ugh. family drama sapping my creative energy dry. And now I gotta go to work soon. I was on such a roll too.

.:.

Aww… they just hugged and made up. My heart of bitterness flows away with the tears of happiness.

And WHAT are the words that come to my head?

“Kill yo’self.”

THANKS AGAIN SHANNON. That phrase… I hate to love it! Or love to hate it, perhaps?

One thing’s for sure though.

I love my family, 義理 giri be damned. =D

Genetically Co-evolved: The Elephant & The Ghetto Blaster

[pic via Brock Davis]

Progressive Rock.

King Crimson, Rush, Genesis.

These are the bands with pictures over the definition of “Pretense“, one of the worst offenses of Douchebags everywhere. I mean, I can take some proggy songs, some of the time, but when some frat boy plunks $5 into the jukebox, I pray that we aren’t in store for 80 minutes of rock opera crooning and over the top drum solos. [[1]]Although I gotta admit, you get your band for your buck with the 10 min+ songs.[[1]]

Prog Rock is one thing, but I am not ashamed to admit: Pink Floyd… is a great band. Ever since I was first enthralled by “Time”, and the rest of Dark Side of the Moon (the pinnacle of stoner rock){{1}}, The Wall (We Don’t Need No Education), both super selling mega classic rock blockbusters. [[1]]Anyone remember chillin’ out after the party, sleepin’ in the back of the truck, buzzed and cold, but happy to be among friends, underneath the starry, starry night?[[1]] Although DSotM will always be my first and favorite, my really close second is not “The Wall”, but “Animals”.

Pink Floyd’s tribute to George Orwell’s story, “Animal Farm”, this album has a short, but sweet tracklist:

1. Pigs on the Wing, Pt. 1 (1:25)
2. Dogs (17:08)
3. Pigs (Three Different Ones) (11:28)
4. Sheep (10:20)
5. Pigs on the Wing, Pt. 2 (1:25)

Songs there are few, but each of the 4 animals get over 10 minutes of haunting singing and guitar solos. Sung from the perspective of the animals, songwriters Roger Waters and David Gilmour imbue each animal with a negative trait. Waters—the mastermind behind the spiral of despair that is The Wall—wrote all of the songs except one.

My favorite member of Pink Floyd{{2}}[[2]]Barring Syd Barrett, band headmaster during Pink’s early, psychadelic days[[2]], David Gilmour—the acoustic genius behind Dark Side I might add—is the writer and guitar player on one of my favorite songs of all time, “Dogs”.

Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.

Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a seat in the stand.
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.

Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.

Fairey did a nice job on the new cover

Fact being that I still can’t give a solid answer on the difference between Communism & Socialism (can you?) though, admittedly a lot of the meaning behind Orwell’s story went straight over my 10 25 year old brain. If anything though, it planted the seed of my extreme distaste for greed, materialism and politricks.

While Animal Farm’s message resonated with my young soul, 1984 also hit me hard like a ton of bricks. Unlike the communist oriented Farm, ’84 was a story whose message was directed toward the lovely type of capitalistic western empire that I call home{{3}}, AND was named after the year of my birth. But nonetheless, Animal Farm wins out. I’m not stupid enough to miss the reason why though: Instead of oppressive Big Brothers and boring Ministries, you have Talking Animals™. Anthropomorphism wins again (See above elephant).

[[3]] Industrial England, Corporatist America whatever. Semantics.[[3]]

I reread it every other year or so, and like any good book, I always find new meanings & messages every time. Squealer is my most despised character though. True to his name, this greedy pig had a mastery of the enemy’s cruelest, yet most least recognizable tactic of oppression, one that is in both 1984 and Animal Farm: the corruption and controlling of the very language we speak, think and and record history with. Squealer’s sly manipulation of the clueless sheep and the hardworking and loyal—but dimwitted—Boxer, the powerhouse of Animal Farm, has gotta be some of the worst examples of the perversion of power. Yuk. I’m glad I’m no pig.

But what about you? Are you a dog, pig or sheep?

I never really got into the whole steampunk thing either. Too oldschool for me; There are some geeky paths that even I do not tread.

But this webcomic by Jess Fink might change that. Set in the Victorian era, Chester 5000 XYV is “a tale of erotic, robotic romance” about a woman, her husband, and the robot he built to keep her company. I highly recommend it, even if you’re not into “H” stuff (H is Japanese for NSFW so clicky clicky behind closed doors please).

Chester is a quick read, largely due to the fact that the only words to be found are sound effects. The story is told through squiggly lines, sweatdrops and some of the most emotive faces and gestures I’ve ever seen in a comic. Though the Woman-on-Robot (on Woman) steaminess often takes the spotlight, it’s the underlying love story that kept me from closing the window in a guilty rush.

Fink publishes the comic every Tuesday & Thursday, on a pretty consistent basis. Take a few minutes, check it out, and let me know what you think in the comments!

PS: Just because I’m not surrounded by us, doesn’t mean that I don’t see we everywhere I look.

The Beatles – P.S. I Love You
Daft Punk – Digital Love
Michael Jackson – Ben

But I don’t kick it with all the clothes. I guess I kinda discriminate.
Discrimination = bad.

So I guess I could never do what homegirl does and post up the latest trends & fashions. Not my niche.

But I do like T-shirts!

I LOVE T-shirts!

After all, it’s the only thing I wear on my torso (I can count how many times I wear a jacket a year on two hands, possibly one).

Here are a bunch of T-Shirt blogs, a niche that’s exploded since Preshrunk started (I wanna say this is the first, at least it’s the first I’ve noticed)

http://www.iloveyourtshirt.com/

YouTube – Gnarls Barkley – “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?”.

Damn. That’s exactly what it feels like, I’m sure. Good job Cee-lo!

[via Shannon]

[need Picture]

Oh yeah, I was talking about a book!

I’m reading All About Love: new visions by bell hooks. I got it as a gift from the Cross (Yes I have found religion). Thanks Nancy, Edwina, Violeta and Cat. Thanks Fatima, Noah, Chris, Joseph, Brisa, Oraneet, Heidi & Miguel. I’ve learned to live life with these people and the space. Cya soon. =}

Ah! About the book: First of all. After doing hella research for final essays and artistic precedents, I’ve come to the realization that everything has a subtitle now. (The “All About” part reminds me of old Japanese Street Fighter 2 references like this that were the coveted books of pre-internet SF players in the states). 2nd of all, Bell Hooks!? Even the people are subtitles! Aiya, this is ridiiiiculous. But I trust. The strongest message so far has been this:

When we understand love as the will to nurture our own and another’s spiritual growth, it becomes clear that we cannot claim to love if we are hurtful and abusive. Love and abuse cannot coexist. Abuse and neglect are, by definition, the opposites of nurturance and care.

Makes sense huh.

. o O (( So, I have a lot of free time now I suppose… ))

I can read, I can think. I can communicate with friends— and I can act on my random thoughts without guilt.
…I really don’t know why, but while thinking about the sippy cup terrorist, I suddenly wanted to laugh at crying babies. Yes, yes, I know. But I’m not as bad as some people… I’m sure all of you have that one friend. You know the one. The one who wishes cancer to babies. Yes. That one. (But yes… you were intoxicated!)
Anyway, I just wanted a quick laugh of babies in dire, but silly situations.

. o O (( Someone took a picture of his wife holding a little baby. ))

This is what I want to say to them:

“Wow. Be proud!—

You, your wife and the baby have just won the Google Challengeâ„¢ for ‘Crying Babies’ !!!

Yay! =D

Yay I’m happy with the design. Although I was thinking about expanding the header image to go above the menu, that’ll take too much work so imma leave it as is. Granted, I may change the design before this site goes online, but who cares. Its my first site design, and although it is highly unoriginal, I like it. It is kinda bland though. Too much spice, too many notes. I mean, too white. I don’t have the ability to go beyond it (Amadeus).

Anyway, I got my final wisdom tooth pulled today. I was supposed to go under, but I didn’t look at the directions I was given and ate 2 bites of a burger before I realized I wasn’t supposed to eat 8hrs. beforehand. I thought I’d still be able to do it so I didn’t finish it. I regretted that, and was very hungry as I waited 2 HOURS for a thing that took 20 minutes total (including 12 minutes of waiting for the numbness to kick in). So I guess I won’t get to experience the drug induced stupidity of anesthesia. BTW, the posters up in the dentist’s room (he was a fatass) were pretty trippy. A collage of sports and animals, kinda like those Highlights “find these items” thingies, but hella trippier (Imagine a flying bird/basketball and a shark with a shovel through its head). There was another one that seemed bible based, but I didn’t get a good look at that one. On the plus side though, I was able to not argue my way out of paying for my medication, which will allow me to procure some vicadin tomorrow (for the tooth I pulled a few weeks ago, my dad told em that we wanted to get the meds for free from the base, which resulted in a change of prescription from the V to codeine). We’ll see if that shit is what it’s all cracked up to be.

Oh. for the 4th, I saw some fireworks @ the creekwalk. It was ehhhhhh… BBQ too. That’s good. Fuckin’ hotlinks and hamburgers are too good.

Oh yeah, imma be back in SD round the 20th. The retreat for SB starts the next day. That made me sad, cuz that’s less time back home than I thought I had, but it totally makes sense. Somehow I know I should be more excited or enthused, or more something about this whole ATC thing but I dunno, I guess it hasn’t hit me yet or something. Maybe its the fact that I don’t have a place to stay yet. Or a major. So I guess I feel displaced in my current “hometown” of SD.

Oh yeah. Check out the jay-zeezer project. It’s a mixed bag, but there are some real gems there. I DL’ed it awhile ago, but just started listening to it forreals. I didn’t pick up the bonus tracks tho, so I’m dl’in “Yeah In The Sun” right now, now that I fucking love “Yeah”. If you ever meet this poster, ask me to do my Lil’ Jon impressions. I’ve been told that I’m pretty accurate. “OKAAAAAY!?!

Oh yeah. Playing is for pleasure.

Apparently that was the song that was on that site previously. Probly the 440 version. Maybe the OG. I dunno. It’s a decent song I suppose. It got me into 440, it got me into buying “Don’t Get High On Your Own Supply”, which I listened to like 3 times before it was STOLEN BY MUTHERFUCKERS.

But anyway.

I’m really bored. I’ve been home for quite some time now, and haven’t done anything. I never knew summer was so short when you weren’t having fun. I’ll do better tho, I promise.

oh yeah, that’s “Frankie’s” blog. He’s a cool self-proclaimed beaner fatass. I don’t think so. I would proclaim him a cool guy. But anyway, he actually writes posts that are readable, and not just random blurbs that make sense to noone but the writer (WHO DOES THAT I DON’T KNOW WHO COULD IT BE?!!?!?!). I respect that.

So anyway, Summer Bridge is in like less than a month now. I still don’t have a place to live, and etc etc. I really wish summer was longer, and I was more productive.

Yesterday I went to the mall. Guess who I saw? You’ll be appalled! It was Ryan Rucker, the notorious Nose Burglar! He triple jumps 46’1″. That is really far for those not in the know. It seems that the triple jumpers at Wood only get better and better each year. I wonder if he took up an aprentice, and if he will 1-Up everyone, much like Bobby Mosier did to myself.

Today I saw Aaron Ray at the Baseball field. It was cool. I went there to see fireworks. They were ok, nothing too spectacular. Other than that, I didn’t do anything today of note. Oh maybe I went to the eye doctor. Oh no, that was yesterday as well. He did hella more tests than usual, and when he washed his hands to take my contacts out (why don’t they ever let you do it yourself?), he still had soap on his hands and it stung. Then he put some yellow eyedrop things in my eye for the pressure or something. Those turned my temporary one day contacts he gave me yellow as well.

That is what I did.

Oh yeah, last night I stayed up all night researching and then making an impulse buy of a 1Gig flash card for my GBA. Set me back like 200 or something I think. I also paid my phone bill (at least I might have, the site said i didn’t, then said i did, then kept on giving me errors. WTF ATT). A couple days ago I went to Todai’s in Concord with mizuki, mom and her friend Mieko. It was alright, nothing too special. Mizuki had eggshell in her fried rice, and the melon sucked (remarkably though, it tasted more like melon and squirting lemon on it, though it also tasted more like lemon). I’ve never noticed how similar lemon or melon were as words, namely cuz I never wrote them in the same sentence, or cared. I had some sushi (for the 1st time ever), some ramen with cilantro in it (yuk), some other stuff too. To the McCall’s chagrin, as soon as we were seated, Mieko gave the waitress her c.card to pay for it all, AND get my dad something too. FUCKER. My mom was still pissed about it when we got back home.

THIS JUST IN
I woke my sister up just now to take her to bed. She then mumbled something about the “big sentence”. “Big sentence?” I asked. “The biggest sentence EVER… mumble…mumble…fireworks…downstairs.”

“Ok, let’s go downstairs to meet the big sentence.”
NOW BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY THING THAT YOU WEREN’T READING

So anyway. At the end of the journey (in which Mizuki amused Mieko-san by looking through the space between the car chair and headrest and saying she was on “TV”), we dropped Mieko-san off at her car. She then gave the chauffer (me) $20. I was like, “OH FUCK NO” and quickly gave it to my mom, who was already trying to give her the cash for the meal. Mieko saw through my mom’s ploy and preemptively dashed into her car and closed and locked all the doors. DAMNIT. We were foiled by this fiend who paid for us and shit. I love being Japanese (I feel so guilty about receiving the 20spot, but didn’t think twice to use it for gas yesterday).

This post is pretty random, and not a joy to read, I know. I’m just to lazy to try/care. Besides, it’s not like this thing is even online yet.

Speaking of which. Fucking .mac service doesn’t let you use scripts. Only pure html. Fucking useless. I thought I was made in the shade, but now I’m unmade, in the sun. Or something.

Remember that hydrolic penises are unethical & cya when I cya.

But its a new year soon. Time to put those fears to rest.

Ooh… that sounds so… decisive. Just some dramatic rambling.

Big-O:
Have you seen it? If you follow the series, then you know how stupid it is.

It has a really cool premise. Mankind exists in a future with no past. 40 years ago, “something” happened, which erased all of mankind’s memories. The hero, Roger Smith pilots an artifact of the past, Big O (typical anime giant robot) and uses it to fight crime and shit. The story goes along, trying to explain what happened so long ago. Blah Blah blah.

Originally ending after 13 eps on a super confusing cliffhanger that explains nothing, Cartoon Network revived the series, creating 13 new eps. The 2nd season builds upon the interesting plot, throwing in clones, mad scientists, misguided visionaries, etc etc. + more staples to sci-fi anime. But what’s the catch? the catch is that it makes no sense. I figure that they original creators left it at that cliffhanger cuz they realized how ridiculous the story would become. Cause the plot just goes crazy and shit starts gettin confusing and doesn’t make ANY sense. Oh. And the 26th ep? Ends on yet another cliffhanger, this time twice as confusing.

Some questions and considerations:
Why ARE giant robots so predominant in anime? Why not in american toons? Giant robos are cool. I like giant robos. I don’t like big o maybe.

I like everything about the show (well almost, the dialogue’s pretty weak/forced sometimes), except for the fact that it makes NO sense. That just pisses me off. Investing all that viewing time and etc into the series, HOPING that at the end I’ll go “OOOHHHHH!!!!! DAMN I GET IT!!!” … but no. I’m just all “DAMNIT!!!!!!” I mean, its cool to end on a such a dramatic (and dare I say cliffhanging again?) note, but having it not make sense pretty much ruined it for me. Imma stick with Bebop. Hell, at least Inu Yasha makes sense. I wish I had the $ to just buy some good anime and watch it in Japanese or something. But thanks to the craze, its waaaaaaay to spensive. But hopefully some kind soul out there’ll buy me the Trigun box set.

Oh yeah, they used to run Trigun on CN. That’s my fav anime. I first fell in love with its wackiness, and from what I’ve seen of the latter eps on CN, its story is rather crazy as well.

Well, I gotta go to sleep. And I don’t feel like posting anything worthwhile. Actually I probably shouldn’t sleep, I’ll never wake up in time. Being nocturnal sucks.

Oh, I’ve been listening to new purchases Bjork’s Telegram and Pink’s Obscured by Clouds. Gotta nice Yellow Sub poster too.

Well, tomorrow’s a big day. I gotta take a family picture (that’s what I gotta “wake up” for), see if I can face my old friends, and oh yeah, New Year’s Eve.

Don’t Drink & Drive.