If wishes were ponies, babe. If wishes were ponies...

road trip: western united states

2007-08-13T00:14:00.001-07:00

i have posted photos from my road trip. you can find them here.

sunshine

2007-08-07T00:04:00.001-07:00

just remember it takes eight minutes for light to travel from sun to earth, which means you'll know we succeeded about eight minutes after we deliver the payload. all you have to is look out for a little extra brightness in the sky. so if you wake up one morning and it's a particularly beautiful day, you'll know we made it.

- sunshine

sunshine is about 8 astronauts, whose mission is to deliver a nuclear payload the size of manhattan into the sun. why? well, the sun is dying and they are attempting to reignite the sun, because if the sun dies, so do we. the spaceship delivering the payload is called icarus 2. this is the second and last attempt, as the first attempt, icarus 1, was mysteriously never heard from, disappearing seven years ago. needless to say, the crew of icarus 1 failed in their attempt, for unknown reasons.

as they get near the sun and enter into the "dead zone" which is basically the point of no return, where their communications to earth will no longer be heard, the crew stumbles upon the icarus 1 vessel. here, they take an ill thought out, yet somewhat logical step to salvage the payload from the first ship. the thinking is, since this is their last shot, two last shots are better than one. this turns out to be a fatal mistake.

the script is written by alex garland, who also wrote 28 days later, which is a far better movie. comparing a zombie movie to a space movie isn't really doable, except for the fact that both were written by alex garland, who is predictable in his writing. basically, what you know is that there will be humans faced with extraordinary situations, which usually end in a bloodbath. what's interesting about garland's writing, is that he always asks interesting questions, even though the ending is usually predictable. sunshine is no exception. here, garland weighs interesting questions, such as how expendable is a person's life when weighed against the success of the mission, which means the salvation of humanity? and how much of our humanity can be lost, or how much of it are we willing to part with, in order to succeed? is compassion or dignity important when faced with life and death? to some of the astronauts, it is important to keep what makes us human, to others, nothing matters except the success of the mission. in this particular circumstance, i'd have to agree with the latter. you can cry about it later.

there is an interesting scene where some of the crew debate what they must do to survive. in this situation, it is about oxygen. there is an accident, and they don't have enough oxygen to survive long enough to deliver the payload. actually, they do, so long as they lose a few people. and as the situation goes from bad to worse to hopeless, these questions get asked more often. the cast gets shaved down, and they begin to wonder just how minimal the numbers can get in order to fulfill the mission? each of the 8 astronauts fulfills a specific role. so who is expendable? the gardener? the psychologist? the communications officer? the captain? the physicist? and so on.

the movie isn't anything special, in that we've seen all these things in every other space movie ever made. nobody said garland was original. but it was entertaining for what it was. it was released in the uk months ago, so there are dvd rips online that you can scam if you want, but i chose to see it in the theatre and i'm glad i did, because it's a very visceral visual experience. they do an excellent job of recreating the sun on screen.

road films

2007-08-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

so i just got back from my two week vacation. i took a road trip down to the united states. the trip comprised of over 7000 km, driving through 8 states, and as with all road trips, lots of interesting stories. more on that later.

it's no secret that i have a thing for road trips. i love road trip films, and i love writing about them, mostly because i think they're such great vehicles for stories. that being said, i thought i might compile a short list of some of the better road films that i've come across in recent memory. they are listed in no particular order. i'm too lazy to give much of a description, save for a short blip:

kalifornia

tell me, big shot, how you gonna write a book about something you know nothing about?

- early, in kalifornia.

kalifornia is very worthy and interesting meditation on violence and living it vs writing about it. white violent itself, it never uses violence for anything other than to further the plot. this is classic just to see david duchovny in his pre x-files days.

true romance

i always said, if i had to fuck a guy... i mean had to, if my life depended on it... i'd fuck elvis.

- clarence woreley, in true romance.

true romance indulges in violence with glee, very hard to watch at times, but entertaining for its controlled chaos. while kalifornia spends all its time thinking about the meaning of violence, true romance does the exact opposite: in fact, one can't help think if tarantino has ever seriously thought about the consequences of violence. i don't think he has, because he shows now attempt at any sort of responsibility in any of his writing. personally, i don't think he's smart enough. but he writes fun dialogue, that's for sure.

the motorcycle diaries

you gotta fight for every breath and tell death to go to hell.

- ernesto, in the motorcycle diaries.

the motorcycle diaries is about two men, ernesto guevara and alberto granado who go on a trip on the back of an old motorcycle. ernesto would later be known more famously as the revolutionary, che guevara. political without the preaching.

y tu mama tambien

luisa: you have to make the clitoris your best friend.
tenoch: what kind of friend is always hiding?

- y tu mama tambien.

y tu mama tambien is basically about two horny teenage boys who go on a trip with a much older woman. that's about it. it's pretty simple, and of course there are revelations about the woman and the boys grow to know more about themselves and each other. there's no new ground covered here, but it's just well made and acted and has quite a lot of heart.

world traveler

women are just different than men. they want different things. i mean, jesus christ, i don't want to see anyone for that many days in a row.

- cal, in world traveler.

world traveler is about a man who one day, without warning, just gets up and abandons his wife and child. he goes on the road in search of something that he's been thinking about for a very long time. this is a very slow moving film, relying more on mood than anything else, but it is very good. cal, the main character, meets all sorts of people, especially women. if there's anything true about this film, is the women. you certainly do meet interesting women while on the road. again, more on that later in a different post.

californiaaaaaa, californiaaaaaa, here i come...!

2007-07-18T13:38:00.001-07:00

so i will be taking a much needed and deserved three week vacation this friday. my friend and i will be heading down the coastline to the deepest south of california, possibly crossing over into mexico. we'll see. it's a road trip that i've been looking forward to all year. and it couldn't have come at a better time, as this is about the halfway point of the year, and a good a time as any to switch gears. with most of the past year behind me, there's only the future to look forward to.

at any rate, i won't be documenting the trip as thoroughly as i initially wanted to (didn't bother to purchase a camcorder), but i should have some good pictures that i will post on my panoramic blog when i return. i am leaving at an awkward time for my writing, however, considering how much of a roll i'd been on as of late, but hopefully the ideas will come fast and furious during the trip; they usually do.

as is my tradition with road trips, i will be taking along some steinbeck. this time, it will be his east of eden. i've always had a pretty deep connection to his books while traveling, so this time should be no exception.

it's been about a good fifteen or sixteen years since i'd been to california. just what do i plan on doing while i'm there? well, i basically intend on playing in the super mario 3 playoffs and schooling fred savage's retarded brother with the power glove. because i love the powerglove. it's so bad. first person to guess what movie that reference is from, gets a coke. long days, sunny beaches and roadside diners, here i come!

breakthrough

2007-07-17T01:46:00.000-07:00

i really didn't think i'd get a breakthrough on this novel. but it just sort of happened. at 1:45 am exactly as i was listening to some brandi carlile (what an amazing voice. but i digress...) I've been up until now writing, or trying to write, and basically not thinking too hard about anything. then it just came to me. i finally know what the book is about. it's about searching. which, ironically, is what i'd been doing this whole time for the past year, trying to search for the meaning of the book.

i've grown quite fond of writing for these characters. they're far more fleshed out and three dimensional than in previous incarnations. it helps now that i've been pasting together bits and pieces of various personalities and personal experiences, which makes for some messed up blurring of reality and memory, but it's all good.

although i haven't written tonnes, i've been on a bit of a roll. i'm just wondering what will happen once i leave for california this friday. basically, i figure it will totally block me up, or i'll write most of the book in my mind during the trip and then when i get back, write nonstop for weeks on end and finish a first draft. not bloody likely, but a guy can wish.

anyway, here's a little snippet i wrote before my breakthrough. sons and their fathers. at worst, hatred, at best, indifference. although sometimes quite positive. note the musical references. you can usually tell when i've been listening to way too much music. it usually ends up creeping into my writing.

- I saw my father this morning.
- You did not.
- Oh I did.
- Billy, your father is on the dark side of the moon. Figure of speech, of course.
- No, I saw him, Elton. I woke up this morning and I looked in to the mirror, and there he was. His nose, his eyebrows, his chin.
- Ah. So you had one of those, "I can't believe I look like that prick" moments, did you? Well, don't sweat it; it happens to everyone. When's the last time you spoke to him anyway?
- A couple months ago. He called. We talked. I mean, we didn't talk. We exchanged words. I figure it's a success if we can go for a full minute without one of us just resorting to audible grunts. It doesn't matter. That's all scar tissue anyway.
- Well, my dad's a cocksucker. So we're both better off.

entourage: medellian

2007-07-16T01:19:00.000-07:00

entourage is now five episodes deep into its forth season, and it's been a pretty good ride so far. vince has just wrapped his dream project, medellin, with walsh (queens boulevard) as director, and it appears that the producers of entourage are having some fun with medellin. they have created a website, www.medellinthefilm.com, which now actually has a trailer for the fake film that you can go and watch.

i have to admit, i get a kick out of extra stuff like this outside of the show, particularly because i have no life and i surf the net constantly. i was pretty unimpressed with most of the second half of season three, but i am pleased to say that season four is back on track. here are some photos from medellian:

augustana

2007-07-15T23:03:00.000-07:00

yeah, i know it's emo. i don't want to hear one word about it.

snafu

2007-07-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

just a few things: i've been playing around with my new macbook and i have to say, it's pretty awesome. it's whisper quiet, looks amazing, and runs smoother than a nun on a slip and slide. gotta give it up to apple on this one.

okay, so this is messed up: i just realized that i cannot install the sony program on my mac so i can upload the songs to my sony mp3 player. hmm. interesting. sony, one of the biggest names in the industry, won't make their program compatible with macs. you can't see it, but there's a huge vein in my forehead that's throbbing right now.

options? a) do the unnatural and get windows running on the mac. b) continue with the freezer notebook. c) buy an ipod or alternative mp3 player that will ACTUALLY LET YOU UPLOAD ON A MAC!

wow, i never had a problem with sony up until now, even though they've done some pretty bs stuff before. i've always liked their products, their warranty is top notch and you can get their stuff serviced anywhere. yes, the sony sonicstage software is horrible, but i always got around its quirks. i also really do love their mp3 players, especially the new video mp3 player, but this is just too much. i had been planning on buying their new mp3 player once my 20g died, but it looks like i'll have to hold off on it.

for now though, i've shoved my notebook back in the freezer so i can upload some iron and wine. i want to kill someone right now. perhaps i can use this defense: you're honor, i had no choice. sony's proprietary bull shit made me do it.

into the wild

2007-07-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

new music by eddie vedder.

freezer notebook

2007-07-11T12:14:00.001-07:00

gather around and i'll tell you a tale... monday night, i came home and turned on my laptop. it had been dying a very slow, grueling death for about six months now, and i suppose monday night was the end of it. i knew there was a massive problem with the fan and possibly the hard drive, but was in denial about it the way you pretend not to notice your hair is falling out, so i never backed up my work. stupid, stupid move.

so anyway, the computer would turn on for thirty seconds, the fan would go apeshit, sounding more like a turbine engine than a computer fan, then it would die. now, normally i don't really have anything too important, but my writing was on there, as were my personal photos for my photo blog. with regards to the writing, nothing of it was important, except one file, which was the novel i was working on. i had written some good stuff and i didn't want to lose it. well, i couldn't get the information off, because it would die before i could even upload anything onto an external hard drive or even onto gmail as storage. so i decided to leave it overnight. yesterday morning, i tried to turn it on, but again, it wouldn't. then something snapped inside my head. i swear to you, i thought i heard something actually break in my skull. i punched the computer several times. a chunk of plastic flew off it. i still don't know what it is for. this of course didn't make the computer work any better.

so i bit the bullet and walked down to the local best buy and purchased a macbook. nothing too crazy, just the middle of the road one since i don't really have tonnes of money right now. it's a good thing i got refunded on my financial course by work, which helped pay for part of the computer. i was just sick of having to fix my computer all the time and i just wanted something stable, even if apple refuses to go green, and even though steve jobs needs a good curb stomping.

i am definitely no big apple fan; i hate the ipod, their commercials irritate me, i despise their warranty support (as a former warranty coordinator for an electronics company, i realized they had the worst support ever, for both business and customer support, which is why i went with the best buy warranty instead - seriously, what kind of company gives you a limit on technical support over the phone?) and apple always seemed too smug for my tastes. always a little too high and mighty. however... i have always been a fan of their macbooks, which is why i ended up buying one. i'm not above giving props when they're due, and while the ipod may be an over hyped scam and the iphone is even more of one, they make a good laptop.

so, back to my computer: i had to figure out how to get the info off my hard drive without paying a large sum of money for some technician to do it for me. i was also too lazy to do it myself. my friend chris told me i should put the computer in the fridge, as a means of keeping it cool long enough to get the info off the hard drive. so i went one step further and shoved it in the freezer. as we speak, my precious info is being downloaded onto an external hard drive, which is about two minutes away from being free. hey, as ludicrous as that sounds, you can't argue against results.

as they say: a picture is worth a thousand words...

are you superbad?

2007-07-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

anything with george michaels in it, i definitely have to see.

iron & wine

2007-07-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

make it brief

2007-07-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

it's funny how the writing process works. a while ago, i lost my first draft of giants. i was pretty close to finishing it, and then i saved over it on my computer. whether it was by mistake or on purpose (subconsciously), it doesn't really matter now because it's gone. after that, i started going through some of my old writing and came across zero sum, my failed work on misogyny. i basically decided to re-write it, with a tentative new title, hideous. well, after digging a little further, and going through my old files, i found some sporadic bits and pieces of giants. these were early drafts of the story. i found that my early ideas for it involved some pretty malicious things, psychologically of course, no real physical violence with any characters. upon reading this material, i found that i had let the story get away from me, involving political intrigue and vampires of all things. the heart of the story, was basically about two guys trying to make something of themselves, of trying to become bigger than the average person, of trying to do something truly grandiose.

i have decided to go back to the original draft of giants and rework it from the ground up. gone are the subplots with vampires and politics. what i have now, i think, is a very bare bones versions of my original story. as complicated as things have been lately, i find that it's better to go simple. go small. so that's what i'm doing. as a method of going smaller, my writing has also become brief. gone are the masses and masses of paragraphs of artsy descriptions. i find that i can basically condense a paragraph of descriptions by just writing one line or even one word, so long as it's the right word. dialogue has taken forefront in this book for sure. not just simple conversations, but also long drawn out soliloquies. yes, that's right, i'm bringing back the soliloquy. it's been out of vogue for some time now, but i think it's time for a come back. the book will also be very screenplay-esque, meaning some chapters will be nothing but dialogue and very little description.

so what is the story about? i'm not too sure right now, probably a mix of giants and hideous. we'll see. i'm trying not to think too hard about it and to just write. the basic crux of it will still be about two guys trying to make something big of their lives. i've always been really focused and interested in what makes men tick, the male psyche, so i may delve along those lines again with this book. i'll probably focus on male insecurities and male vanity.

i've written about five pages so far. nothing special, just a meandering intro as i try to feel my way back into the writing process. it's been six months since i've seriously thought about writing, but now that my financial course is done, i can move on and get creative. this means also reading some new books. i'm also going to try some new writing methods, or rather, return to old writing methods. usually i sequester myself in my apartment and hammer out a book, but this time i think i'll go public. when i was travelling a few years ago in europe, i wrote most of desert sessions down on a pad of paper. whenever i got ideas i wrote it down in the pad and when i got back from europe, i had most of the book written down either on the pad of paper or in my head, so all i had to do was type it down. i have a two week california road trip ahead of me at the end of this month, so i think i will try the same method again. it was successful one time, why not twice? i've already started taking a pad of paper with me everywhere i go, and i've been doing some interesting writing at the beach and even at work.

the following is an excerpt of one of many pages of nothing but dialogue. it may seem disembodied and out of context but it's not. i think you get enough of an idea of where the conversation is taking place without spelling it out.

- How big do you think a man can get?
- Genetics. Heredity. Roids.
- No, I don't mean like that.
- What... like when a man gets a gun? That inflated sense of self worth?
- No, I mean big, as in bigger than what's in front of you. What's in the mirror.
- What did that waitress put in your drink? He leans over and peers into Billy's glass.
- Knock it off, Elton. I'm talking about being bigger than the physical self.
- Like bigger than Jesus.
- Exactly.
- Why do you have to do this? He leans back in his seat, arms outstretched. You're always thinking, Billy. Always thinking.
- I can't help it.
- So what's it like? Having all that static in your head like that? Gotta figure it's like surfing on radio waves.
- It's tough sometimes. You know, weeding out the miscellaneous thoughts. But I get by.
- Barely.
- I get by.
- So Get Smart: where are you now?
- I guess I didn't tell you; I met a girl.
- A girl? Elton laughs.
- And how is that not plausible?
- I'm not laughing at you. Believe me. Who is she?
- A waitress.
- Here?
- No, downtown.
- She hot?
- I think so.
- See why do you say that? If I ask you if she's hot, just say she's hot. What does it matter whether I think she's hot or not?
- That's not what I said.
- That's what you were implying. Why else say "I think so?" Either she's hot or not, it's that simple. So how'd you meet her?
- I don't know. I woke up and she was there, in my bed.
- You've fallen in love with a one night stand? I suppose if anybody can do that it's you.
- She wasn't a one night stand. At least, I don't think so. I honestly don't remember. She was just there.
- So now girls are miraculously appearing in your bed. You really are working this Jesus angle, aren't you?
- Jesus never got no pussy.
- Neither have you.
- Fuck you.
- Fuck me? Fuck you, buddy. Elton leans over the restaurant table and punches Billy in the shoulder. I know I haven't seen you in three years, but holy shit man, you haven't changed. Not one single annoying molecule.
- I liked you better when this friendship was long distance.
- Whatever. China was overrated. Seriously man, don't believe the hype: the Chinese don't know shit about king-fu if you get what I mean.
- No. I don't.
- So when do I get to meet her? He runs his fingers through his short cropped brown hair.
- As if I'm going to introduce her to you. I gotta get in her head first before allowing your grubby hands on her.
- Like I want your girl. I have my own girl so you don't have to worry about that.
- You've been back for two days.
- What can I say? I work fast. Elton looks out the window of the diner. The rain pelts against the window. Dense and flooding the empty streets. Drowning the city of levy. This goddamned rain, he sighs.

c'est moi

2007-07-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

so i was perusing various blogs and my friend posted a picture of what he would look like if he were a character on the simpsons. well, it looked like too much fun so i went and created my own avatar. say hello to loring 2.0. hot stuff. and yes, i am that asian in real life. ha!
want to be a part of sprinfield? go here.

keith olbermann vs the administration: resign.

2007-07-05T20:12:00.001-07:00

transformers

2007-07-03T00:20:00.000-07:00

i bought a car. turned out to be an alien robot. who knew? - sam, transformers.

i just saw the first showing of transformers, and i say this without any hyperbole: this is the best, silly, summer flick of the last few years. this is what summer movies are supposed to be about: fun. i had the advantage of seeing the movie with some die-hard transformers fans, children of the '80's who grew up with autobots and decepticons. for some of these people, optimus prime was more of a father to them then their actual biological fathers. for the two and a half years he graced the small screen, i too spent more time with optimus than my actual father. optimus prime instilled loyalty and honour and fighting for what was right. so needless to say, i had high hopes for this film.

i just want to start my review by acknowledging michael bay. many people were angry at all the changes done to the transformers (re: flames on optimus prime) and bay didn't help douse any of those flames with his screw-you-i'm-the-director-attitude. if michael bay were still in highschool, he'd be the guy kicking sand in your face and walking off with your girlfriend. perhaps that's why geeks hate him so much. that being said, bay has directed some ultimate cheeseball summer flicks in the past (armageddon, the rock, pearl harbor). some were more successful than others, but there is one thing for certain: no one directs action the way he does. he is quite possibly one of the best action directors in the world, so much so that he even has his own film genre dedicated to him: the michael bay genre, which is light on character development, heavy on the cheese, using style over substance and gimmicky camera techniques that are all overwhelmed by huge action set pieces.

i was not one of the people who reacted negatively to michael bay directing the film, primarily because when it came down to a transformers movie, all i wanted was giant fucking robots, and that's what bay gave me, and more. i knew he would deliver a great action movie: what i didn't know was that he would also deliver a movie with so much heart, which is what the original transformers had in spades. bay even pokes fun of himself, showing a great sense of humour. (remember the 360 degree rotating gun shoot out in bad boys 2? well, he does the same thing here except with decepticons. very funny). i had very few expectations, but some really high hopes, the highest of which was to be able to relive my childhood, which i was able to do.

there really is no better way to do this review except by breaking it down into parts. i will leave this as spoiler-free as possible.

1) the plot: the basic plot starts off with a boy and his first car. sam gets his first car, a vintage camero, who just happens to be the transformer bumblebee. sam is in love with mikaela, who's the resident hottie. what happens is a chain of events that unfolds a bigger plot wherein a cube called the allspark is the target of everyone's desires. the allspark is a cube that can give life to machinery and rebuild whole planets. on cybertron, the home planet of the autobots (the good guys) and the decepticons (the bad guys), a war raged over the allspark, as megatron, leader of the decepticons, desired to use the allspark to take over the universe. the allspark was lost during the war, and it was said to have landed on earth, where megatron, back in the 1800's, crash landed in the arctic searching for it. and there he lay frozen beneath the earth until an exploder, sam's decendent, stumbled upon his frozen body which was then kept a secret to the rest of the world by the united states military. the autobots come down to earth to find the allspark, and protect it from megatron and his decepticons.

2) the characters: i was very surprised with the human element of the story. in fact, the humans provided for most of the laughs. there is an incredibly funny sequence where bumblebee, unknowing to everyone else, tries to help sam get together with mikaela. the scene is filled with 80's music and just gives us a tonne of laughs. shia lebeouf is just amazing in the movie. he shows great comic timing, and really delivers on the film. it would be easy to be overshadowed by all the big robots, but his character is really well written. megan fox, as mikaela, is all sorts of sweaty and pouty lips. she is adequate, and her chemistry with shia, while it may not be the best, works for this picture. even sam's parents, while totally cheesy, were hilarious. there is a scene where his parents are discussing sam's masturbation habits which is quite a riot.

3) the transformers: the robots are amazing. they are a work of art. they actually look more real in the daylight than in the night scenes, which is the opposite of how cgi usually works. usually with cgi, shadows and darkness are the two best elements, because you can hide the flaws. the special fx team of industrial light and magic really outdid themselves this time. the robots, particularly the autobots, were quite personable. some of them didn't have as much screen time as the others, but they all were able to show off their individual personalities. even bumblebee, who cannot speak through the whole movie because of a damaged voice box, shows just as much personality as the rest of the humans through the way the fx people animated him. i was worried that this wouldn't feel like a transformers movie, but rather just a big alien robot invasion movie. well, my fears were unfounded. it is a transformers movie. the robots may not look exactly like how i remembered them, but their essence is essentially the same. the movie captured the heart of the original show the way the lord of the rings movies captured the truth of the tolkien novels.

4) the military: it is clear that michael bay has a great relationship with the military. the film is basically one big recruiting video, as much as it is a gm car commercial. for once, the military is used properly in a large scale invasion movie like this. unlike independence day, where the military's weaponry was ineffective against the alien invasion, here, the military gets to show off a bit, as they turn out to be quite effective against the alien robots. i have to say, that the one thing i do have faith in the human race for, is the ability to kill. no species can kill as well as we can. it's not a trait to be proud of, but if history has shown us anything, it's this: when push comes to shove, humans can fight, and they know how to blow stuff up real good. if there ever is a real alien invasion movie, i'd put money on the humans to kill them dead any time. never underestimate the power of fear, paranoia, and human genius.

5) the action: my god, there is so much action. but i wanted more. more more more. seriously, i could have done with another whole hour tacked on with nothing but pure action. michael bay proves that he was basically born to do transformers. all the cheese in the world is squeezed into this film. usually, i roll my eyes when bay does his typical tricks, but in this film, it just all worked. all the drawn out slow motion shots, all the needless 360 camera angles, all the pretty girls with wind blowing in their hair... it's all good. it's cheese, but i loved it. and for a pg-13 movie, there was plenty of human deaths and robot mutilations to make the film push the limit of the pg-13 designation.

6) the cars: a huge complaint was all the product placement in the film. not only of all the gm cars, but of little things like mountain dew, or panasonic memory cards. what people have to realize is that product placement is part of the game now, and it's a means of keeping costs down. what transformers producer would have turned down an offer by gm to not only give them a bunch of free cars to destroy, but also prototypes like the new camero? also, the original transformers was just a way to sell the toys. it was one big marketing campaign. hasbro even made the transformers cartoon movie as a means to get rid of the old transformers, and introduce a whole new line of toys. so fan boys just need to shut up already about the product placement. your beloved franchise was nothing but a giant commercial to begin with, so deal with it.

7) gripes: there are some minor ones here, such as the simplistic nature of the plot, but hey, i was never expecting shakespeare. the action was a little too fast at times. there was either the really quick mtv-style rapid fire cut of action, or there was the slow motion extended take, and pretty much nothing in between. the decepticons were sometimes hard to tell apart in the final battle sequence, mostly due to the fact that they all sort of show up in the last forty minutes without much of an intro to the individual characters, but then again, in the original cartoon, the only ones that really had any personality were probably megatron and starscream. the decepticons were mostly a bland greyish colour, which made it hard to tell them apart sometimes when you include the frenzied action sequences. it would have helped if they had some bright colours to them, like the autobots, whose distinctive patterns and colour design really made them pop and stand out from all the meyhem.

overall, i was totally satisfied with the film. it has been a long, long time since i've seen a film that has kept me engrossed throughout from the very first frame to the very last one. i was totally red in the face and flushed after seeing the movie, as if i had my very own geekgasm. michael bay has had a lot of criticism hurled his way before anyone had ever seen a single frame of the movie, the biggest insults resembling something like, "damn you michael bay, you ruined my childhood." well, if those same people went to see the film, i think they'll be pleasantly surprised that their childhood is not only kept in tact, but nourished and celebrated even. this film has everything any geek would ever want. basically, everything that i hoped would happen, actually happened. it was awesome.

i have to say, this was the best movie going experience i've ever had. sitting in with that die-hard crowd and cheering through the movie was great. just feeling the energy of people cheering when bumblebee gets into that first car chase, or when optimus prime transforms for the first time, or even when the hasbro logo comes on screen... it was amazing. this is definitely what the movie going experience is about. it doesn't get much more pure than this.

the following is hbo's special on transformers:

interpol

2007-07-01T13:54:00.001-07:00

brandi carlile

2007-06-26T09:21:00.001-07:00

the last honest man in politics?

2007-06-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

chris matthews interviews third party and perennial election "spoiler," ralph nader on whether he will run for the presidency in 2008. it will be a good thing for politics if ralph nader runs again. some (basically democrats) blame him for george w. bush being elected back in 2000. well, let's quash this right here: bush won because al gore fucked up. gore should have won and he didn't. he wasn't leftist enough or centralist enough or charismatic enough or whatever: he just wasn't good enough. you can blame nader, and even the supreme court, but the truth is, gore even lost his home state of tennessee. and that's the flat out truth. without people like nader, we'd all might as well get lobotomized.

the hour vs christopher hitchens

2007-06-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

the hour with yet another great interview with the controversial and amusing christopher hitchens, author of god is not great: how religion poisons everything. he is quite possibly the iron fist of the athiest movement.

lest we forget...

2007-06-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

the globe and mail has the bios of the fallen canadian soldiers. it is clear that humanity is stuck in a reoccuring nightmare. we keep talking about learning from history, but no one ever truly does. at least we can try to remember those who have given their lives. regardless of the politics, a soldier is a soldier. they are braver than us all. here is the link.

no time for love, doctor jones...

2007-06-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

iran moves to execute porn stars. at least that's the headline on cnn. iran's parliament voted in favor of a bill that would lead to the death penalty for persons convicted of working in the production of pornographic movies. this includes producers, directors, cameramen and actors involved in the making of said porn. apparently pornography violates morality laws within that country, and anyone found to be involved in porn are sentenced to punishment as "corruptor of the world," which is a term taken from the quran, the muslims' holy book, and ranks as the highest on the scale of an individual's criminal offenses. under iran's islamic penal code, it carries a death penalty, though in this case, the bill envisages convictions from one year imprisonment to a death sentence for the main distributors of the movies and also producers of web sites in which the pornographic works appear. to become law, the bill requires an approval by the guardian council, a constitutional watchdog in iran.

it is widely believed that the drafting of the bill came about as a reaction to a scandal last year, when a private videotape, apparently belonging to iranian actress zahra amirebrahimi, allegedly showing her having intercourse with a man, became available across Iran. ebrahimi later came under an official investigation, which is still ongoing. she faces fines, whip lashing or worse for her violation of iran's morality laws.

now culture is culture, and to a degree cultures must be respected. the tricky thing about morality is that it's such a subjective thing. there are no absolutes when it comes to morality, even killing; morality can be changed or redefined. and there can be exceptions to morality. in most instances, killing is not allowed, but it appears that in some cases, killing someone is perfectly fine. the problem with legislating morality and condemning people to death, is that those doing the condemning and executing had better not have any skeletons in their own closets. but that shouldn't be a problem, because they themselves are so perfect and without temptation, and they themselves are omniscient, right? because only an omniscient being could possibly know whether a person is 100% guilty of a crime in order to condemn them to death. and it's a good thing that omniscient beings never make mistakes either!

i know it's not politically correct to say that one culture is inferior to another, but i'm just gonna say it: western society is better. the individual freedom that are allowed, and the amount of benefit of the doubt given to responsible adults is unparalleled. the respect for women and religious beliefs and personal predilections is amazing. all in all, i'd rather live here than anywhere else. personally, i like the idea of being able to burn a flag while guzzling absinthe and masturbating to girl on girl midget bondage porn in the comfort of my own home. not that i'd do it, of course, but at least i have that option to. and that's what matters.

hideous

2007-06-10T22:04:00.002-07:00

some ideas have been formulating in this big brain of mine ever since i wrote my rant on misogyny last week. these ideas have been battling for attention between my studying and the left over ideas from my now long deleted novel, giants.

when a writer has good ideas, it's hard to let them go when they don't exactly work out, and that's what happened to giants. there are still a lot of good ideas left over from the book that i want to use, but for the most part, i'm going to have to let them go. that's the toughest part about writing: making decisions. sometimes you just have to cut loose good ideas even though it may hurt a heck of a lot to see them go. i have to learn to get over it. it's pretty much the only way i'll ever be able to write something new. i'm pretty much there now. so this leaves some room for some new ideas to come about.

first up is hideous, which is the working title for my next book. it's going to take a closer look at single male culture in out society. i came up with a few ideas for the title of the book, but eventually i ended up with hideous just for the sheer immensity of possibilities it entails, all the while being nothing more than a three syllable word.

hideous will basically be a stripped down version of everything i'd written in the past, incorporating parts of another failed novel, zero sum, with new ideas and story arcs. misogyny will be the main theme, but a secondary aspect of a stripped down nature will take effect. everything from the writing to the eventual characters will be stripped bare. i'm hoping to rid my writing of this constant problem of being too artsy. hideous is a dirty topic so i don't want fluttering prose, if you know what i mean. i want the writing to be more like machine-gun fire. simple. direct. just. like. this. maybe not exactly like that, but you get what i mean.

i don't really intend on pulling any punches this time around either. there are a lot of things that i'd write in the past but get rid of at the last moment. i'm my own worst censor sometimes and i cop out a lot when it comes to writing. too much sometimes.

hideous will hopefully be a braver attempt. it's going to have to be considering the salacious nature of the topic. it's the dark and dirty sides of men that really scare people. and i'm not talking about killers or rapists or child molesters (although they are plenty scary). what i'm talking about are psychopaths. psychopaths in the truest sense of the word: without empathy or remorse.

you see psychopaths everywhere these days. they're at your work place, they date your sisters they may even be a drinking buddy. they're everywhere, these self-serving, emotionally walled up individuals. and when it comes down to it, they blame everyone but themselves, particularly women.

so what have i got so far? well, i have a half a dozen characters that are all dressed up with nowhere to go. these characters are fully developed, but the plot isn't. at this point, i've been throwing around various ideas, debating everything from where to locate the book to what perspective it should be written from.

what i do know is that it will be focused on three men: billy, elton and norm. one's a romantic, another is a jealous monster, and the third is a bona fide psychopath. hopefully i can put a fresh take on these characters. for example, the jealous monster is not the type of jealousy you think. it's not about being jealous of another guy. far from it.

there are a couple of female characters but i debated whether to bother to give them names or even physically describe them. because really, to these three men, it doesn't matter who the women are: it's women in general they have hang ups with. women and themselves. i thought that might be an interesting twist, to make all the women in the novel indistinguishable, to make them the "every woman." but then i thought about it some more and i figured i'd probably come across as a misogynist myself, which is not what i'm trying to portray. but hey, if i'm not going to pull punches, those punches would have to eventually be directed at myself, yes? i've always found that kind of writing interesting. when the author is willing to make himself look like a fool, it's sometimes a good thing. we'll see.

ultimately, i suppose, i will give have a principle female character, because it just wouldn't work without a central emotional pivot point. at any rate, i'll be posting excerpts on this site as they come about. more later...

joseph arthur and the lonely astronauts

2007-06-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

hollywood hoopla

2007-06-08T13:47:00.001-07:00

i told myself i wouldn't be a part of the celebrity circus that is hollywood, but i just can't help myself this time. paris hilton is going back to jail. she had spent a couple of days in jail, then managed to work out a deal with the l.a. sheriff's office to fulfill the remainder of her sentence at home with an electronic monitoring device based on an unexplained "medical condition." (ahem... since when is crying a medical condition?) but then the judge michael sauer ordered her back to jail, insistent that she carry out the original sentence he issued, which was a 45 day jail term.

paris hilton is the embodiment of the worst of celebrity worship. she does nothing, produces nothing, contributes nothing... yet she is a celebrity somehow that some girls, unfortunately, look up to and aspire to. i suppose you could blame her for the rash of "dumb" girls lately; meaning smart young girls purposely behaving idiotic and being proud of being stupid. she is a sycophantic media whore who, ironically, is now being paraded around handcuffed and in tears in front of the same media that made her a celebrity.

my only fear is that she will probably serve out her sentence, then sell her story for a nice hefty sum and write some silly tell all book about her "ordeal." now, i am not a class warrior, nor do i particularly care about the rich and their predilections. however, her mere presence is a pox on society; the worst kind of low level celebrity peon. regardless, whatever happens two months from now, this one picture of her bawling is worth it. i'm not a person who usually takes pleasure in other people's misery, but i'll take exception this one time.

some people say she's not being treated fairly. that the average norm for someone who has committed the crime she has would have had to only endure 10% of her sentance. it's as if she's being singled out for being paris. well, at this point, it's not about being fair: it's about how funny it is. three words: eat it, paris.

iraq veterans against the war

2007-06-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

the iraq war has cost the lives of over 3,500 us soldiers and approximately 70,000 iraqi civilian deaths, a number that is on the conservative side, with no real way to tell how many have actually died since the war began.

the bush administration staged a phony war for personal gain. so iraq veterans who are now against the war in which they were told to fight in, staged a phony war of their own. holding imaginary guns and roughing up volunteers posing as iraqi civilians, iraq veterans against the war brought the realities of the iraq debacle to the streets of new york, in a memorial day protest that turned times square, union square and the world trade center site into combat zones. essentially, they reenacted some of the things they did while serving their country in the single most largest foreign policy blunder since the vietnam war.

lewis black: comedian

2007-06-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

the daily show's lewis black jokes about bush and the democratic party's inability to win.

lewis black on george bush and evolution:

misogyny

2007-06-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

misogyny is defined as the hatred, dislike or mistrust of women. it's something that is quite alive and kicking today in our society. and by our society, i mean western society. sure, men don't stone their wives for adultery, but there is an uneasiness that sort of persists just under the thin layer of political correctness. most notably, single guy culture seems to be brimming with it.

this is a topic that a friend and i began discussing one day through emails. and it's quite fascinating. as a single guy, hanging out in clubs and bars, you really start to get a feel for what it is like for other single guys, specifically marauding groups of single guys, which is where this type of behavior is the worst. you've seen the types: wannabe dominant alpha males who strut like peacocks; emphasis on cocks.

it seems to me that the more i hang out in groups like that, the more subtly my own behavior changes. because when in these types of groups, all of a sudden, women aren't women or girls or even chicks... they're "bitches." as in, "what a hot bitch." or, "check out that bitch." now why is there a need to call a woman a bitch? or a slut? how do you know she's a slut? personally, i don't believe that there are bad words. words are words, it's what you make of them that makes them bad or good. and i don't think the majority of guys think ill of women or want any harm to women, but there is something just so dark about single guy culture. because in that culture, it tend to be women that are to blame for most of the problems. suddenly a woman is a bitch or a slut because she refused the drink you offered her. the problem is never the guy, who may be a sleaze, or the reality that the woman getting hit on may have different preferences or may already have a boyfriend. no, the problem is always that woman that turns you down, or rejects you. i mean, obviously there's something wrong with her if she doesn't want you?

and not all guys behave like this, but i've been with enough guys, and have enough male friends to know that it's much harder to look within oneself, to find out that perhaps women aren't the problem, but you are. and there's also the aspect of betrayal. when you have a group of single guys, there's that saying, "bros before hoes." and when one guy suddenly breaks off after getting a girlfriend, suddenly that's a betrayal to the guy code. the funny thing is, i believe every guy secretly wants to break away, to find that special girl. maybe we don't want to admit it, but perhaps we all need a little saving now and then? there's probably a good reason for why married men end up living on average longer than single men, right?

now i'm not a psychologist, but just from my own observations and interactions with friend and neighbors, i find that women tend to turn inward and beat themselves up where as men tend to exact their frustrations out on something else, anyone else. perhaps that's why when some women are in abusive relationships, they feel that they're the problem, that perhaps they did something wrong to make their normally loving and gentle boyfriends or husbands physically hurt them. whereas with some men, instead of trying to figure out what's wrong with themselves, they start the blame game and sometimes you get a guy that ends up shooting up a school or office space. because all of a sudden, it's society's fault that they can't get a job, or it's the supposed feminization of western culture that is to blame for why they can't be happy, or it's a woman's fault because they were passed over for a job promotion or entry into a prestigious school. honestly, when's the last time you heard of a woman picking up an assault rifle and walking into a classroom and shooting everything in sight?

now i don't presume to know the minds of others, i only say what i've noticed in the behavior of certain men i have come across in the pub and club scenes. i don't know if it's the alcohol, but there seems to be a boiling frustration with single men. most of my male friend are married now, and they met their signifiant others fairly early on, either straight out of highschool or in university, so many of them haven't lived the single life for very long, and certainly none of them have been hanging out in bars or clubs. i'm not talking about these guys; i'm talking about guys that have actively been on the "hunt." Prowling from bar to bar, club to club, looking to get "laid." there is an uneasy, predatory reality about this kind of culture and lifestyle. as a defence, women's react by putting up walls that are hard to get through, which may present them as "bitches" or "hoes."

personally, i know i have felt such frustrations, and i am just as guilty of putting the blame on others when the blame should be on myself, so i'm no better. the really interesting thing about all of this, is that these same guys do turn out to be some of the best fathers and husbands around once they meet the right woman. is this type of behavior simply about uncivilized single guy culture, or is there something more to it? is there such an easy "cure" for it as meeting the right woman? it's an uneasy reality that i think deserves to be explored.

at any rate, years ago i wrote zero sum, a book about misogyny that turned out to be a failure, because it ended up celebrating the things i was trying to criticise. i knew it was a failure when the types of guys i was criticizing, ended up liking the book a lot. now, i often asked myself as to why i ended up writing it that way i did. certainly, i was going through my own female frustrations at that time. was it some deep seeded subconscious thinking of mine that i just needed to get out? a train of thought that got the betteer of me and basically highjacked the writing process?

at any rate, with the recent loss of my latest book, giants, i have started to go back to my rough draft of zero sum and i am attempting to rewrite it. the things i was trying to criticize - corporate politics, single guy culture, misogyny - are things that i have a better understanding of now, since i have seen first hand and experienced what it is like. i will probably use a lot of the same themes, but i will be rewriting it, as an entirely new piece.

i'm pretty busy as of late with studying for exams, but i have managed to write bits and pieces of dialogue. the following is a snippet of a discussion between a male and female office co-worker taking the elevator together. there really is no other context, it's just dialogue, and i don't know if i'd ever really use such an interaction, but it's the first thing i've written since accidentally deleting giants so i figure it's worth posting.

she says:
- where are you getting off?
he says:
- where ever you are i suppose. so long as we go down together.
- ah. elevator humour. funny.
- it wasn't meant as a joke.
- sure it wasn't.
- whatever.
- you shouldn't take that tone with me.
- what tone?
- that immature exasperated tone. the one that's drowned in apathy.
- i am not apathetic.
- you're just pathetic then?
- i'm just indifferent.
- never mind. it's all greek to me.
- at least what i said was the truth.
- what are you implying?
- nothing.
- you're not fooling anyone, buddy. you're not better than the rest of us.
- well, you know what they say: boys rule, girls drool.
- god, why don't you act your age?
- why don't you act your weight?
she glares at him, mouth open. the elevator doors slide open. he steps out a few steps, stops, and turns to her. she's still glaring at him. he rolls his eyes and puts his hand out to her.
- c'mon, let me buy you a drink. whatever you want. look, i'm sorry for hurting your feelings. or offending you, or whatever. forgive me for my sins. just let me buy you a drink and i'm sure your opinion of me will change, yeah? if not, at least you get a free drink out of it. c'mon, i'm being a gentleman here. and it's not to get into your pants, because you're already wearing a skirt, and even though sex is the number one priority for a breed like me. it's a shame really; there's cancer and aids and genocide, but all a guy wants is to get some head, yeah? but it's not about that, even though you'd probably be good at it since you're a white-bread conservative, so let me buy you that drink. let's call a detente. i'm waving a white flag here.
- wow. you're seriously some kind of fuck, you know that?
- funny. my mother used to say the same thing.

god is not great

2007-05-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

atheism has started to come out in the media as of late. with the relentless preaching and attacks against science (darwin in particular) in schools and the media, with the constant mixing of politics and religion to call for war and vengeance, atheism has had to come out, sort of speak, and remind people of the importance of science and logic and reason.

christopher hitchens, author of god is not great: how religion poisons everything, is one of those at the forefront of the counterattack against magic and fairies and any other such loss of reason. the following is a question and answer session he participated in at a release for his book:

editors

2007-05-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

al gore

2007-05-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

al gore lost the presidential election six years ago, and america has not been the same since. more specifically, the office of the president has never seemed more dictatorial and short sighted as it does today. it's nice to think of all the things that could have been had gore won the 2000 election. the truth is, he lost, and he had only himself to blame. he was coming off of one of the most prosperous times in american history, a time when domestically and internationally america was still respected. it was his election to lose. and he did that. gore lost his home state of tennessee, which he represented for so many years in congress. if he had won tennessee, florida and all the chads in that woe begotten state, win or lose, would not have mattered.

but that's the past. this is the present, and people have been clamouring for months now for gore to join the presidential race. many believe that if he does, he can not only win the democratic nomination, but the office of the president itself. if there was any time for gore to come back, it's now. he's coming off the popularity of the inconvenient truth. he was right about global warming, he was ahead of the curve on the iraq war - the guy looks like a forward thinking genius.

and look at this competition: as much as i'd like to have faith in people, i don't know whether americans are ready yet to elect its first black or female president, especially when one is hampered with inexperience and the other is, well, hilary clinton. and with regards to the republicans, the competition is even sillier. john mccain has lost all credibility on account of being crazy, rudy giuliani is basically running on what kind of a bold leader he was after 9/11, when he was pretty much a non-entity before then, and mitt romney is basically a joke. that guy doesn't know the truth from his own asshole, because it seems the truth is whatever he says at any particular time. the only republican with any decency is ron paul, who won't win because he has no money and he says truthful but hurtful things that piss people off, like suggesting that perhaps america should look within itself to find what it is that people hate so much about it.

the conditions for him to win are there. people are frustrated and angry about the war, about the current president, about all the corruption and incompetence of their government, and now they're pissed at the democrats, who last week lived up to what they've feared all along by giving into george bush's war funding: they're a bunch of pussies. it's time for someone who has integrity, credibility, intelligence and the foresight to take america and, let's face it, the world into a new direction, because whichever way the world's only superpower leans, the rest of the world leans that way too whether intentional or not. there also a lot of support out there, with several grassroots campaigns that aim at "drafting" al gore for the presidency.

but al gore will not run. he's a movie star now, and basically, he's found his calling: fighting global warming. plus, i think he's a little afraid. and who wouldn't be? no one wants to fail at the same thing twice, especially when the second time around seems just as likely as the first time that he should win. like a man burned one too many times at the poker table, he opts to take the safe move and build his legacy around the greening of the world, as opposed to two failed presidential bids. still, if he did ever run and win, it would not only be a second chance for him, but one for america also. sort of a do-over of the last six years, if you will. how poetic would that be? how very american would that be? to right the wrongs that happened in 2000... you can't write a better plot than that.

misnomer

2007-05-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

don't believe the hype. the war on terror is as real as a three dollar bill. it's a ruse. it's a slogan designated to keep your eye off the ball. instead it's meant to keep you looking over your shoulder in fear. forget health care, forget the economy, forget the fact that the mastermind of 9/11 has yet to be caught. forget afghanistan and tax breaks for the rich and the fact that virtual sycophantic monkeys run important levels of bureaucracy and government, bent on keeping the status quo no matter what the cost. forget the erosion of education and scientific thought as the magical and delusional gain strength. forget habeas corpus, or the lack there of. forget that torture is as american as apple pie.

the war on terror will never be "won" because 1) you don't ever win a war. because even if you think you've won, you really haven't. this is an age old paradigm that humans have long been unable to shake; it's just not that black and white. 2) this "war" isn't against another army, it's not against "evil doers." it's primarily against oneself, and secondarily against a small militant group of fundamentalist that frankly cannot be bombed into submission.

what do i mean by this? i mean that the united states government is using all the wrong tools in fighting this "war." i'm not saying i have any answers, all i'm saying is that it seems pretty clear that the superior military might of the american army with over 400 billion dollars a year in funding just isn't working. not against these so-called "terrorists" who are masters of asymmetrical warfare. war is in their blood. just like the war on drugs, the powers that be are using the wrong tools to fight the problem. in the case of the war on drugs, having made it a criminal matter instead of a health care issue is the primary problem. locking up drug users and their dealers isn't working. legalizing certain drugs and making it about health care and treatment is the way to go.

with the war on terror, you can't use a military to bomb an enemy when there is no major enemy. say what you want, but al qaeda does not threaten western society. far from it. it seems to me that this has less to do with the military, and more to do with law enforcement and policing. integrated intelligence gathering through the use of local law enforcement in various countries seems more effective, such as breaking up terror cells, etc. is there a place for the military in this so-called war? sure. through the use of special forces, small, well placed tactical strikes, and good intelligence. cluster bombing a nation won't get the terrorists. it'll only create more. it will only end up radicalizing people who, previous to the bombs blowing up their children, were quite moderate in their politics and beliefs.

the other part to this phony war is policy. you won't change people's minds until you're out of their back yards and you quit meddling in their affairs. this means that what american foreign policy has been in the last sixty years has to change course. instead of leaving military bases and waging wars to secure oil, try research into alternative fuels and conservation. humans have a nasty habit of not being satisfied, of not wanting to restrict themselves in any way. but the truth is, limits have to be made, conservation must be done. it'll save your lungs as much as it will save your soldiers. it's much harder to look inward, to figure out why it is people tend to hate you, to try to fix those problems within yourself. it's much easier to simply say that they're jealous and they're evil and... just who are they anyway? and it's easier to stonewall than it is to open up, to engage, to exchange ideas.

we've tried the sword. we've taken that path as far as it will go. now let's try the pen.

here is the latest real time with bill maher, condensed, for your viewing pleasure. many of the ideas i've touched upon are discussed here. what we have is a discussion on the war on terror, a surprisingly thoughtful actor, a democratic party full of pussies, and a true republican who's not afraid to tell it like it is. this is a really good episode.

bird shits on leader of the free world

2007-05-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

mother nature weighs in on geo-politics:

damien rice: 9 crimes

2007-05-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

hitchens vs falwell

2007-05-19T18:10:00.001-07:00

jerry falwell is dead. now you're probably one of two people in the world: either the kind that prays for falwell's safe passage into the gates of heaven, or the other kind, that has no problems kicking him when he's down.

i am of the latter type. i have no problems kicking falwell when he's down, because let's face it, he kicked everyone that didn't believe what he believed when they were down. this is the man who spent every waking moment of his life stealing the money of believers under the guise of religion and faith. this is the man who contributed to the misery of millions of people's lives, basically those that did not follow him or contribute to him. this is the man who said that the 9/11 attacks happened because of pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and the a.c.l.u.

his "legacy," if there is such a thing, is not to be celebrated. in fact, it is to be dismantled and deconstructed for what it is: a thievery corporation.

christopher hitchens, author of the book, god is not great: how religions poisons everything, certainly sees falwell for who he was. hitchens holds no punches:

and on a lighter note, here's bill maher's take on the dearly departed:

GIANT. FUCKING. ROBOTS!

2007-05-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

i'm the type of person that can enjoy a quiet art-house flick just as much as a big-budget popcorn one. to me, art is art, and just because it's a studio movie, doesn't mean that there isn't as much artistic merit as an indie film.

that being said, i must admit, that the only movie i am looking forward to this year is the transformers movie. yes, michael bay, the director, is a hack and yes, it looks like it has a paper-thin plot based on a cartoon that was created to advertise for a toy line, but really, all that is secondary to what is really important: giant. fucking. robots.

not all art has to be a commentary on society or social ills. to me, art is true when it accomplishes the goal it set out to do, and in this case, it's not to educate on shakespeare, but it's more to do with huge explosions and robot on robot fighting. you can see the artistry at work, in the cgi animation, in the robot designs... and if you don't think that's art, then you need to re-evaluate your definitions for "art."

art doesn't have to pander to the pretentious artsy elite in order for it to be considered great art. in fact, i'd say it's the opposite: any art that is inclusive and broad enough for the masses to enjoy, is great art. after all, you want your art to reach and touch as many people as possible. i mean, c'mon, why can't a movie just be about a boy and his car trying to get laid in the middle of an intergalactic robot war? i'll tell you right now that star wars and e.t. effected more lives than brokeback mountain.

i know my point seems a bit silly, but popcorn art, if done right, can be really effective. i mean, i've seen the mona lisa, and if you've seen the real thing, you'll know it's not a big deal. (the mona lisa looks better on a post card).

there is a new trailer out, and this one really does make the inner fan-boy in me just explode. let's go down the list: explosions? check. hot girl who looks perpetually sweaty? check. robot vs robot mayhem and destruction? check. this movie looks loud and kinetic and fun, which is what you want from a summer blockbuster. forget peter parker and his lame black suit. (spiderman 3 was a snooze. i'd love to have those two hours of my life back).

the first trailer is the domestic one, the second is the international one. each trailer has slightly different scenes which equals more robot fighting, which is a plus any way you score it.

domestic trailer:

international trailer:

big fish in an even bigger pond

2007-05-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

"the god of the old testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

- richard dawkins, the god delusion.

richard dawkins is the author of what is turning out to be an atheist's very own "bible" of sorts, the god delusion. it is a well place, tactical shot across the bow of the ship called religion. dawkins, a proponent of evolution, science and reason over spells, fairies and lemming-like behaviour, is a very confrontational figure. primarily because he comes across as an insulting, arrogant elitist to those followers of religion that are caught in his cross-hairs. to other, more... sensible people, he's a reasonable, scientific man who tells the truth as he sees it.

who is worse? the person who draws back the curtain and shows you the wizard of oz for what or who it is, or the person who lets you go on believing without a care in the world? sure the latter is more consoling, but consolation doesn't necessarily make it true, as dawkins himself says.

the follow are two separate canadian interviews dawkins did over the last little while. the first is by george stroumboulopoulos on the hour. the second is a longer, more detailed one by tv ontario, the agenda with steve paikin. whether you agree with dawkins or disagree with him, you have to admit, that insults sound much better when hurled by an englishman.

the reformed reform party

2007-05-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

so i haven't been talking too much about canadian politics lately because, well, it's a snooze. there are way more sparks flying in american politics these days so my attention has been diverted elsewhere. perhaps if stephen harper started institutionalizing torture like his american counterpart, it would worth writing about.

however, i did come across an amusing article from the globe and mail that indicates some discontent with various conservative supporters in regards to the centralist decisions harper has been making over the last little while. it appears many of them were quite excited that harper won because it would mean they would get a bigger voice in ottawa. or so they thought. now, harper - gasp! - is behaving like the prime minister of canada, forced to make decisions to accommodate the whole of canada, not just western canada. who'd a thunk it?

at any rate, there is talk of possibly resurrecting the former reform party of canada. if you don't remember, the reform party was a western-centric party, borne out of the supposed "western alienation." well, if they want to bring the reform party back, i'm all for it. that way they can syphon out all the intolerant, homophobic, racist, bigoted elements that remain in the conservative party as a result of the merger years ago with the reform and the old progress conservative party. maybe then the conservative party can be the way it used to be, conservative, yet progressive, with all the selfish caveman elements marginalized in a separate party, that was, and always will be, unfit to rule for a nation based on tolerance and multiculturalism. by doing away with the more extreme, fringe elements, the conservative party may be able to restore some faith in the party and gain some respect from non-conservatives.

as a side note, i never bought the whole western alienation slant. i've always thought of it as nothing but selfish leanings by various backwards-thinking westerners. yes, ottawa has screwed over the west in the past, but it's not like the west is the only part of canada that has received the short end of the stick before. canada is about unity and taking care of your fellow citizens, and sometimes that means sharing your oil profits and other natural resources, and generally making sacrifices for the good of the nation.

here is the article.

the full santorum

2007-05-08T00:15:00.000-07:00

a lot of ranting and raving as of late in the news world: about the iraq war, ronald reagan, evolution, d.c. sexcapades and paris hilton going to jail. and on bill maher's show, it's no different. save for maybe it being a little more entertaining thanks to comedian garry shandling. genius, that guy. somebody give him another show!

anyway, last week's episode of real time with bill maher was a pretty good sum up of some of the major discussions spreading around in the news currently. i just have one question: does fristing hurt?

write what you know: die yuppie scum

2007-05-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

they say to write what you know. and there's a reason why they say that.

this is all about my current writing career, or lack-there-of. i had been working on a book called giants for the better part of two years. but somewhere along the way, i began to struggle with it, never really getting a good grasp of the material since probably around june or july of last year. it was supposed to be my big political opus, but it didn't turn out that way.

so i gave up on it. well, i started revisiting it due to a series of circumstances that are a little too boring to really get into here, but long-story-short, two days ago i started revisiting the material, to see if i can't breathe some life into it. then the unthinkable happened: i lost it. by lost, i mean, saved over, and by it, i mean the novel. all of it. i'm still not quite sure how it happened, but i saved over the file, thus losing all that is giants. i mean, i have a few bits and pieces here and there, but for the most part, it is gone. kaput. done.

so what does this mean? well, if this were last year, i'd have tossed my computer across the room and then lit it on fire. but it's not last year, it's this year, and while i've lost writing in the past, i've never lost a whole novel, and in this case, i laughed about it. it was so stupid, really. i mean, struggling with that novel for so long, to build myself up to start writing again, only to lose it in what amounts to a brain fart on my part, is just laughable.

but i think i may have done it on purpose. at least subconsciously. that book really wasn't very close to what i know and who i was, and that's where the whole write what you know comes in. losing giants gave me a clean slate, as well a feeling that a burden has been lifted off my shoulders: giants was my albatross. it had come to represent everything that was so wrong with last year. i'm glad that it's gone.

so write what you know. repeat that mantra. because it's the truth. to this date, desert sessions is still my favorite of all the novels i've attempted, and that's because a good chunk of what i wrote was so personal and it was what i knew. yes, there was exaggeration, yes there was some made up parts, but it happened to me, or it happened to someone i knew. simple as that. all in all, it was probably equal part truth, and equal parts fiction.

so i start over again. and i focus a little more. and i'm writing what i know, which is basically yuppies, politics, and road trips. the goal this time is to go more personal, to mine what is essentially my life and the lives of those around me, which could be a bad thing for my friends, but hey, most of them can't stand to read my shit, so what they don't know won't kill them, right?

specifically, i've started to focus on two or three close friends (and not-so-friends) of mine, because their personalities are so larger than life at times. to give you an example, i'm talking about a border-line racist ice queen who rarely thinks before she speaks, and a misogynistic, not-quite-as-smooth-as-he-thinks-he-is yuppie-scum player who says things like, "she was walking like john wayne after i was done with her..." i guarantee that one of my friends will eventually come up to me and demand, "is this suppose to be me?" it happens with every book.

now i haven't written a word yet and already the plot outline and character sketches ring true. it'll be interest to see where this all goes. i'm not expecting anything; just writing, because that's all someone like me can do. to not write is not an option.

de-evolution

2007-05-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

the black rebel motorcycle club put out their best album in 2005 called howl. i thought it was a brilliant departure from their previous two albums, a great leap in the evolution of the band. the album was bluesy and folksy and emotional.

now they've released baby 81 and it's more of a return to their previous stuff, which is a bit of a let down for me. i was hoping they would continue on with their folk sound, but i suppose it was not meant to be. however, there are still some good tracks on the new album.

and here's some brmc from their last album. a live radio performance that shows just how different the music was on howl.

jon stewart

2007-04-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

jon stewart is a funny man, but he's also a patriot. that's how he comes across. he makes wise cracks and jokes and bad presidential impersonations, but at the end of the day, he is a man who genuinely cares for his country.

bill moyers did a recent interview with jon, discussing everything from his role as a news provider / social commentator, to the violence at virginia tech and how that type of carnage is a daily aspect of life in iraq, to the role of the media and how cowed the media had appeared to be in the face of the bush administration and the war.

the most interesting part for me was the section where jon talks about the disconnect between the message and the reality of the iraq war. george bush says that the war on terror, specifically the iraq war, is the fight for the american way of life, that if iraq is lost, then so too goes the beginnings of freedom and american life. jon questions why, if it is the fight of their lives, does the president only want to send in a ten percent increase in troops? he suggests that the president would probably like to send in 400,000 troops, but they don't exist, and the only way to get those numbers would be to install the draft and that's when people will wake up and fight back against the administration. so the only recourse for the administration is to keep the american people relatively fearful, but not so fearful that the american people take a break from their busy, daily lives to really examine what the government is doing.

jon is absolutely right. there is a disconnect, and this touches upon the larger reality of how important is this war on terror? during the second world war, citizens were asked to really sacrifice. to buy war bonds, to hand in luxury goods so the soldiers can have silk for their parachutes and the weapons they needed. a plane was made every hour. the whole country was geared to the war. the war on terror, however, doesn't effect the average person on any real level. it effects the troops, the families and friends of the troops, but most citizens are able to go about their daily lives without even so much as a hiccup.

this is something i'd been wrestling with for a while now with regards to canada's role in the war on terror, and how in afghanistan we've been fighting to keep the terrorists at bay, but back at home, it hasn't really effected me one bit. my biggest worry is passing a financial exam, not whether we lose in afghanistan, let alone the war on terror (which, by the way, you cannot win through the military. it can only be won through the police, intelligence, and government policies). i would go so far as to say that while i understand the sacrifice our troops are making, hard as i try, i can't relate to any of it. war is not what i was taught to believe it to be. the purest experience of war that i and most canadians have witnessed is through the movies, which has its pros and cons.

any rate, that discussion is a post in and of itself, and for another time. what the bill moyers interview shows is that jon stewart cares. strip away the labels, and what you get is a citizen that truly and deeply cares about his country. he's motivated by a social conscience, not greed or power, which is why he is more of a patriot than george bush can ever be.

here is the first few minutes of the interview. it's definitely worth checking out. watch the entire show here on the pbs website.

don't believe everything you read.

2007-04-28T00:03:00.000-07:00

i've been thinking more of late with regards to what people tend to choose to believe. and i say choose because that's exactly it; it's a choice. people tend to pick and choose political beliefs, scientific beliefs, and religious beliefs to name a few.

for example, i pick and choose aspects of both left and right wing political thought to develop my more centralist views (typical canuck). there are some things that make me conservative on certain issues, while more liberal on others. it's just the way my mind works.

the religious stuff, however, is very interesting to me, most notably because i have a pretty straightforward view of religion: it's a joke. but that's my belief. what is really interesting to me is how particular some people can be with regards to their religious beliefs. some people think islam, as an example, is an inherently violent religion, while others like to emphasise the more benign aspects of it. the very book that osama bin laden quotes to go to war can be used to talk about peace and prosperity. with regards to the bible, you have situations where people will pick a certain passage and pass it off as the "bible truth," yet in the same breath, they will quote a different passage and say it's not to be taken literally.

this video clip from an old episode of the west wing sort of explains my point quite nicely i think. i suppose one has every right to pick and choose religious beliefs the way one picks and chooses scientific beliefs, but don't tell me it's the god's honest truth above all else, cause it's not. it's just not.

GIANT. FUCKING. ROBOTS.

2007-04-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

um... i think my head may explode.

(transformers)

down in disturbia

2007-04-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

down in the valley is a peculiar movie. it's a quietly disturbing film about a delusional man who believes he's a cowboy, that starts a relationship with a bored but rebellious teenage girl. i never heard of this movie until i saw the trailer for it online and to be honest, i'm not surprised i missed the movie's release.

it's an interesting movie for sure, and it moves in slow gradations, building on scene after scene until the plot comes to a slow boil about two-thirds the way through, to slowly limp to its finish. it's definitely not for mass audiences, because it's not a thriller nor is it a love story. it's more of a character portrait the way taxi driver is, and like that film, down in the valley's climax doesn't really make it worthwhile to sit through the film a second time. the film actually pays homage to taxi driver's infamous "are you talking to me?" scene, but this makes sense once you find out how much of a film buff the guy is.

it is, however, interesting in terms of how it portrays this urban cowboy. at first, you don't really know what to make of him, because he comes across as a naive guy. but you slowly get a broader picture of him as you start to learn about his fascination with guns, cowboy movies and basically playing cowboys and indians in his living room... by himself. what i really liked about this film is that two-thirds the way through, the plot effectively sets aside the love interest in favor of showing the relationship he kindles with the girl's younger brother.

another movie i've come across is disturbia (which is a horrible title for a movie). i sort of wandered into this movie not expecting anything, and was pleasantly surprised. i thought it would be your typical silly thriller, but it turned out to be quite entertaining.

the plot involves a kid who is sentenced to house arrest after punching his spanish teacher. he has slowly wandered down a troubled path ever since the death of his father. he spends his days playing video games, making twinkie mountains, and spying on neighbors. his boredom leads him to get pretty involved in the lives of his neighbors through his binoculars. one such neighbor is the girl next door, who's brought in as the resident hottie. as the days progress, he starts to think one of his neighbors is a serial killer, and he jokingly starts to investigate him, only to become a serious target.

the film is interesting in that the first hour, you barely notice that it's a thriller. it's basically about developing the protagonist as a flesh and blood, three dimensional person. normally thrillers don't take time to do such things, because they're usually more involved with playing out the formula than anything else. what you get is a movie where this teenager is actually quite bright, funny, troubled, curious, horny... basically a complex kid like most teenagers. by the time the movie starts getting into the thriller formula, it's basically already an hour into the movie, which i thought was brilliant.

there are some actual scary moments in the film, but i suppose it would have had more effect on me if it weren't for the three girls sitting behind me whose shrieks and giggles were a precursor to the scares. still, i was entertained, and the writing was actually pretty good. even the goofy asian sidekick didn't annoy me like i thought he would.

heaping spoonful of shit

2007-04-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

the conservative government in canada is claiming that in order to meet the kyoto protocols, they would have to manufacture a recession. they claim that it would result in the doubling of natural gas costs, electricity would rise 50%, gasoline would cost over $1.60 a litre, and 275,000 canadians would lose their jobs.

now, to be fair, there has been fear-mongering on both sides of the global warming debate, but the the difference is that global warming is a real and present danger. whereas the conservative number crunching seems manufactured. it reaks of greed and desperation and i'm calling bull shit on this one.

they're influencing the numbers by omitting all the benefits of a shift in business and political thought. they're omitting how many new jobs will be created by new industries, how the trend is to go towards green economics and how beneficial it would be for canada to be ahead of the curve, at the forefront of new and innovative technologies, not to mention all the benefits of real conservation if the government actually had the balls to enforce anything.

this whole scam reaks in a really bad way. the conservatives are not serious about global warming. what they fail to understand is that we'll eventually pay, both economically and environmentally; the longer we wait, the more we'll have to pay. it may hurt in the short run, but we'll be better off for it.

the conservative government is actually trying to get canadians to swallow this shit. and i'm not talking a little bit; i'm talking about heaping spoonfuls of it. open up and say "aaaahhhhhh...." mmm... you taste that? that tangy taste there was the corn you had last night, mixed in with your intelligence and common sense. eat it.

(source)

get your fat ass off the couch

2007-04-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

get ready to kiss your ass goodbye. at least, if you're a realist, that's what it's going to come down to. i'm not talking about the glass being half full or even half empty. i'm talking about how once you drink what's left in the glass... there's no more.

global warming is something that i've been rambling about for a while now and will most likely not cease. after all, it is such a well of inspiration... at leat until the gamma rays scorch the earth and turn every single human being into burnt toast. spring break in december? why not? it's hot out and the girls wear less. it's a win, win situation, yes?

sure, i may be using hyperbole, but global warming is a serious threat. but is it so serious that only the government can stop it? the following is a clip from last friday's bill maher. i have to say that i do agree with maher when it comes to the government. only the government will be able to fix this and that will only happen when the people force them to. it's all about the power of the people. now, if only we can get our fat asses off the couch.

yahoo

2007-04-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

geraldo rivera and bill o'reilly are arguing about something. what are they arguing about? who cares. somebody should give those two some nerf bats. fox news... fair and balanced.

entourage: a lifestyle is a terrible thing to waste

2007-04-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

entourage is back, and it couldn't have been at a better time. well, actually, they could have given it to us six months ago, but that's a minor complaint now that the premier of the second half of the third season is happening on april 8th at 10 pm.

for those of you who have been living under a rock, entourage is about four friends making their lives in hollywood, dealing with expensive clothes, expensive women, and fame. the first half of season 3 ended six months ago on a cliff hanger, with super agent ari gold being fired. then the show went into hiatus with the intent of airing right after the sopranos, which is in its final season. the reason for doing this was presumably to give entourage a boost in ratings and viewership, and since the sopranos is the last of hbo's flagship shows to sail off into the horizon, hbo is sort of hurting for material. the channel once applauded for original television is now suffering a bit of a lull. in order to return to glory, hbo will have to start taking more chances again, really push the envelope, considering regular networks like nbc are already doing it with shows like heroes, which, by the way, is the second best show on tv.

the good news is that entourage is better than ever. and according to the advanced previews, it looks like they've kept the show just as amazing as ever, full of beautiful girls, witty writing, and still no real responsibility, the show is every guy's wet dream. despite it being very much a guy's show, i've yet to come across a woman who doesn't love it also.

fame. it's more fun with your friends.

season 3 sneak preview:

season 3 backstage footage of vince's birthday:

generation y give a shit?

2007-03-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

there's nothing more depressing than getting up to go to work when it's still dark outside, and then getting off work... and it's still dark outside. during the winter, if you work a 9-5 job, chances are, you missed the day. in my case, it's even worse because i work 10 hour days, so it wasn't until last saturday that i could finally still see daylight when i got off work. the streets were bathed with this eerie, sundown glow where everything was golden, from the buildings to the streets to the cars. it's then that it occurred to me more than ever, that working in a cubicle for 10 hours a day isn't right.

humans weren't meant to live this way.

it's no wonder that a generation of people, my generation, those on the tail end of so-called generation x, a generation possibly even more vacuous and directionless than those who were firmly at the heart of generation x in the 1990's, are basically going nuts. we're freaking out, having mid-life crisis before we're thirty. some of us even still live with our parents, while others return to school in a vain attempt to escape our failures in the working world. it's a mad, mad world out there, and we don't want any part of it. it's just easier to stay at home, play xbox and masturbate.

of course i'm generalizing here, but you get my drift: live to work, work to live. but where's the living? somewhere along the line that part of the equation got lost. it's more like live to work, work to exist. to eat. but existence isn't living. existence is just taking up space.

and what is there to look forward to? an existence of botox injections and organic consumption? is that what our claim to fame is going to be? to be proud that we eat organic food when in reality the types of toxins in every day life, in your home, in the atmosphere, in your clothes sort of negates anything you do? sure, that person who works out all the time and always eats organic foods may be in better shape than you, but does it mean they'll live longer than you because you eat genetically modified foods (the vast majority of foods these days)? hardly. trust me... in the end, the worms aren't going to care what you put into your body. dead meat is dead meat. and does it mean they're less toxic than you? if they live in a major urban centre, they're walking toxic bags of flesh just like you. the good thing, is our bodies have adapted and despite all of that, we still live longer than we used to.

sixty years ago, that generation beat hitler. the boomers after that lived through the cold war and beat the soviet union. the bulk of generation x... well, they sort of existed and are now only reaping most of the benefits of what the boomers paved the way for. plus, they had that movie, reality bites. you know, the one where ethan hawke is a bum and ben stiller was just starting to annoy the shit out of everyone. that movie basically sums up that generation perfectly: overrated. but us? those at the tail end of generation x... those 'twixters' or 'boomer-rang kids' who still live with our parents, or who are still trying to find our way and discover who we are when we're in our late twenties... what is our claim to fame?

is it to defeat terrorism? right. if you believe that we'll defeat terrorism the way were going about it now, you've got delusions, because i'll tell you right now, you don't defeat terrorism with bombs and bullets. yes, you kill flesh and blood terrorists that way, but you don't solve the problem. you kill one terrorist, another three pop up on their place. the only real way to solve it is to chip away at the root causes of terrorism, being social and civil inequalities as just one of many institutional reasons. this is a man-made problem, and one that can be fixed - or more realistically, maintained - just not how we're currently doing it.

what about the environment? are we poised to make the ultimate paradigm shift of this and any other generation when it comes to consumption and the relationship with the earth? it doesn't matter how you look at it, but we only have one earth. whether you believe in global warming or not, we only have one home. and despite what science fiction writers may like to propose, the future of inhabiting other planets is a pipe dream. if we can barely land a rover on mars, the chances of us relocating the human population to another planet is nowhere near remotely possible right now.

so we need to fix what we have. but the problem is, are you sacrificing enough? certainly, sold my car in favor of the bus. i rollerblade to the grocery store, i consume far less than i have in the past by purchasing only what i need, i recycle, i changed all the lights in my apartment to energy efficient ones... but i could probably do more. none of what i have done has hampered my lifestyle any. and there's where the fear is with trying to be environmental... people don't want to give up their lifestyles. but the truth is, if we're going to change things, we need to really sacrifice. that means that buying a fuel efficient car is not something to be proud of if in reality, you can take the bus or bike to work and you just don't want to.

this problem is obviously bigger than the individual. it's something where the excuse of just not wanting to or not feeling like it isn't going to cut it anymore. so our generation has a shot at changing things, or setting a new precedent in the way we think about how we live and consume in our lives. if nothing else, riding a bike to work should help you lose weight, and we all know how much of a concern weight is in our society. look at it this way: you and your granola crunching, organic food loving neighbor will ultimately face the same fate in the end. at least if you're trying to be environmental and riding that bike to work, you'll not only help reduce the dependence on foreign oil, (which helps fight terrorism) but you'll also leave a good looking corpse. and really, that's all that matters to us, isn't it? to just look good doing whatever it is that we're doing.

it may not be as glorifying as taking down the kaiser or knocking off hitler... but at least it's something. it sure beats simply existing.

here is the latest clip of bill maher and the gang discussing global warming and the act of sacrifice:

just a few...

2007-03-28T02:06:00.000-07:00

just a few quick personal notes, aside from the doom and gloom politics of this little blue marble we call earth:

i've started a photo blog called scene 3. i'm still working on the format and layout, but basically, it's just a blog with panoramic photos of various scenes i have shot around the city of vancouver like the one included here and as the header at the top of this blog. i'll be updating it periodically whenever i have the time to take photos.

i will be going on a half month road trip with a couple of friends through the united states in mid july that will take me from vancouver, bc, all the way down the pacific coast to san diego. from there, we'll head over to las vegas and spend some time in the desert before going back up through colorado for some hiking and camping, maybe hang out on the bonneville salt flats. the goal on the way down is to behave as beach bums and head on down through places like big sur and santa barbara. apparently my friend knows people that we'll be staying with in san diego who own an actual mansion. i've never been in a mansion. should be interesting. basically, this is the jack kerouac pancake breakfast tour of america that i've always wanted to do.

i will be taking a digital camcorder to shoot some footage. i want it to be more like a personal documentary, but i have a feeling it will just degrade to me and my friends acting like assholes on camera, which is fine by me.

anyway, i will hopefully be posting some great panoramic photos from the trip on my new blog, scene 3. in the next couple of weeks, i have time off work so i'll be able to take more photos of vancouver, not just cityscapes. so check up on it from time to time. any suggestions on the new site would be greatly appreciated.

the iraq war - four years and counting

2007-03-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

via onegoodmove

banksy

2007-03-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

i'm a fan, no doubt. you can always count on him to do something interesting. long live banksy.

guantanamo bay in disneyland. it's a small world after all.

infidel

2007-03-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

ayaan hirsi ali, dutch feminist and political writer, was born into a muslim family in somalia. she escaped her arranged marriage and ended up in the netherlands where she gained notoriety as a vocal opponent to the treatment of women by the religion of islam. she participated in a controversial film with theo van gogh, which was about the subjugation and suffering of muslim women in forced marriages and wife beatings. theo van gogh was murdered by an angry muslim radical as a response and death threats were issued.

she has written a new book called infidel, which is a memoir, and as she goes to promote her book, she continues her criticism against islam. she comes out and says plainly that islam is not a religion of peace. she describes the quran as "not a holy document. it is a historical record, written by humans. . . . and it is a very tribal and arab version of events. it spreads a culture that is brutal, bigoted, fixated on controlling women, and harsh in war."

i haven't read her book, but i've seen many interviews with her and she comes across as a very compelling person to listen to. despite being very soft spoken, it is clear she always says what she believes and believes what she says. one of those beliefs is that islam is not a religion of peace. this is something most people are afraid to say in public due to its lack of any political correctness. sometimes it seems that political correctness tends to stifle what could otherwise be intelligent and interesting debate.

it certainly is a bold and seemingly heart-felt view she has, and after what she's been though, you can't blame her for feeling the way she does. certainly over the last few years, some muslims have been shown to be less than tolerant of any sort of criticism against islam or the prophet mohammed, usually resorting to violence which doesn't help the public perception of islam at all. all this seems to highlight the view that not all religions are the same.

there are some very interesting questions that come about due to all of this, such as whether or not a religion - violent or not - is just what one makes of it? and why does it seem that muslims tend to be more violent than followers of other religions? most muslims don't behave the way they are shown on television, so is it simply a case of media bias? or is there something inherently violent about islam as she implies?

regardless, religions make an already complicated world that much more complicated and harder to live in. and whatever you think of her views, you have to respect how brave and courageous she is. and you have to love the fact that she is free to voice those opinions.

here is a clip of ayaan hirsi ali on real time with bill maher:

blackwater usa

2007-03-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

private military contractors are nothing new. they've been around in one form or another since humans have been finding ways to kill each other. because wherever there is war, there are profits. these contractors are basically mercenaries, except with logo branding and better funding. funding from where? well, the united states government.

private military contracting has become a lucrative industry, and it's only gotten bigger as these businesses become corporations. there was heavy activity by mercs in sierra leone and other parts of africa during the 1990's, working primarily as security forces protecting diamond mines and other resources that "belonged" to various corporations. and now, as they've grown in popularity, one of the biggest, blackwater usa, has become quite an issue in iraq.

blackwater usa is one of the companies that the u.s. government has been using to contract out various security details, logistics, as well as other more unsavory missions. although some of these fighters used to be soldiers, they are technically not soldiers anymore, and they're not even police officers; they're a legal quagmire, like so much of what this whole so-called war on terror has produced: from guantanamo bay to blackwater usa.

because they seemingly work without regard to the law, and because these aren't your regular combatants, there is a huge problem if they ever get caught, if they get killed... but as far as the u.s. government is concerned, they are just hired guns. does it matter if they get killed? i guess not. and what of the crimes that they commit? do their victims matter? probably not. at least not in any traditional legal sense, because nothing seems to get logged or recorded statistically and no one gets punished.

what the iraq war is doing is providing some interesting precedence. we have a situation where for the first time, the u.s. government is flagrantly ignoring the geneva conventions, where the u.s. government has taken away the right of habeas corpus from its own citizens no less, where private military personnel are now becoming part of growing corporations with government backing. all this goes to blur the line between combatants and soldiers. i wouldn't be surprised if a whole new crop of international laws come to pass as a reaction to this increasingly murky grey political and legal area.

the problem with the law is that there is hardly any foresight, if ever. you can't legislate what you don't anticipate, and a lot of the times even if you do anticipate it, chances are it doesn't become law until the damage is already done. the law tends to be reactionary more than anything, especially in international law. and most of it is based on previous case studies and laws, as opposed to precedent setting rules. and on top of this, in order for international law to be effective, you need the superpower on board (re: see geneva conventions).

and since the u.s. government is the one allowing this to go on in the first place, chances are pretty slim that they will ever sign on to any international agreement limiting their ability to wage war unless there is a public outcry. because grey armies like blackwater usa are effective both militarily and politically. better they get killed than actual soldiers. the prime example being the difference between the mogadishu incident where u.s. troops got strung up and dragged through the streets versus the blackwater employees enduring the same thing in iraq. if it had been u.s. troops, reaction would have been much more different domestically.

the following is a video from the nation, giving a brief overview of blackwater usa and their activities. it's interesting, and it points out how blackwater usa employees are now operating on the streets in certain u.s. cities, possibly bringing their legal and moral problems onto home soil. blackwater usa seems to be a cut above the rest, not content to simply provide security for corporations and governments overseas and out of bounds of prying eyes. instead, they seem to be actively seeking the domestic market. and who can blame them? there's money to be had.

the butler did it

2007-03-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

khalid sheikh mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the sept. 11 attacks on the united states confessed to those attacks and to personally executing american journalist daniel pearl, according to a revised transcript released thursday by the u.s. military. there are suggestions that his confession was taken under torture, that this just seems too good to be true. certainly, it makes him out to be what the media and the bush administration had dubbed him to be: the mastermind, which makes him seem like the lovechild of dr. claw and the emperor from star wars.

i do think the questions about how the confession was taken are important, because let's face it; when it comes to torture, the bush administration loses all sorts of credibility. these questions are also important if mohammed does in fact implicate others. but i also wouldn't put it past the guy to just admit to it all. after all, he's going to die. certainly the united states government won't let him walk, and with a former texas governor in power, the death penalty seems certain. so if you were mohammed... why not confess to it all?

if you're going to go out, why not go out big with a bang? why not admit to it all and become the martyr? it seems to make sense. we'll see how it develops though. wouldn't it be interesting if weeks later, mohammed all of a sudden changes his mind and claims he was tortured? those fireworks should be interesting. i can already see it now: human rights groups will be demonized as sympathisers, and the administration, as always, will deny that gravity exists if you know what i mean.

(source)

three wise men

2007-03-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

i wonder what could have been? it seems like there's been a lot of that lately. and watching jon stewart's interview of zbigniew brzezinski doesn't help. brzezinski used to be the national security advisor to president jimmy carter. his new book, second chance: three presidents and the crisis of american superpower is about how the united states basically fumbled the momentum from a vitally turning point in world history: the end of the cold war.

brzezinski's point is that the united states, having unprecedented power, managed to squander that prestige and authority in a very short time over the span of three administrations. when given the chance to really make change, and to usher in a true american, western-style hegemony, they failed.

it's an interesting point he brings up. the larger question seems to be, does the united states have a responsibility to the rest of the world? one would like to think that yes, they do. and while people rag on all the terrible things the united states has done especially in the last eight years (and i'm not giving the administrations a pass on the bad things), you have to sort of put things into perspective. compared to the old british empire and the roman one before it... the united states has become as benign a superpower as you could possibly expect it to become. especially one that is the sole superpower. i guess what i'm saying is that the united states has done a lot of good in this world besides the bad, and it can be much worse but it isn't.

and in a world where a superpower can be shaken and even defeated by what amounts to nothing more than tribes, in asymmetrical guerrilla warfare/military conflicts, i'd say the stranglehold that the united states has on sole dominance in the world is a half-nelson at best.

still, one wonders what it could have been like. what this world would have been like if the unites states had succeeded in somalia, if they had reacted more appropriately after the yemen attack on the u.s.s. cole, if they had kept the pursuit of osama, if instead of iraq, they'd taken on saudi arabia (most of the 9/11 hijackers were from saudi arabia)? that's a lot of "ifs."

Dailymotion blogged video
~
Video sent by littlepiggy13

the electric car

2007-03-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

the electric car has been around for over a hundred years. i often wonder what the world could have been like if production and development on the electric car had just followed through. now, i am not naive to believe that there would be no war today if the electric car had beat out the gas models back in the day, because let's face it: humans suck. we will always find one thing or another to fight over. if it's not oil in the middle east, it's religion. if it's not religion, it's fresh water. if it's not fresh water, it's over farm land. and so on.

i can understand why governments and businesses were reluctant to push the electric car as well as other "green" initiatives such as the search for alternative fuels. i understand that ten years ago, it just didn't seem to be such a threatening issue. at least not enough to go to the polls over. but now, it seems the consensus is there that we should do something. and we know what we should do. and people say they are willing to sacrifice. but how much?

even if global warming is a natural phenomenon, and even if what we do doesn't matter, why not do it simply on a practical level? in a capitalist system that is supposed to spur competition and the development of new technologies, why not mass produce affordable electric cars? why not put money towards developing alternative fuel sources? why not put the time and effort to design that powerful catch-all fuel cell? after all, this is clearly the way the world is heading. why are some companies and people still so reluctant? this is our chance to be ahead of the curve for once.

i guess the answer simply lies in my original comment: humans suck. unless there is a clear and present danger, change rarely comes about. and i suppose businesses are always trying to subvert change, to hold onto the money and advantage as long as they can, thereby stifling development. the positive in this is that the general public is starting to care, and there is a push now to hold elected officials accountable for green promises, precisely because of the perceived notion that the window of opportunity for change is so small now.

in all honesty, i do think the earth can adapt and adjust to the things we're doing to it, but to a certain extent. i don't think we've passed the point of no return yet, so there's hope yet.

(source 1)

aye, there's the rub

2007-03-13T00:51:00.000-07:00

so i got word from the good people at the trademark department with the federal government that it would cost me another grand or so to get conquered nation press trademarked. but i've decided to let it go. "abandoned" as they would consider it in the world of trademarks.

why? i've come to the conclusion that a) i don't want to spend the money on trademarking a company name that i don't really have the time and energy to devote to anyway. b) i want to spend my money on travelling. c) writing isn't that important to me anymore.

there was a time when i was purely devoted to the craft. but that was when i had nothing else going for me. now, i've sort of got a career going, i'm getting recognition at work and being rewarded for it, and i've got a future laid out for me in finances and investments. definitely not where i saw myself a couple of years ago, but then, i was still the idealist working a minimum wage job thinking i could change the world with my writing. or at least get famous and get chicks.

but sooner or later eventually reality hits everyone, and those starry-eyed fantasies and dreams go the way of the dodo bird. it was nice to have them while they lasted; writing surely got me through some bizarre times. it's very much a solo venture, but you eventually get bored with yourself.

there are many reasons why i've chosen to stop, reasons that don't really mean anything to anyone exept myself. but all that need to be known is that i haven't finished giants yet. nor do i think i will. i mean, technically i could possibly end it where it is, but that would leave absolutely no closure, and it's really not where i want to end it. so it has been shelved indefinitely. the realization came to me about a week ago that i just didn't have it anymore. no more ideas, no more plot twists, no more of anything. and to tell you the truth, i don't feel bad about it either. a couple of years ago, i would basically torture myself in trying to get a novel done. now, well, it doesn't really matter. i don't feel bad at all shoving it all aside. perhaps i will turn to it again some day, but it just feels like the right time to let it go. whatever the reasons, i don't need to write like i used to; i don't need it to live. it doesn't define me as a person.

that being said, politik1 will probably focus less on writing, and slowly morph more into a political blog (as if there needs to be another one) but i'll still post music i like and do some movie posts. this blog will also retain more of a pulpy feel. there's no need to be so serious all the time, even in the face of mind numbing human catastrophes. after all, i can pretty much laugh at anything. you're looking at a guy who was making tsunami jokes the day of the tsunami. does that make me a bad person? probably. it's a good thing there's no hell. ha!

i'm just going to finish off this posting with a bit from giants. it is the first few pages of the book. i posted this in one form or another in the past, but this is pretty much the best start that i have written to any of my novels. (at this stage i would warn you that there is some bad language in the piece, but no one gives a shit about books, so it's all good. it's why as a teenager, i could purchase the most violent, gory and sexual book, yet still couldn't go into an r-rated movie. go figure.)

- - -

Scene. Her thong is a good a place to start. Black. Dangling from the silver towel rack. And her arms, the next best place to start. Tight around him. Her face, buried close against the nape of his neck. Her chest tight against his back, her legs draw up behind his with her knees snug, locked into the back of his. Her long, wispy blond hair is in her face, with her eyes fluttering behind closed eyelids. The eyelashes are long and black and thick. Her skin, pale and lightly freckled with golden spots. Her nose is small. Her lips are pink and slightly parted, breathing evenly, warmly against the back of his neck. She’s soft, young, her body still clinging to what little teenage fat she still had left. The room, white, bright, and empty; she clings to him amongst the white sheets, an island amongst a sea of rough, worn, hardwood floor. Her long, naked leg is exposed, twisted in the covers like a Pirelli photo. Four in the afternoon, babies don’t sleep this well. The pursuit of pleasure is tiresome. In the warmth of the room, the blinding whiteness, she stirs and opens her eyes slowly. She sits up and looks at him, with his slightly long, shaggy black hair. She slips out of the bed carefully. The bra, the only article of clothing she’s wearing, stands in striking black lines that cut through all the whiteness. Contrast. Stand out. She goes to the washroom, long white legs and all, and sits her bare bum down on the toilet. She finds her black panties hanging from the towel rack and slips them on when she’s done. She wanders back to the bed and snuggles up behind him. She looks at the nape of the strange neck before her. Light, sparse black hair along the neck. It’s unfamiliar but she presses her face against it. The pursuit of pleasure. It’s tiresome.

- - -

John grabs the clear plastic jug and rinses it out in the sink. He scratches his bare stomach. He goes into the refrigerator and grabs a can of frozen raspberry concentrate. Opening the can, he spills the contents into the jug. The log of juice splatters against the bottom of the jug and there’s blow back. He flinches as the red stuff flies up to splash him in his eye. He blinks rapidly and rubs the back of his hand into his eye, smearing the juice around further. He glances at his reflection in the stainless steel silver toaster. There’s blood in his eye. After mixing the drink, he wanders back to the bedroom where she’s still sleeping. He takes a second to look at her, the sharpness of her chin, the curious familiarity of strangeness. He pours himself a glass and sits down on the bed, causing it to shift slightly. This is enough to disturb her. She opens her eyes and turns to him. Gazing. He accidentally spills some raspberry juice on the white covers and watches with dismay. The red splotches grow deep and expand. Circumference increasing. Fight the fabric. Winning. Here’s to all the rivals. She just looks at him, watching the expression change on his face.

- - -

Free space. Sean touches her face and examines the large image framed on the wall behind tepid glass and boxed in by clean, black lines. The image is white. The image is three feet by two. The framed image is completely blank. White. One dimensional. She buttons up her shirt, his shirt, charcoal grey with pin stripes, and touches the clean glass, leaving fingerprints. She gathers up the shirt that hangs bulky off her slender frame, and wanders across the ocean of hardwood and takes a seat at the table. She watches him drown the little brown coco bits. A tsunami of white, creamy milk. They bob in the fluid liquid and it makes her smile. Obviously. Man overboard. One of them pops its head up over the milk and she reaches over to plunk it back down. He pours her a bowl of cereal and then peers inside and pulls out a shrink-wrapped prize.
- Pass the milk? Sean says. What’s the toy?
- A truck.
- That’s nice.
- Got a winch on it. He touches it.
- What’s it do?
- Winches.
- It’s red. I don’t like red. She scrunches her nose.
- It was free.
- With a purchase.
- So?
- At least you can eat the cereal.
- So?
- Never mind.
- What are you doing today?
- Gonna dream of a world beyond diamonds and gold. She smiles.
- That’s nice.
- Diamonds are forever.
- False. Diamonds eventually decompose.
- What?
- They’re unstable on Earth’s surface ‘cause they’re formed at very high temperatures and pressure deep below the surface. Everything has a half life. Even God.
- Jesus, how un-sexy was that?
- Sorry.
- Don’t apologize.
- So… He pokes at his cereal with his spoon.
- So…?
- What’s your name?

- - -

Tonight. Sean takes a sip of the champagne, sparkling golden hues with frothy, bubbling head. Alien nation. It’s the theme of the event, the art show. People wander through and around and beyond the photos that display faces, some overexposed, some underexposed, all black and white, all displaying one emotion: apathy. the photos are headshots, blown up so large that one can see every single visible pore. Heads, blown up six feet tall, four feet wide. This one, the one with the young blond girl with the slightly long nose and wet, slicked back hair is called grace under pressure. Another, a black and white of a young man with a patchy beard is fire it up. Another, a man wearing a toque, is called head space no space. And so on and so forth… In the background, the music of Interpol plays, with the echo from Next Exit’s droning vocals and hymn-like rhythm slowly filling the empty spaces of the gallery. Going all over. Every square inch. It’s killer filler.

Sean folds her slender arms and turns to Norm, who admires the photo for all it’s worth through a pair of thick, large lens, horn-rimmed Rayban sunglasses.
- What’s the deal with this one?
- What do you mean by that?
- It’s torn. The corner. He touches the bottom right corner of the image of an elderly woman.
- Oh, that. One of the interns dropped it. She leans over. Anyone asks, it’s a statement on the breakdown of civilization. Empires crumble.
- You smell good.
- I know. She leans over and kisses Norm on the cheek. Don’t kill me, but you look sexy.
- Shouldn’t say such things, babe.
- I can’t see your eyes. Don’t wear your sunglasses at night.
- It’s so I can, so I can see the light that’s right before my eyes.
- That’s funny, Normandy.
- Don’t call me that. Only my mother calls me that.
- I’m naming my first child that.
- Where’s John Doe?
- Oh, he’s around. She brushes her fingers over his shoulders, flicking away a few pieces of lint on his navy blue suit.
- Yeah? So what’s his deal?
- He’s preoccupied with his own history. Just stay away.
- Beware of dog, ha ha.
- Fucking rabies, baby.
She turns back to the photo and takes another sip of her champagne. She picks at her dark brown dress that fits close and strapless against her frame. She pretends to watch the photo stand still but really has her sight on Norm by the corner of her eye. Norm tilts his head to the side and sniffs and she offers him her champagne which he finishes. He puts the glass down on the floor and walks away. She asks him something but he doesn’t respond. Sean doesn’t watch him go. She hugs herself. She stands there until a blond walks up next to her and asks,
– What’s the deal with this one?

- - -

Going. Along the wall, the beetle crawls. Going. Into the corner the beetle scurries. Going. Down the crack it squeezes through. Gone. Legs and blazing armour and all. A long way down town. Absolutely gone. John rubs the back of his neck as he watches Sean lean over and kiss Norm on the cheek. This is a wasteland now, he thinks. Sean is wearing her favourite color: chocolate brown. A girl comes over, decked out in a white blouse with black vest and slacks with a black bow tie, carrying a tray flat against her upturned palm. She’s got his scotch on the rocks. He takes it and watches her walk away in her heels. John takes a whiff of the sweet vanilla liquid before taking a sip. The ice presses against his upper lip, contrasting a chill against the warmth and eventual burn of the scotch.

He watches her, Sean, moving amongst the crowd smoothly, consistently. As if on ice. He watches the expressions on her face, or lack there of sometimes; how she could seem a bit cold at times, expressionless. Her finely sculpted cheek bones, her frosty blue eyes that would examine you lazily from under finely plucked eyebrows, razor thin. Her blank looks made you feel she was indifferent to you; stuck up. Like you didn’t matter. Non-existent. But then there would be that moment when all of a sudden there is a burst of expression and affection in her face, how she’d laugh and those fine eyebrows would arch upward and her eyes would emote all that she is, burning away the frost. If only for a brief moment. And how confident she seemed; to know everything at such a young age. How despite some extra weight in certain areas, she is not self conscious at all. Like she knows and is in complete ownership of every square inch of her flesh. He notices that she’s wearing the silver ankle bracelet he likes so much. Next he’s thinking of taking it off her ankle. Hand rubbing down the calf. Slowly.

She chats with a blond, a hard body. No doubt someone who’s here just because. Because is the perfect reason these days. Because I want. Because I can. Because… just because. She glances at him from over her shoulder and smiles at him, giving him a childish flick of her wrist. Sometimes he forgets just how young she really is. But talent and looks sometimes intersect, sometimes in someone young, and when it does, it’s tough to let that ship pass by. Get on it. Especially if she’s willing. Hungry. Naked, she’s a peach. Smooth. It’s how she does it. Those fucking lips. A lifeline she is in his memories. He often wonders how it is she found her way to this windy city. Because you can see California in her hair.

All the others, suits and cocktail dresses, emphasis on cock. They talk about everything yet nothing at the same time. Talking about who haute couture and if there is a comeback. Talking about if the Left will ever get it right. Talking about a man found under the bridge with his head, hands and feet missing. And through all this, they meander on by. Not a care in the world. Like this world is better than the next, like the next doesn’t even exist. Like werewolves. Or vampires. Phantom planets and phantom pains, but with real, real death. Baked on existence. A yuppie gang-bang. Circle. Jerk.

She sits herself down on the couch next to John who manages a smile at her. She sighs and puts her arm around his neck, drawing her legs up. She’s slight and curved. She mentions to John how much she likes the charcoal suit and emphasises this by tugging on his collar. She thanks him for wearing it and he smiles like he means it. She examines him with a cool indifference before asking what he thinks of the artwork.
- It is possibly the most vacuous collection I have ever seen.
- Seriously, tell me what you really feel.
- I’m sorry.
- No you’re not. She turns away. Suddenly she’s mean and divisive. Ever not impressed, that’s you to a T. At least I created something. Can you say the same? You work in a fucking shipping bay. You stack fertilizer and dog food.
- Oh come on, I’ve been writing again. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a bunch of crumpled pieces of scrap paper. There are a bunch of illegible words and phrases scribbled onto the scraps. You have to give me that credit.
- Oh, right. This book that doesn’t exist.
- I’m recording life. I just need an ending. Besides, I thought this is about you, not me. Now you’re gonna pick me apart?
- You know what I mean. She’s examining the wall now. Somehow it’s more entertaining than he is. Her icy apathy drives him nuts.
- It’s good. It is.
- That’s almost the perfect compliment, she says dully.
- I love you.
- Now you’re being an ass.
- You’re beautiful.
- Don’t tease me.
- I never tease you.
- You do too. Go suck yourself off. She gets up off the couch. I hope you choke on it, she snaps.

John watches her make her way across the polished white floor. Imagine that, he thinks to himself as she laughs at a comment an admirer makes. Cold one moment, vibrant the next, like turning on a light. His eyes pan away from her to the other end of the couch where Norm has taken residence. He leans back in his seat and turns his large black shades at John and smiles. He looks like an insect. What with the glasses all dark and large and metallic. Shiny. Bug-eyed. A chomping bit of male vanity.
- Way to go, kimosabe.
- You look like Don Johnson.
- Should be careful with her. She’s likely to flit on.
- Is that a threat?
- Just saying. He takes a sip from the bottle of red wine he’s got in his hand. Gotta ask yourself if you’re up for it. ‘Cause she’ll be gone.
- That is a threat.
- Gone baby, gone.
- I wouldn’t blame her. She can’t help it. From her heights, you’re bound lose sight of the ants around you.
- You know, when you were graduating from highschool, she was just learning long division.
- You-sick-fuck.
- Don’t cause a scene, John.
- Yeah, well, she doesn’t want me. Not like that. God. Look at these people…
- You’re too good, John. Fuck ‘em. They’re all assholes. And you know what they say about assholes.
- No, what do they say about assholes?
- They stink.
Norm’s attention wanders. John follows his gaze towards a red head that’s wearing a thin brown dress that is slightly see-through under the bright white lights. You could see she’s not wearing any underwear.
- What are you looking at?
Norm touches his tongue across the front of his teeth and says:
- Dinner.

Mouth to mouth. Infinite verses and infinite worlds supposedly exist. Pretentious bullshit. Fuck Stephen Hawking, John thinks. Because that means there’s others out there, like him, living different but most likely equally useless lives. Playing Monopoly. Strumming folk tunes. Surfing broadband internet porn. Or staring into the water. Clear. Blue. A cool groove, the lights from the bottom of the pool reflect up towards the surface, giving off a hazy likeness. It bends, the light that is, darting over him with each ripple as he makes his way around the edge of the pool. And what does this mean? It means there are other Stephen Hawkings; just as brilliant, just as crippled. How much of the world could you possibly know if you can’t even go off roading? Infinite verses… 6 billion people suffering in infinite different ways. It’s all too depressing, really.
- Don’t go in the water.
- What? John looks up at Norm as he wanders over next to him. He’s still sucking on his bottle of wine. Or maybe it’s a new one.
- Don’t go in the water. I think someone pissed in the pool.
- How would you know? He looks at Norm who just smiles. You’re disgusting.
- Hey; if you can think it, someone has probably done it. Originality is a phantasm.
- How in God’s name can you talk properly with all that shit in your mouth?
- Get with the program. God is dead. The New York Times said so.
Norm fixes the sunglasses on his face and brings the wine bottle to his lips. He looks out at the dark sky and mentions how clear the night is. Sean comes walking up to them, arms folded over her breasts, hugging herself. She’s looking back at the people in the gallery. She mumbles how it seems like the gallery has a life of its own. As if the artist doesn’t matter. As if the photos don’t matter. As if they were looking for an excuse. And John asks:
- Excuse for what?
- Look at them. It’s like I don’t exist.
- Excuse for what?
- Just a flickering image amongst all the lame scenery. What gives? She says all this without looking at him. She’s hasn’t looked him in the eye all night.

John tries to kiss her but she pulls her face away slightly and he comes up short. She just looks at him, the indifference in her eyes makes him nervous. But only briefly, for the indifference turns to disgust. He backs away from her. She looks back at the people in the gallery where the Pixies are yodelling the song, Hey through the banging bass. He watches her for a moment before snatching the bottle of wine from Norm. He takes a big swig from it. It tastes a bit too sour. Grapes. With a little too much wrath.

But there’s nothing as surprising as spontaneity. It’s what she does best and soon she’s under, deep under the cool blue groove. Beneath the bubbles, beneath the water, Sean holds herself. Still. Freeze, don’t move. John calls after her but the sound is drowned. She’s a blur, a dollop, a smidgen of floating blond and brown. Her eyes closed. Her hair floating in a crown around her. Her dress tangled and rising about her, with her white legs bare. And just a glimpse of her black panties. A glimpse. The light from the pool reflects off her milky face. Her high-heeled pumps float up to the surface. And sooner rather than later, they come tumbling down around her. John and Norm, their bodies bombing through the water.

Boom.

Boom.

John grabs her by her waist and pushes her up first to break through the surface. Laughter meets him as he comes up for air. The sunglasses still on his face, Norm is barking at the moon. Sean is calm, her hair slicked back, with wet on her face. Pearls of it. John coughs, spitting out the burning chlorene. He’s treading water. He takes a look at her face. It’s hard to gauge her. He grumbles:
- That was vulgar.
Norm grabs her from behind, drawing her against him. She momentarily struggles, thrashing up water for a few seconds before giving in. He’s got his paws around her wet frame. The dress clings to her. With nipples clearly evident. He buries his face into the back of her neck and she yelps when he bites her. Playfully. Like some kind of monster. She winds her hand up in John’s tie and pulls him towards her. The guitar solo seers through the Pixies song. She’s close enough to smell the wine. Norm is already kissing her, nudging his nose against the back of her neck, his tongue running up the nape of it. She runs her fingers through John’s hair. A mass of wet. A mass of tangled. Like sinuous vines. He closes his eyes and tries to kiss her again. She pulls away in time for him to miss and lay one on Norm’s lips. Norm shoves his tongue into his mouth and they share each other before realizing what they’ve done. She’s laughing. The water laps up against her chin as she drowns her guffaws into the water. It bubbles up and pops at the surface. Norm quickly looks away. She watches the expression change on John’s face.

- - -

White flag. Sean lies on her back on the floor. She’s counting the holes in the ceiling. She’s there, white with black panties, in the middle of the apartment as he stands over her, shirtless. She’s younger than he thought. To be forever young. That’s masturbation. An elusive beast. She giggles, eyes glazed over. She stretches out before him on the hardwood floor, her bare skin a contrast to the cold floorboards. She brings a slim digital camera to her eye and takes a quick snap of him before telling him:
- I need a new life.
On the bed, legs spread, he goes down on her. She’s got her eyes on the dew building up on the windows. He licks and fingers her. All this without coming up for air. He climbs on top of her and starts fucking her missionary, then flips her over on her stomach and fucks her from behind. All this under the blanket moonlight. Freeze this moment. To be forever young. She’s so high on mushrooms that she doesn’t protest when he pulls out of her and puts it into her ass. Love, sex and madness; it’s all there. She starts to moan because that’s what he wants. When he’s close, she tells him:
- Don’t come, Elton. Not in me.
- What?
- Don’t. Just don’t.

- - -

300

2007-03-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

spartans! enjoy your breakfast, for tonight we dine in hell! - king leonidas

so i managed to catch the movie, 300 today. it is a film based on comic book legend frank miller's graphic novel that retells the ancient battle of thermopylee where king leonidas and 300 spartans fought to the death against xerxes and his massive persian army.

what little plot there is, isn't really worth telling, nor is the writing for the most part. the movie has flat characters, big, loud dialogue and paper thin plot. but that's not the reason you go to a movie like this. anyone expecting a history lesson is delusional. 300 is there to entertain, that is all. it's a big, bloody action movie littered with heaving men buffed up on steroids with the occasional female nudity thrown in to reaffirm that this is a heterosexual, manly movie.

i enjoyed it. a lot of the reviews i read before seeing this movie tended to outline how much violence there was and how useless the rest of the movie seemed to be. well, personally, i thought the movie could have used more fighting and even less dialogue. there's this whole subplot of a local politician trying to consolidate power while king leonidas is away at battle which i found to be quite lacking. it was an effort to round out the story, but really, i didn't care. i wanted to go back to the battlefield and watch more people get their heads cut off. sounds gruesome i know, but sometimes after a night of drinking, all you want to do is sit around and not have to think.

there was some suggestion that 300 seemed to have parallels to the current political situation in the world, where this group of spartans are defending freedom against a brutish force as represented by the persians (re: insert iran, terrorists, etc). you can definitely draw parallels, especially with all the talk about defending freedom and how freedom comes at the cost of blood, but the graphic novel on which it is based came out before a lot of the current political blow-ups (no pun intended). personally, i never saw this movie as a political one. some reviewers used this silly parallel as a means to bash the movie. well, if you're going to bash the movie, bash it on its useless subplots, it's canned video game look and lack of any character depth (of which you will definitely score points on).

at any rate, 300 is pretty amusing. it filled my blood quotient for the day. shakespeare it is not, nor should it be, because sometimes you just want to see a man fight a giant troll.

cold war kids

2007-03-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

oops, i did it again.

2007-03-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

white house aide i. lewis ``scooter'' libby was found guilty tuesday on four felony counts of lying about his role in exposing undercover cia officer valerie plame. he could face up to 30 years in prison. scooter was just one part, one cog in the bush administration's machine that frequently attempted to steamroll over anyone and everyone in an attempt to keep the lies going. he should go to jail. but he might not. we'll see what happens to him in the near future.

his guilty conviction is good news, of course, but what is ridiculous is fox news and their handling of the guilty verdict. below, you will see a screen shot thanks to daily kos that shows in the written prompt that scooter was found not guilty. this isn't the first "mistake" they've made. months ago when the mark foley scandal broke (he was the republican congressman who was caught sending sexually inappropriate messages to a congressional page), fox news reported in the text that foley was a democrat and not a republican.

now i know mistakes can be made. i know multiple mistakes can be made. but in this case, i believe fox news knows exactly what they're doing. it may not matter in the long run, but by making these convenient mistakes, they're sowing the seeds of doubt, no matter how small, despite what the facts say. actually, it's not doubt they're spreading, it's outright lies. it's dishonest, and intellectually underhanded. but then, i shouldn't be too surprised, now should i? after all, we're talking about the news agency that trademarked "fair and balanced." it's like saying the earth is flat. you can say it as many times as you want, you can trademark it even, but that don't make it fucking so.

(source 1)

(source 2)

cpac 2007: the unauthorized documentary

2007-03-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

the nation's max blumenthal takes a camera into the heart of the conservative political action conference and asks some interesting questions. what comes about is quite a revealing look at how some conservatives feel towards liberals, as well as how some conservatives feel towards some of their own policies and ideals. this is pretty much mud slinging at its finest, and it is quite humorous.

while humorous, this type of journalism is pretty confrontational, but i understand is a tactic that sometimes has to be employed in order to try to get some honest reactions out of people, rather than political talking points. it pushes buttons, but then, sometimes you just have to do that in order to get a bit of honesty and personality. and it's good for a laugh.

she's having a baby!

2007-03-04T23:45:00.000-08:00

i'm putting aside the politics and the writing and the general trite for this rare occasion to announce something very personal, which is the announcement of a new addition to this crazy world. my good friends cara and drew are expecting their first child, due sometime in september!

congratulations! dear blondie-bear is all growed up! now she has to children two take care of! at any rate, that is going to be one good looking baby! (wow, that' s a lot of exclamation points. obviously too many to be considered legal.) anyhow, after speaking with the expecting parents of this coming love-child, i have officially put my name into the hat for baby names. loring is french, a variation from lorraine, and it means famous in war. they don't know what gender the child is yet, (i'm betting it's a boy) but i figure my name would be perfect for any boy or girl who can be expected to achieve greatness. (notice how i turned such a joyous occasion to somehow include myself? yes, i am that selfish sometimes.)

i'm actually still not fully comprehending any of this yet. i'll need some more time to digest this. you can follow the progress of the birth at cara and drew's blog, monkey business. it will be refreshing to have a bright-eyed, innocent soul around. you know, before the weight of the world crushes it and turns it into just another bitter, miserable human being.

i'm joking of course (not really). have a good one, cara and drew! here's to hoping they don't end up being a stripper or a politician. it's a fine line that one. cara and drew: this is your life!

the man in black

2007-03-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

i've always liked johnny cash's music. i find it really uplifting. i'm kidding of course, but one of my more favorite songs is god's gonna cut you down. this video basically has a bunch of pop stars paying tribute to the man in black. it's one of those big masturbatory videos that always gets made when a legend dies. i appreciate the sentiment, but i can't help but think as these pop stars pay tribute, they are in fact a representation of the types of people that cash says god will cut down. but then, maybe that's the point of the video.

ann coulter: beast master

2007-03-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

according to mediamatters.org:

In a March 2 speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), right-wing pundit Ann Coulter said she "can't really talk about" Democratic presidential candidate and former Sen. John Edwards (NC) because "you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot.' " The CPAC audience applauded her comment. Coulter's comments, which aired on CSPAN, were also documented by the weblog Think Progress. It was not the first time Coulter has smeared a prominent Democrat with a homophobic epithet, and it is not the first time that Coulter has ridiculed Edwards. Will the media call on Republican presidential hopefuls attending the CPAC conference to denounce her smear?

now, we all know that ann coulter is the bride of satan. don't let the pasty white exterior fool you. and we all know that she basically says crap because she knows it will get on the news - the crazier the better. people will write about it, and she'll get exposure so she can sell a few more books. i suppose i'm not helping, since i'm posting this entry.

all that aside, consider the evidence: coulter has, for the last year, really worked the gay angle, calling former vice president al gore a "total fag" and implying that former president bill clinton showed "some level of latent homosexuality," as well as putting "even money" on sen. hilary clinton coming out of the closet.

now consider this: it seems, at least until recently, that some of the most verocious anti-gay opponents and bashers have turned out to be... well, gay. (eg: ted haggard). hmmm... maybe coulter is trying to tell us something. it's okay ann. there's no need to be afraid. especially if the republican party is as pro-gay as you say they are. they'll welcome you with open arms. right?

and here's letterman's knock on coulter. yes, she is an evil, crazy bitch.

(source 1)
(source 2)

keith olbermann vs glenn beck

2007-03-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

keith olbermann has a regular spot on his program that basically names the world's worst person in the world according to olbermann. this time, it's cnn's very own glenn beck, who basically sexually harasses a woman on national television.

he's basically discussing the american idol scandal involving a female contenstant and supposed racy photos of her that were leaked onto the internet. i gather he was joking, but that's just not something you say. the look on her face says it all. idiot.

iraq in fragments

2007-02-21T23:54:00.000-08:00

iraq in fragments is a new documentary coming out that tells the story of present day iraq in three parts. part one, about a fatherless 11 year old child, part two is about sadr followers in two shiite cities trying to enforce islamic law at gun point, and part three follows a family of kurdish farmers who are grateful for the presence of the united states army.

director james longley spent two years filming in iraq to create this film about the war-torn country. what the film shows is iraq through the eyes of its three main ethno-religious groups - sunnis, shiites and kurds. this runs parallel to a lot of recent suggestions that iraq be split into three separate regions based along those ethno-religious lines. the basic concept would allow each section freedom to run its own affairs, with a central government that would take care of any common interests.

splitting iraq up like this is an interesting idea, but it poses some major problems. the first is that historically, whenever an outside power has re-drawn borders, especially ones along ethnic lines, it has usually resulted in violence and revolts, with the lines being adjusted according to victories and loses on the battleground. it may not happen right away, but eventually the groups just never seem to be satisfied living within the borders drawn for them. basically, whenever anyone tries to impose borders, it fails.

the other problem is the fact that when you segregate people by ethnic groups, it only helps to emphasize the differences, and marginalize the many similarities. it would be a step back rather than a step forward in terms of social development.

but some argue, who cares about social development? the primary goal is to stop the violence. you've basically got to learn how to walk before you can run. it is argued that these groups just can't live together, and the violence they're bringing down upon each other is already drawing those lines for us; they're already moving to this sort of solution, each to their own, so the argument is, why not get ahead of the curve for once?

whatever the solution is to iraq - or lack there of, this documentary seems intriguing and worth checking out.

here are some images and the trailer:

bill maher: he's back.

2007-02-20T18:01:00.000-08:00

bill maher is back with yet another arresting season of real time with bill maher. the discussions are always interesting because you never get the exact same guests every time, and the topics are always the most current and interesting of political issues. i find the following clip particularly amusing, considering it is regarding religion in politics. the touch off is about a mormon politician, but maher is trying to encompass a broader discussion with regards to religion and rational thought as opposing forces. i don't think he frames the discussion very well, but it's an interesting discussion anyway. late night host craig ferguson is pretty funny in this.

i'm not always on the same page with maher, because sometimes i think he can be completely off the map, so much that sometimes i barely recognize if he's playing the same game as everyone else. but on religion he and i can agree: "they're all crazy." however, i don't have as negative a view of religion as he does, because i believe it can help some people. i mean really, whatever helps you get by.

on a related note: atheists are the least trusted to run for the presidency. (thanks to onegoodmove.org for posting this.) it's as if being an atheist means you're not trustworthy or somehow without morals, which is obviously not true. atheists are just people who have a different set of beliefs, like reason and logic and evolution instead of, let's say, resurrection from the dead or flying spaghetti monsters.