Friday - The Last Day of My Childhood

I turn 36 tomorrow. That wasn't even bothering me until I got word that my dad fell ill in an airport and is now in the hospital. Stubborn man. I'm going to assume he's going to be alright with the addition of a few stitches until I hear otherwise.

I'm getting my haircut in a couple hours - I had dinner with my 'guy' and his man last night, so we're hopefully somewhat on the same (hair) page... I was all set to grow into a nice sleazy summer mullet when I am bombarded with the news and images

David Beckham's Hairspiration Is His Wife
[Image & Link from A Socialite's Life - (and every other celeb/gossip internets outlet)

So? Is it going to be 'country gent' or south-american-late-to-the-table-soccerhair?

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I Couldn't Find It on Google Maps

Pope says hell and damnation are real and eternal
[from http://www.news.com.au]

My favorite quote:
"...the Pope said that in the modern world many people, including some believers, had forgotten that if they failed to "admit blame and promise to sin no more", they risked "eternal damnation - the inferno".

Hell "really exists and is eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any more".

Is this some trend for the 21st century -- that (non-elected) officials speak and act completely in a vacuum, free from the fetters of reality? Poor Benny. The dude's seriously grasping at straws. I almost feel sorry for him.

Hahah! JK!

Alternate titles to this post:
"Ok. What's the Dress Code?"
"Can I at Least Wear a Speedo?"
"Yes, Some Say It's Been Found in Vatican City"
"Will the Bouncer Let Me and My 'Plus One' to the Front of the Line if We're on the List?"

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Overheard

Girl: We need to date boys who are smart and rich. Our boyfriends are stupid and poor and don't even have the same wireless provider as us.

--Laguna Beach, California [from Overheard at the Beach]

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YouTube Awards

This is interesting. So YouTube had it's first 'official' awards and hahahahaha the New York Times tries to wrap it's head around it. The article's tone reads like someone poking at a pile of stinking, dirty laundry with a stick. Whatever. There are some sweet mentions and links in there. ('My Hands Are Bananas' and 'Ask a Ninja' are good.) And it's odd to see the YouTube community has morphed into a MySpace clone. Everyone is finally their own channel it seems.

[NYTimes - YouTube Awards the Top of Its Heap]

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GoGo

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Nemo wa, doko desu ka?

From Geisha Asobi. She's my girlfriend. JK! She's not.

Terror of the Deep

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A Watershed Moment

First let me open this post with "Viacom sucks". After reading & viewing videos from regular folks like you and me who got censored due to Viacom's uber-agressive pursuit of 'copyright infringement' I am totally down on that conglom. Not that it will be hard, but I'm boycotting their holdings (wait, is MTV even running anymore?). Remember: Viacom sucks.

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Onto more important matters.

omfg
I got a shiny new laptop a few days ago (name is GoGo) and in doing so, ignored the little gnawing doubt in my gut that the OS it came with -- Windows Vista -- would be solid. I have geek friends back in New York who would rip me down if they heard that I a) bought another Sony Vaio and b) one that came with Vista. But whatever.
Regardless, I've spent the past couple of days trying to learn the little tricks and features of the OS while also trying to network it to my desktop PC which runs XP Media Edition (again a Sony). Things did not go well. First, I found waaaay to many returns on the search "Vista & XP networking trouble" and second, none of the forums I found that addressed the topic contained any clear solution. I perservered on this issue in the background while I've been (actually) doing some paid work.
I am proud to announce that this afternoon, at approximately 4.15pm, I successfully got my XP machine and the Vista (wireless) to see each other, and allow file transfer between them. What does this mean? To you, almost nothing. To me, the myriad of porn multimedia morsels that reside up there (including Tivo'd stuff) is now available to me on the go.

Don't forget:

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Update: (8.15pm) Both machines have dropped off the network and are unable to 'see' each other. Whatever. Vista blows. Guess I'll just shut off my firewall, turn on total sharing and wait for my identity to get duped a thousand times and wind up on the Internet.

My New Desktop

Click my ass to see full resolution.

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¡Hasta la Vista!

I gots me some new laptop. It's running Vista .
So far, ima give it a B-. My biggest complaint is when like a window keeps blinking or menu items don't quite work properly.

The fades, gradients, transparencies, etc. are nice lil flourishes but ultimately un-crucial (?) to effective, efficient computing.

Whatever I gots me my sidebar with 'gadgets'.
And I can wirelessly access my iTunes library upstairs. (how '04)

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Live Blogging via Laptop

I'm watching Babel and so far I find it a 'good' movie.
Brad Pitt should not have ever been considered a contender for an Oscar in this, though. The Japanese girl and the Mexican care-giver - for sure, but Mr. Pitt is hardly a developed character that calls on the art of acting. His faux grey hair is poorly done too.

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Spartan Workout

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Tangerine Panic

Play this game here.

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Air Travel: As Dignified as the F Train

I've always been a somewhat verbal critic of the way air travel has degraded from the halcyon days of people actually dressing for the flight, air hosts & hostesses smiling as they stroll the aisles inquiring if they might get you 'something to make your flight more comfortable', etc. to it's current state of humiliation, pain & suffering.

This 'news' item pretty much encapsulates how far things have come. [Man Relieves Himself in Air-Sickness Bag, (AP) Salt Lake City]

So once you've passed through TSA security checks and put all your clothes back on, still red-faced from the inevitable (and intimate!) pat-down, you face being sequestered in an aircraft on the runway for like, what 10 hours? Or if your plane does take off on time, you will be deprived either the opportunity to indulge in some sustenance or conversely, the opportunity to use facilities.

Eventually, I imagine we'll be traveling nude (perhaps in a diaper?), strapped to a padded board in a standing position, while mentally-ill indigents panhandle up and down the aisles.

Excuse me, could I please have a Sprite here in 7C?

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The Office

After being urged by many people to watch it, I broke down and snobbily suffered through an episode of the USA version of The Office. It didn't really get me the first time I watched an ep. It just seemed flat. After continued viewing however, I am willing to concede that it is the rare (single?) instance of an American remake of a British program that is better then the original.



PS I'm a Jammer too I guess.

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Gray Friday

No sass. No scamp.

I can feel things are changing - around me but not for me.

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The Religious States of America

Oh jeebus, Ima burst a valve today if I keep reading the news. Can someone please tell this old, irrelevant, out-of-touch fossil to simply STFU about US politics? Stay locked up in your Vatican castle Benny, amidst those huge stashes of cash and porn, in your fancy little dress and patent leather shoes worrying about how to get more employees to sign on to your corporation.

Catholic Politicians Can't Back Gay Marriage: Pope

Tue Mar 13, 7:44 AM ET

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Church's opposition to gay marriage is "non-negotiable" and Catholic politicians have a moral duty to oppose it, as well as laws on abortion and euthanasia,

Pope Benedict said in a document issued on Tuesday.

I am about as interested in hearing what this narrow-minded freak thinks about politics as I am hearing what a robot thinks about sexual behavior.

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General Pace You Are an Idiot & Wrong

The last thing a general in the War Machine should be pontificating about is morality.
Worry more about the moral repercussions of killing people and less about what your specific faith book says about homosexuality.

You are, in my book, just another asshole who conflates your job with your personal flavor of religion. It's called a separation of church & state, look into it buddy.

And you do owe the thousands of (homosexual) men and women who are doing your dirty work an apology. You make me sick.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

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Li Po, I'd Link to Your Blog if You Had One

Death by Embracing the Reflection of the Moon

Chinese poet Li Po (701-706) is regarded as one of the two greatest poets in China’s literary history. He was well known for his love of liquor and often spouted his greatest poems while drunk.

One night, Li Po fell from his boat and drowned in the Yangtze River while trying to embrace the reflection of the moon in the water. [From Neatorama]

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Tonight We Dine In Hell

Or the in-laws' house.

[I was originally going to post an audio track from the 300 Soundtrack titled the same as this post, but instead I felt compelled to throw a Zing!]

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Hypothetical

Wouldn't it be hysterical if you got old one day and as a result, out of step with technology such that you had to ask your younger friends what they use for peer-to-peer since everything like Limewire and Napster bit the dust?

And wouldn't it be even funnier if once you sorted out that new way of obtaining..um digital backups of the things you already owned [Bit Torrent], the only 2 items you had available for sharing were 'Jesus Camp' & 'Centurion Muscle II: Alpha'?

That would be funny.

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Guess I'm Not Alone or 'Eat It NYTimes'

Early showings for "300" film draw sell-out crowds

Fri Mar 9, 2007 6:54pm ET

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The ultra-bloody warrior film "300," about a legendary battle between the Spartans and Persians, seemed headed for U.S. box-office glory on Friday with sell-out crowds flocking to early showings.

Imax, the giant-screen movie chain, reported that all 57 of its 12:01 a.m. Friday screenings of the Warner Bros. film had sold out as its advance ticket sales for the weekend hit a new record for the month of March.

"We had the most amazing night," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of Imax Filmed Entertainment, adding that many Imax theaters arranged 2:30 a.m. shows at the last minute to accommodate fans who failed to get into the midnight showings.

Many of the rest of the nation's 600 theaters with early morning shows also played to capacity crowds, said Dan Fellman, domestic distribution president for the Time Warner Inc.-owned studio.

"They were flocking everywhere, not just to Imax," he told Reuters.

While overnight business accounted for a fraction of the more than 3,100 North American theaters where "300" was opening on Friday, the early surge at the multiplex was a strong indicator that the film was poised for a robust first weekend.

Some box-office analysts predicted "300" could finish the weekend in the $50 million range, an impressive achievement for a March opening given the film's "R" rating and lack of stars.
...
"300" has received mixed reviews -- New York Times critic A.O. Scott called it "about as violent as 'Apocalypto' and twice as stupid" -- but has benefited from an aggressive Internet-based promotional campaign appealing to a younger, tech-focused crowd.

Well that's it then -- an aggressive Internet-based promotional campaign (I haven't seen one print or TV spot for this film) that appeals to a 'younger (?), tech-focused crowd" may be partially to explain things.

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A Selfishly Convenient Truth

It's pretty sweet I must admit, to come back from the end of summer in Argentina to this:

[LA Times] It's still winter, but in Southern California it's feeling more and more like summer.

The National Weather Service is forecasting a heat wave over the next three days that will push temperatures into the 90s in some places, probably breaking records.

The forecast is the latest twist in a period of unseasonable weather, with the Southland on pace to experience its driest year on record.

From my understanding, back in NYC it's the cold dark heart of winter.
I do, however, miss living in a city proper.

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ElectroTango

Enjoy this audio morsel. It's Gotan Project, "La Vigüela".
It's the soundtrack to the short film of my trip (that runs in my head).

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Saturday Morning

300

So I saw 300.
As I expected, I enjoyed it. The "acting" could have been turned down a notch by the narrator but eh, the next time I go see it I'll wear my iPod.

Spartans are hot. I'm calling it now.


*Update [Next Day]: This is a shallow and superficial treatment of a movie that I find interesting on a number of levels - from the marketing & how I heard of it to the fact that I went to see it on opening day and the vast discrepancies between the reviews I read of it. I should revisit this.

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Volviendo

Well, I just flew in from Uruguay and boy are my arms tired.

Thank you, thank you.

Re-entry shock is a slowly unfolding phenomena. Argentina - Buenos Aires specifically - and the Punta area were both great places to see. My initial impression of BA was very hot and laid back. Mohawks and fauxhawks and mullets galore! Seriously, those folks know how to work a totally interesting style. There is a definite Italian thread woven into this Latin American city.

Lots of art.
And beef.

I'll elaborate as appropriate.

PS I think Evita got screwed in the PR dept., historically. Who knew under her 'leadership' women in Argentina enjoyed both the right to vote and the right to be elected?

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¿What´s New Buenos Aires?

Don´t cry for me, yo. Aww hombre, the Evita jokes keep coming...

¡Yo estoy en la ciudad ahora!
Este ciudad es buenissimo.

More to come when I have proper access to a computer and regular keyboard.

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