Things of note from the weekend! Rocktober edition.
-a Jackson Pollack party! all kinds of fun, and messy; next up - a Jackson Pollack bra-painting party!
-a tasty drink, known colloquially as "the Costa Rican drink," is composed of sugar cane rum, sugar, and limes...it does smell a bit like rubbing alcohol, though
-combining various drugs and alcohol apparently may make one bark at people, and/or play awesome blues/metal guitar
-a new refridgerator = cool (ha, no pun intended); having said frigidaire be a quarter-inch too big = exasperating....thus: break out the power tools
-we can actually see the back porch for the first time in months - thank you, Ms Kim!
-best we can figure, some concrete dust from the new Alvernon bridge thingie must have gotten down into the Rilito; we couldn't explain the abnormally thick and oddly peeling "tiles" that we found in the dessicated parts of the riverbed any other way

Swiri, with a few Korean actors I actually recognized, randomly. I didn't see the end, nor the beginning, but wow the middle was pretty exciting. So, I won't write much about it, except to say there's a moment where even not really knowing what's going on you'll be saying, "Ohhh, no way, that is stone-cold not cool."

Like, whoa.

Update! I didn't beep going through the doors at Target last night! Hoorah!
Damn conspiracy chippy thing.
Though I maintain, I'm willing to take all takers who want to rub my butt and look for something hard.

Silent Hill, with Radha Mitchell and Laurie Holden. Mmm...not really a horror movie. More a conceptually scary movie, but not a particularly disturbing one, either. Interesting, at least. But not interesting in the watching per se - rather, in doing a close reading of the imagery and symbolism, instead. Better than most video game movies; but something is lost in the lack of interacting, that made the game so famous. So. Um. Kind of a neutral opinion in the end, I guess.

A funny thing - that someone I know so well now, and that I've known for years (but only as an acquaintance), might be someone I "met" double those years ago. We both went to the same town in Delaware nigh every summer, to the same boardwalk, to the same amusement park when we were much younger. So I'm sure we must have at least seen each other somewhere, in passing. On top of that, we both have memories of throwing imaginary "grenades" and shooting imaginary guns at people across the ubiquitous viking ship ride, though admittedly I need to check with my cousins and brother, as my memories are less clear and might be manufactured. But still. It's a small world, after all.

Oof...goosebumps. So I'm re-reading Peter Watts' Maelstrom, and ***SPOILER*** (though it won't make any sense if you haven't read it anyway) recalling the interesting thing that happens when the Lenie Clarke meme starts to take on a (semi)sentient existence and at the same time parallels the William Gibson concept of the critical mass of celebrity, and consequently ravages the eponymous Maelstrom. So in this interesting article there's a pretty direct real-life parallel, of something taking on a 'life' of its own on the interwebnet, with an accompanying 'face' along with it and everything! Eerie.

Whoa...honestly, this little bug kind of freaks me out a little. Trickery! I suppose it is a good example of convergent evolution, though.

I've been intrigued by chess and chess-variants of late - Baroque is one I think particularly interesting, especially in its own variants at the bottom of the page (like the very divergent Renaissance, for example)

-for the first time ever on y.t., song lyrics (by Michael Franti, heard 'em this morning, doesn't do the song justice to read it, though...)-

About All The Freaky People Make the Beauty of the World

Starvation is a creation of the devil
a rebel
I\'m bringin\' food to the people like a widow
bringin\' flowers to a grave in the middle
of the city isolation is a riddle
to be surrounded by a million other people
but feel alone like a tree in the desert
dried up like the skin of a lizard
but full of color like the spots of a leopard
drum and bass pull me in like a sheperd
scratch my itch like a needle on a record
full of life like a man gone to Mecca
sky high like an eagle up soaring
I speak low but I\'m like a lion roaring
baritone like a Robeson recordin\'
I\'m giving thanks for bein\' human every morning...

Because the streets are alive with the sound of Boom! Bap!
can I hear it once again!
Boom! Bap! Tell your neighbor tell a friend
every box gotta right to be boomin\'
because the streets are alive with the sound of Boom! Bap!
can I hear it once again!
Boom! Bap! Tell your neighbor tell a friend
every flower got a right to be bloomin\'!
Stay Human!

For a while, every time I've gone into either Target or Walgreens, the damn shoplifting-sensor things beep (and on the way out as well, natch). While that might have been an amusingly easy way to shoplift were I so inclined, as the clerks just invariably pass me through, if they even notice, it was also just plain annoying. I tried not going in with my cell phone, or keys, or whatever - still beeped. So last night the clerk asked me a seemingly random question - "Do you have any sort of chip on you?" I blinked, as I didn't have my cell phone on me, or anything really.

But while I'm getting lunch today, I look in an my wallet on a whim, and find...well, a chip. A one inch square adhesive pink and metallic chip thingie. I have no recollection of that going into my wallet, nor clue as to what it is. Besides being freaked out a little, I'm kind of curious to see whether I beep again next time I peruse one of those stores of convenience. Also to look up those guys from X-Files, I forget what they were called, the ones that helped Mulder all the time.

You know, I never understood nor liked the idea of all those hidden dimensions in string theory, anyway. As much as I liked the violin string vibrating to create a note being analagous to a string vibrating to create matter, that was kind of poetic.

Stanslov Petrov was a quiet kind of hero a little over twenty years ago

I just read about the idea of a 'sound signature.' That is, in any given place one might find oneself, the ambient noise will give it a sort of signature; for example, in this little office there's an air conditioner, the sounds of packing machines outside (and the packers making asses of themselves), an occasional PA call (with the receptionist being cute/dorky occasionally), and Lisa cursing in Mexican. Anyway, what I found interesting about this idea is in realizing how much we unconsciously ignore or just stop hearing of that sound signature on a moment to moment basis - for all that the sounds are a constant, one has to consciously stop and listen for them to actually hear most of them. And that in turn bears on concepts of mindfulness and clarity of perception, which in turn bears on the idea that our thoughts (something completely ephemeral and not-physical) can be so "loud" that it drowns out ambient noise (also ephemeral and intangible, but quite physical). Hmmm.

Din-i-Illahi, or Divine Faith, is something I think would be awesome were it applied to modern Christianity and Islam.

Yet more community integration - I love this stuff!
-tangentially, I'll admit, I'm intrigued...as much as I'm also kind of grossed out...

In other news, it turns out (in retrospect) I missed my chance with a hot thirty-something doctor. But, it worked out much, much better the way it did, I'd say. So, no "alas..." there.

Things of Note! From the weekend!
-having a relative be a manager of a Metro restaurant is pretty awesome (yay kin of Kim!); but beware, the resulting free extra appetizers and beer (Hawai'ian - flowery!) might make it so you can only get a few bites of your actual dinner down
-getting hit on the back of your head (hello mr. occipital lobe) can actually make your vision black out for a split second (not good when driving down the highway), now I really believe those stories about boxers being blinded by rabbit punches
-everyone was injured in some way in kickboxing on Saturday. what the hell.
-chicken with pricklypear nectar and cloves is interesting and spicy and odd
-next to the salsa dancing floor, there was a big, dark man with lots of amulets and pendants on, just sitting their drinking and watching...I had the impression he was some sort of salsa mafia don, or Columbian drug lord, or maybe just some large guy drinking and my imagination got away from me
-be careful when hamming it up on the dance floor; apparently you might get into a dance-off and not even realize it
-somehow, someway, the comic book guy from the Simpsons was in Phoenix this weekend...alas, we did not ask him exactly which state Springfield is in
-why is that a thirteen year old dressed up as a Catholic schoolgirl is unwholesome, while a nubile-in-a-different-sense woman in the same get-up is more acceptable?
-at every chance I get from now on, I'm going to get a sketch from a professional artist...quality, original art, for a relative minimum of money, hell yeah

Brokeback Mountain, with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. The landscapes were sure purdy. Nonetheless, I was sure disappointed in the rest of the movie. While the acting and cinemtography were of course quality, I thought the narrative meandered too much, and I often like meandering movies. I suppose, to me, in a movie I thought should have been based upon character development, I didn't really think there was that much, or it it was there, it was on some wavelength I didn't pick up on. Also, I was kind of disappointed in the lovemaking between the men, for as controversial as I thought it was supposed to be, that was a let-down.

random poem I ran across, by my favorite Sufi poet:
There is a way between voice and presence where information flows.
In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes.
- Rumi

Faith & Fire, by James Swallow. Woo! Action-packed. Man, I've been reading too much beer+pretzel scifi lately. But hey, it's fun. Isn't it funny that the word "man" can be used as a very minor epithet like that? But that's a tangent. Anyway, kudos to Swallow for pulling off characters which would generally be shallow zealots have some amount of depth to them. Not quite an Abnett novel (though similar in style at times), but way better than most 40k stories, I'll give it that much. I think the main phrase for the best parts of it is 'over the top' - for example,

"Any bones broken?" ventured Verity. Her face was dim in the gloom. "Are you in pain?"

"Constantly," frowned the Battle Sister. "My trigger finger aches from lack of use."

The L Word, Season 1. Much thanks to Ms. Nicole for the lending! Having seen only most of the third season prior to watching the first, it's interesting to note how well put together the writers' character development is, in details that are subtle and yet sustained across that gulf of time. And though there are the usual first-season foibles and slight awkwardness at times (re: Farscape as an example), I enjoyed watching how the patterns of approacing LGBT, gender, and other issues was established, and for another example of an interesting aspect of the show, how confluences are built up to (re: Dana's cancer versus Moira/Max's transitioning in the third season, versus Jenny's Most Awkward Moment Ever in the first season's finale). But at the moment I kind of loathe Jenny anyway, so there.

In one of my random tangents of wondering, I was reading a bit about what made the Romans so successful as a militant power. Then, having been an English major in a past life, I started making connections, as I am wont to do, in this case to how the principles in question might be applied to my training. So, excising the main point of each section:

“The Romans were able to copy and adapt the weapons and methods of its opponents more effectively.” --- That fits the ‘cross-training’ of mixed martial arts, and one of Bruce Lee’s quintessential axioms to take techniques and principles from any source and ‘make them yours;’ in a broader sense, the shifts back and forth in dominance between strikers and grapplers in MMA over the years as each adopted the others’ tactics

“Roman organization was more flexible than those of many opponents.” --- Here, I’m reminded of one of the focuses of the east-side school, ‘transitional flow,’ which covers everything from transitioning between techniques (say, between different types of the same lock, strike, or pin), to transitioning between ranges (usefulness of the karate, aikido, jujitsu combination).

“Roman discipline, organization and logistical systemization sustained combat effectiveness over a longer period.” --- Conditioning, as my dad drills into us! But not just physical conditioning, but mental and emotional as well, as I’ve learned from the harder contact training we’ve done, which is needed when conscious thought flies out the window, so ingrained muscle memory and the unconscious can take over tactical decisions.

“The Romans were more persistent and more willing to absorb and replace losses over time than their opponents.” --- From the principles and concepts brought back from Thailand of late, and yogic parallels, tenacity – consciously choosing how to respond to pain and fatigue, and compartmentalizing as needed; beyond that, in a more simplistic sense, being able to take hits or give up position for later advantage. The counter to this, however, is that against an equal opponent in this regard (Rome versus Carthage or Parthia, for example), this principle is effectively negated.

“Roman leadership was mixed, but over time it was often effective in securing Roman military success.” --- To me, this (analogously, the Senate overwatch’ing the military, in their prime) would mean integrating of some of the other principles – that is, say, one might train in jujitsu and karate, but if they can’t be integrated to cover each others’ weaknesses, the ‘mixed wires’ will be more hindering than not, and slow down decision making, conscious or unconscious.

Ms. Kim’s Corollary: The Romans were successful because they had really huge mastiffs.

Here's to my mom! She had tossed over a magazine that had been given to her, Travel and Leisure or somesuch, and I asked her if she wanted to travel. She replied, no, and instead of just saying she was fine as is, she looked out the glass sliding door to the backyard, which faces east. She said each morning she goes out with the dog, and it's silent, and described the sunrises in concisely poetic language, which I won't try to repeat so as not to sully it with inaccuracy. And that's how my mom answered that no, not at the moment was she interested in travelling. It seemed a particularly enlightened, understanding-of-contentment response, if I haven't made that clear enough already.

So, turning a bit introspective, I had an odd realization, then tried to turn objective upon it. I think I act as an intermediary a lot. At work I run back and forth between the front office and the warehouse (and its component departments), and am of both, and yet neither, in everything from dress to attitude to job description. In a similar state of things, I'm the only person to regularly go between both dojos of our school, and act as a messenger and conveyer of information, with a similar of both/neither status in some ways. And even in general social situations, I've never been and am not really part of any consistent 'circle of friends' or what, but rather drift in and out of them, and in turn connect them by bringing friends from one to another.

Anyway, maybe I should try to find a job that reflects such. What would that be, diplomacy? No, that's not quite right...hmm....

A very random thought. In one part based on the posit that orgasm is a moment of complete union with the self, that is, analagous in a way to a moment of samadhi, if one is so inclined to look up the Sanskrit. In a second part, based on how one taking anti-depressants might find it difficult to achieve orgasm. So I'm conjecturing that while the anti-depressant medication may treat the symptoms and even the physical cause, perhaps (besides or on top of just hindering it in some physical way) the medication also acts as a handicap to or diversion from the psychological and emotional side of things, and may hinder that 'union' in its own way. Or, looking back at all that, maybe I'm just talking out of my ass.

If you know me, you know I'd get a kick out of this-
"BEIJING (Reuters) -- More than 240 army dental experts from 25 countries are meeting in northern China to brush up on cavities of war and weapons of mass infection at the 2006 World Military Dental Congress." - that, and the headline was "World army dentists build bridges" - ha!

If I ever end up having me a daughter, I'm going to make sure to learn her some history - specifically, about bad-ass women. Now, I have to note, as much as the title of that implies soldiering, many of those were more strong and intelligent in terms of politics or familial matters or just strength of character, which I'm really more concerned with.

So while I'm having fun with neologisms, I might as well extend that into my own personal jargon, and make up the term 'world dream.' That is, every once in a while, under certain circumstances - falling asleep with the lights on in my face, in my jeans, with no AC on, dehydrated, sunburned, and in an odd position, as in last night, as a general example - I'll have a particular kind of dream. I'm calling it a 'world dream' because it has this quality wherein it seems to exist in a setting that is independent of me. I'll wake up and fall asleep several times over the course of a night, and just keep returning to the same, surreal 'world.' Now, in this particular kind of dream, it really does feel like a setting in some story, with its own rules, and culture, and sense of 'place.' Kind of interesting, but mostly unpleasant in the end because of the discomfort of the things that bring up that kind of protracted, multi-falling asleep/waking up kind of dreaming.

Random quote of the day! [I'm italicizing the part I particularly found interesting]
"The contents of the mental stream are not as important as the consciousness that knows them. The mind softens in meditation through the assumption of a particular mental posture called 'bare attention,' in which impartial, nonjudgmental awareness is trained on whatever there is to observe. Problems are not distinguished from solutions; the mind learns how to be with ambiguity."

Guest post from Ms. Connie, in reference to Farscape, for anyone who might appreciate it!
"Rygel's like the saddest character ever. They make him like a cartoon, but he's actually really really sad. I mean, it's the deposed King thing times 20. Because he was both hot and powerful in Hyneria, and he's little and ugly and disgusting on the ship. The crew members treat him kind of like a bad pet...and he responds by acting that way a lot of the time. But it's always ok to insult him, to manhandle him, and to say things to him that they'd never dream of saying to--oh, Chiana--who's like him in nearly every way except her exterior. He's been on the ship the longest, but no one really mentions that. Granted, he's kind of a coward and a wimp, but there's also no one on the ship who would back him up. Everyone else gets love interests, and he doesn't (though granted a muppet love scene would have been odd) Anyway, I feel bad for the little guy. He just wants to be like Zhaan paints him...like a king."

-interesting quote from novel I'm reading:
"She watched the machine-slaves drift to and fro, and observed the way the women edited their servants from their world: they never looked directly at them, never spoke to them. They ignored their very existence, and yet depended entirely upon it."
I think the use of the word 'edit' within that is particularly interesting in regards to the idea of 'stories that we tell ourselves,' as in either the yoga idea of such or in a de Lintian sense (I'm making up a word, damnit, nothing you can do about it!), though I think Ms. Connie could explain the pracitical idea of it best, if you're interested.

-article on intuition/gut instinct

things of note addendum! (it was a dense weekend):
-there are lots of pretty animals at a dog show....and lots of funny looking people, apparently
-always, and I mean always, take the most pictures of your girlfriend's mom's dog, even if he's not being shown...on pain of...uh...well, not hearing the end of it, heh
-a burger made with red wine is okay; I wouldn't say spectacular, or even that different than a regular burger, though
-for the love of whatever gods, when outside for an entire weekend wear sunscreen...no, Scott, not like how our track coach used to say it, thank you...ew
-in Phoenix one can get a sub that is basically a Thanksgiving dinner in sammich-form, though the franchise in question apparently started in Delaware, I hear

woo Zen mondo!
"A monk asked T'ou-tzu: 'All sounds are the sounds of Buddha, right?'
'Right,' said T'ou-tzu.
The monk then said: 'Then master, doesn't your bottom make farting sounds?'
T'ou-tzu hit him. But, undaunted, the monk continued, 'Whether talk is coarse or subtle, all returns to the primary meaning, right or wrong?'
'Right,' T'ou-tzu said.
The monk said: 'Then can I call you a donkey?'
T'ou-tzu hit him again."

things of note on the (dog show) weekend!
-when getting into Prescott late at night, make sure you see the sign...and don't drive all the way to Flagstaff. In other news, Natalie the Eclipse apparently has great highway mileage, Tucson to Flagstaff to Prescott with gas to spare
-funny how a baseball diamond in the middle of nowhere can develop its own little ecosystem, complete with ginormous grasshoppers (I kind of wanted to fry one up) and that same green spider I still don't know a name for
-dogs can come in 'small horse' size - it occured to me that if an Irish wolfhound wanted to casually bite my heart out of my chest, it wouldn't have to jump up, but probably rather bend down
-I didn't really believe it, but yeah I can see sharpei as fighters, what with the wrinkles and the overly pugnacious-bastard 'tudes
-Kim's mom wins for most-violentest-threats-ever - which seem to somehow be augmented by her nice English accent
-where else could you hear, "Work that bitch!" said with a completely straight face, and also have it be completely appropriate?
-vaguely tangentially, I've not seen so much adroitness at going so quickly from polite and even enthusiastic encouragement and sportsmanship to hissed backbiting and trashtalking and back as soon as a person in question is back in earshot
-Prescott to me is an odd combination of Colorado Springs, Fairbanks, and Anchorage

Double Eagle, by Dan Abnett. Well, it's a novel, by Abnett, so I really don't have to say more, but I will. As usual, the 40k setting is used to its fullest - utilizing the shared setting as well as adding plenty of original thought, as well it should be used. I'll note the interesting use of Herbert-style perspective shifts, which only a skilled author can really pull off (ie, even within mid-sentence at times). This is one of his novels, is another thing I should note, wherein it's more of an epic (with multiple, connected plotlines/characters) than one of his more closely focused novels. And his aerial combat scenes are just as cinematic and exciting as his more traditional action. Gush, gush, etc. Beer and pretzel scifi with lovely characters and a fast, engaging plot.

"The hardest part is cleaning the fur out of the damn rotor blades." Huh. Apparently, Phil says it's real.

Eris will be the tenth planet, eh? Hmph. Well, I suppose it'll offer more fun for hard science fiction authors (say, like in Ian McDonald's Terminal Cafe or the latter part of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, or several of David Brin's short stories, or that one semi-famous book Bloom, eh, I could go on), and I suppose its moon does have a pretty cool sounding name.

So, watching how apparent it is that dogs react to body language and tonal things, it gets me thinking. Esoterically, in Frank Herbert's Dune novels (yes, I will keep returning to those, I did my bloody thesis on the first one) there's the idea of 'Voice,' wherein through creating a certain tonal effect in one's voice, one would be able to address another person's subconscious, as opposed to their conscious - so, in effect, insta-hypnosis of sorts. The only way one would be able to confront such a thing would be to have enough introspective knowledge and self-awareness, and the discipline necessary for such, to be comfortable with one's own unconscious - meaning that the average person, who has no care for such a practice, would be horribly susceptible to Voice.

Anyway, so I begin to wonder how much people are affected by body language and tone, without realizing it (and whether being comfortable with or having trained one's unconscious can affect that). The only practical example I can think of was from that women's self-defense workshop we just put on - it really is almost unnerving to realize that if one backs up and just assertively puts their hands up and out, palms forward, it can totally defuse another person's aggresion/dominance (and be a nice offensive position to boot, but that's besides the point). Whereas if one stands their ground and brings fists up, the natural reaction is to think 'ohhh, that's it' and the fight's on.

Or, the standard quintessential aikido principal - yeah, if you slam a strike at someone's face, they're going to react, even if just by flinching. But if you casually drift a hand up, as if you were say going to brush a fly away, nine times out of ten the other person won't react, even when you lay your hand on them. Try it, it's funny!

I don't even remember how I came across it, but this article on the Indo-Greeks actually almost gave me goosebumps. I just had no idea that such a culture existed, or that it could have even existed. I mean it makes sense knowing that Alexander the Great invaded India and such, but who'd have thought something like Greco-Buddhism might have existed? I wonder in turn why this isn't brought up in more historical texts. Hell, if I were in charge it would be, it seems a kind of community integration like I was speaking of before, but on a grand scale.

I don't know why I thought I'd be able to, but I tried to physically outwit an Australian shepherd. My first clue that it wasn't going to go well should have been the fact that she could traverse the width of the dog park like a furry little meteor on speed. But hey, I thought, I can out-juke her, I have a bigger brain, right? Ha, no. Any spin or fake-out or fancy footwork I managed to accomplish left me face to face with her, or her quite literally dancing in circles around me, or ready to trip me at will, to the point where I actually managed to bore her, I think. I'm sure it was quite hilarious from an outside perspective, though, as Ms. Kim can probably attest. I guess if I ever get in a fight with that kind of dog I know not to rely on agility - that would be a reliance-upon-power-and-opposable-thumbs encounter all the way. Just need to grab the bloody animal to keep it from moving, it's not good when you blink and something is suddenly behind you in that space of time.

Well, I haven't actually read it yet (it'd been sitting on my bookshelf since I brought it back from Florida), but Faith and Fire by James Swallow gets a glowing recommendation by my dad. He apparently took it with him while hunting, and was so engrossed that a doe managed to stroll pretty much unnoticed within ten yards of him, which is saying something if you know my dad.

In other news, I just thought I'd reiterate that I'm a big fan of community integration. That is whether on a, say, inter-city level such as The Frank Show being broadcast in both Tucson and Reno - allowing a caller from one city to offer a caller from the other city a job. Or, the head instructor at the east-side dojo's manner of reaching out to the community in the immediate area of the school, such as setting up self-defense workshops at apartment complexes. Or, in a kind of converse of that, the diner wherein the community comes to a center in a kind of forum cum social cum haggling center. Or, in an artistic way, promotion of local music and events through, say, the community radio station. Not really going to go into reasons why, right now, just that it's something I'm into.

-on sci-fi leading characters: "Theirs would be without the standard white guy lead whose name starts with "J" (James T. Kirk, John Crichton, John Sheridan (Babylon 5), Jeffrey Sinclair, Jonathan Archer, Jack O'Neill (Stargate), John Sheppard (Stargate), J. Koenig, J. Robinson, Jean-Luc Picard, Jeremiah (series))."
--I'd never made that connection; I also find it funny that I recognize all but two of those.

things of note! from the weekend! apparently it will be an institution.
-I have officially smacked a cop upside the head; I just hope that, in doing so, I haven't gotten rid of a get-out-of-jail-free card I might have had, if she pulls me over
-who knew a U.S. Marine could do Brittney Spears' 'Toxic' so well? Complete with a stripper dance against a pole and everything, it was hot...and vaguely disturbing
-'Fever' is officially hands down the hottest karaoke song ever, beating out the former 'Smooth Operater' and 'I Touch Myself'
-as much as 'Bye Bye' by Jo Dee Messina gets stuck in my head every time I hear it, I like it, so it's all good
-the hot wings at the Depot will try to kill you, and/or make your mouth the ninth circle of hell...or whichever one is fiery, I forget
-people who look like they're randomly having spasms might actually be talking in sign language; or randomly having spasms, that too
-two-year-olds can have upper body strength that is surprising...and mohawks...and point out exactly where their 'yam sack' is
-mmm, yorkshire pudding. next step: try it will sweetness! perhaps cloudberry jam....
-and I feel kind of bad for the people that live next to the Depot; if they didn't hear the entire (filled) bar singing (yelling) 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' they must have had earplugs in
-you know your town's football team might not be doing to well when the head coach is on commercials making jokes about having to skip town after the season's over

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, with Will Ferrell, and as Ms Kim pointed out, that girl from The Wedding Date. Unlike whatever that soccer movie with Ferrell was, this one was not a disgusting waste of time; it was actually pretty fun. Yes, it was stupid, but we were laughing nigh the entire time. Though I suspect it's one of those movies that might be even more fun to quote than to watch - for instance, the vet clinic at Sunrise and Swan is about to be a very funny place for a while, I expect

another poem rough, once again, the formatting might not carry through...

Impersonal
-
The rear-view mirror is telling me a story,
a window from the miniature world inside my car
to the miniature world inside another.

It's a monotone day
(white overcast and gray)
and the air is flat.

And he slouches, sullen,
listless and dark,
and she stares forward, fixed,
static.

But she raises their hands (fingers entwined)
to her lips; she smiles slow,
and his eyes change.
---
The night is dull, or maybe it's me
feeling like I'm looking through
someone else's eyes.

The intersection is lit green, the color's
a mist I probably would have gone through
anyway, were it red.

I would have killed him.

He's slouching quickly on the crosswalk
as if there's no crimson glowing hand
begging him to stay;
the truck before me swerves and skids-

But he looks up as I pass, eye contact
like barbs; rust dark hurt
catching in my throat.

another interesting quote:
"Any moment of pain is ultimately bearable. What is unbearable is to project the pain into time, to add up how many minutes it has been going on, to wonder how much longer it will last or how much more we can take. To think about time in this way is in itself suffering."

interesting paragraph (the mention of adrenaline seems a bit extreme, but it gets the point across):
"Many people, so used to living in the dramatic world they create, feel uncomfortable when confronted with the prospect of a lifetime of peace and contentment. The drama in their lives serves multiple purposes. Upset causes excitement, prompting the body to manufacture adrenaline, which produces a pleasurable surge of energy. For those seeking affection in the form of sympathy, drama forms the basis of their identity as a victim. And when drama is familial, many people believe they can avoid abandonment by continuing to play a key role in the established family dynamic. The addiction to drama is fed by the intensity of the feelings evoked during bouts of conflict, periods of uncertainty, and upheaval."

Radio news: "A powerful car bomb blew the roof off a car and launched the windshield over forty-foot trees into a swimming pool." - ten points to Tucson for being aweso; not only do we blow up cars, we do it with panache

Here's to Pat! He's basically in charge of getting stuff we're shipping out put on to trucks. I don't know much about him besides that he's a great proponent of beer as a nutritional item, is archetypically ornery and sun-conditioned and tattoo'ed, and is a Vietnam vet, but it's really a 'here's to Pat' on account of his wit. This guy has the fastest, sharpest wit of anyone I've met, no joke; the closest second I can think of is Mr Andrew while he's in the zone, and that is a close second, but still, Pat can be just plain astonishing. He whips stuff out of nowhere, bouncing stuff off the most banal of statements, and even when he's angry he's never mean about it, which I consider his highest accomplishment. Fifty points, Pat!

In other news, I put a deluge of new photos up (and I also wanted to use the word deluge, if somewhat improperly...and apparently make up another word, as well). Twenty points to whoever learns me what kind of spider that greenling is!

Things of Note! upon a labor day weekend.
-apparently sesame shrimp is a very, very bad idea.
-the original Clerks was funny, of course, but not hilarious in the same way Clerks II is, we realized - still need the first to laugh at the second, though.
-if you get up at four in the morning, it's easy to be surprised at around 9:30am as you, thinking it's lunchtime, happily eat a caesar salad...woo disorientation
-a little known fact: dogs can actually powerslide. no joke.
-it's cool to see a really well trained dog do its thang on an agility course, as the handler barely has to move, or even speak, while the dog bolts around like zoom
-sometimes the dog, however, will turn and bark at the person - best anyone can figure out, it sure seems like the dog is getting frustrated that the human isn't keeping up and telling them what to do next - yay interspecies yelling at each other!
-I think it would be cool for if the tunnel obstacles in agility trials were actually underground tunnels in some spots; it would be fun to see the dog disappearing and popping up randomly
-it would also be cool if they used tunnels in human races as well, so we could run up the sides of curved walls and whatnot; hell, I'd watch 'Obstacle Course' in the Olympics, that would be fun
-when it's proved over again that Tucson really is the biggest small town ever, it's not usually to have to listen for rotating-between-people hours worth of self-centered complaints and commentary...usually

Unrelatedly, Owen and Mzee

The Illusionist, with Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel. One, the flipping-the-coin method is to be officially abolished as a method of choosing which movie to watch - don't trust its beguiling, flippy witchcraft! And two, I'm really not sure why this movie seems to be getting the good reviews it's getting. For one thing, I noted that it said, 'based on the short story...' That's short story. Not 'excessively drawn-out movie that goes on way too long.' I mean, I'll admit we were a bit disillusioned, as we thought we were going to see The Prestige, but had gotten the two movies confused, but we thought, hey, this has Ed Norton, it might be good. Yeah no. What might have been solid had it been short and focused maintaining an outside-perspective of that old school Mage: the Ascension-style magick - that is, leaving the story ambiguous as to the supernatural nature of the given act, and even and especially as to the outcome - was instead a banally archetypical story that relied upon being clever, when it wasn't really.

Invincible, with Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear. This movie, on the other hand, was quite solid, even in being a simple, archetypical underdog/sports story - it didn't have any illusions as to what it was or was trying to do, and was more honest and the stronger for that. Sure, everyone can pretty much guess exactly what's going to happen, when the encouraging words are going to be said, etc, etc. But I thought there was a surprising amount of effort put into subtly delving the economic situation concurrent to the story, and how sports played into that; hell, in a few small ways, I was way more concerned with the mental/emotional plight of the city-characters than with the football situation.

Horus Rising, by Dan Abnett. Reason #17 why Abnett is one of my favorite authors: he actually pulled this novel off. I was kind of wary of the idea of taking the origin story of what had been an already admittedly rich and complex setting, and actually trying to make a novel out of it. That is, to story-tell it and give voice to the characters, rather than to read it like a distanced docu-epic, didn't seem a possible thing to do without just turning...disappointing.

But by golly. I mean, it wouldn't make sense to anyone not versed in the setting, but what was a relatively black and white affair before has become a personal, tragic thing in my mind - I mean, this one novel changes the nature of every other story I've read that's based on that setting. Of course, Abnett's incredibly cinematic style and developed, layered characters (especially in a setting where it's incredibly hard not to de-humanize characters) were a great help, and furthermore his interesting tact of adapting the idea of the embedded journalist to the gothic setting. It's not light reading, to emphasize - it's definitely a tragedy...I actually found myself thinking something like, "Oh, no, please no no no...." often, even though I knew the eventual outcome, like Anakin/Darth Vader style. But this is much better.

A nice article on satya, or 'truth' (but not exactly), in a way closely related to one of my favorite things - tact