my old blog

bye-bye blogger

2005-02-23T22:42:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'm through with using blogger for my personal blog. I'm now using livejournal. Some of the reasons I'm switching are:

it's faster to post new entries. blogger frequently takes up to a minute to handle publishing a new entry.
the comments are tightly integrated with email. for instance, if i post a comment on your livejournal, then whenever someone replies to that comment, i get an email. this is not the case with blogger. also, i can reply to a comment directly from my email.
it looks good on more browsers than this blog. perhaps i could tweak this clunker of a blog to also look as good.
friends-only posting
having my friends' livejournals aggregated for me

I'm concerned that livejournal will have more outages than blogger, but ultimately the decision for me is to switch. I'll keep this thing around, but this is the last entry. To read more quotes, lyrics, musings, and random pictures, head on over to Jon McAlister's new and shiny blog =)

mr. eyes

2005-02-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

"A good woman will pick you apart A box full of suggestions for your possible heart" --bright eyes, landlocked blues "Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today." --bright eyes, everything must belong somewhere

vday

2005-02-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

where was i? i ate corn and tuna and then watched welcome to the dollhouse, mulling over future bitter/misogynistic catch phrases. for instance, "As you grow older, the only parts of women that will become more interesting, compelling, and stimulating are the lies they will tell you."

happy vday all you turtledoves! =)

2005-02-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

"Over the years I've built up this collection of pleated skirts until they're pretty much all I have in my closet. I must like them. I mean, that's what you've got to figure when you end up with thirty of them." --andrea seigel, like the red panda

2005-02-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

"He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself." --f. scott fitzgerald, the great gatsby

2005-02-13T01:52:00.000-08:00

Bree's mom sent everyone in my house special cookies. Here's mine:

Thanks Bree's mom!

i <3 livejournal

2005-02-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

click this image to find out why...

2005-02-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

"Man, I could lay under you, eat fried chicken, and do a crossword puzzle at the same time. That's how much you'd bother me." --blonde waitress from Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

2005-02-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

"Better the peak of art than the slough of sex. Contrary to the popular notion of wantonness, the artist, Mother believes, must forget about sex. If he can't, then he's a mere mortal; but he shouldn't be a mere mortal. He should be divine! Unfortunately, biographies of artists, teem all too often with the sexual ruses and abuses of their protagonists. The inveigle the reader into thinking that the cucumber bed of pure harmony grows upon the compost heap of sex." --elfriede jelinek, the piano teacher

2005-02-08T10:14:00.000-08:00

"Klemmer disgorges a freshly stuffed though-sausage through his teeth: Schubert may have been highly talented, since he managed to get on without a teacher comparable to Leopold Mozart, but Schubert was definitely no genius. Klemmer hands his teacher the though-sausage on a paper plate, with a dab of mustard. A man who dies that early can't be a genius! I'll never see twenty again, and I still know so little, I keep realizing it again every single day, says Klemmer. So how much could Franz Schubert have known at the age of thirty! That enigmatic, enticing little schoolmaster's child from Vienna! Women killed him with syphilis." --elfriede jelinek, the piano teacher

2005-02-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

"There's aggression in the air this morning. Got your ballerina tights around my head, in a samurai pose on the bed." --stephen malkmus, vanessa from queens

2005-02-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

"Clipped and cute as hell; you've got to see them. That was the time, us in our prime, that was the time. ... I think how we used to joke about your sense of immortality. I think how we used to make believe I couldn't swim; I'd throw myself into the sea Then you'd come and rescue me." --dealership, you're dumb

pretty picture

2005-02-04T16:17:00.000-08:00

A view of the temperature variation on Saturn. Apparently, the south pole is hot as opposed to cold poles like we're otherwise used to:

2005-02-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

"this is what you love: more people. you remember to say 'of all the men I know' and 'your nice friend kimber' but it wasn't always so. living in a big shoe and knotslips in your bed the size of taxes [or texas? you don't read lips as well you should] some hearing loss due to family in your ears: homilies and hominy and decidedly no harmony no wonder the bad seed topped your list of favorite flicks having that brood crush you down into the mattress: you kicked one fell out and the other nine said 'rollover, rollover.' who could go to sleep with the sound of music? and the hot covers now you only regret men unbedded. unwedded to your cheek-y desire to lift strangers from taxis. or texas: why be picky? but you've gone 'gee' in your ratings: shirley temple and madeline volunteer work. neighborhood meetings. you even bring the gelatine" --d.a. powell, from Cocktails

2005-02-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

"I am intrinsically no good. I have a heart that's made of wood, and I am only biding time; only reciting memorized lines, and I'm not fit to touch the hem of your garment." --cake, hem of your garment

aids

2005-02-02T23:10:00.000-08:00

So, this is a graph detailing trends in the number of AIDS cases over the last 20 years, taken from a 2001 CDC report, HIV and AIDS - United States, 1981-2001:

Interesting...

Ok, first off what's the deal with the "1993 definition implementation"? I found an CDC publication describing the redefinition of AIDS, which is mostly very very technical. The summary describes the major differences with previously existing policy:

"CDC has revised the classification system for HIV infection to emphasize the clinical importance of the CD4+ T-lymphocyte count in the categorization of HIV-related clinical conditions. This classification system replaces the system published by CDC in 1986 (1) and is primarily intended for use in public health practice. Consistent with the 1993 revised classification system, CDC has also expanded the AIDS surveillance case definition to include all HIV-infected persons who have less than 200 CD4+ T-lymphocytes/uL**, or a CD4+ T-lymphocyte percentage of total lymphocytes of less than 14. This expansion includes the addition of three clinical conditions--pulmonary tuberculosis, recurrent pneumonia, and invasive cervical cancer--and retains the 23 clinical conditions in the AIDS surveillance case definition published in 1987 (2); it is to be used by all states for AIDS case reporting effective January 1, 1993."

So, it seems like they reframed AIDS in terms of T-cell count, and then added a few more conditions. In my best judgement, it doesn't seem like a radical restructuring of AIDS policy. More specifically, it doesn't seem like the drop off in annual AIDS deaths can be attributed solely to the redefinition.

Thus, we are left with the coincidence that up until 1993, AIDS deaths steadily rose, and from 1993 to 2001, AIDS deaths declined. So, while this isn't enough evidence to prove anything, I do walk away with a renewed appreciation for Bill Clinton as opposed to Ronald Reagan and George Bush.

a step up?

2005-02-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

So, my dinner tonight was cottage cheese, a pickle, some olives, some pickled herring, and a bottle of beer. The selection of these items seemed pretty natural at the time, and I feel full and fine now. So, perhaps I've found a suitable competitor to corn and tuna.

2005-02-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

"After the tsunami, that's when you see all the dwarves running around!" --paul giamatti, appearing in christine's dream

2005-02-02T09:41:00.000-08:00

"She makes a total of four cuts. That's enough, otherwise she'll bleed to death. The razor blade is always wiped clean and then wrapped up again. Bright red blood trickles and trails from the wounds, sullying everything as it flows. It oozes, warm, silent, and the sensation is not unpleasant. It's so liquid. It runs incessantly. It reddens everything. Four slits, oozing nonstop. On the floor and on the bedding, the four tiny brooks unite into a raging torent. 'Just keep following my tears, and the brook will take you in.' A small puddle forms. And the blood keeps running. On and on. It runs and runs and runs and runs." --elfriede jelinek, the piano teacher

2005-01-31T23:39:00.000-08:00

"One wound up punch of intuition Lays flat my whole take on us." --the shins, girl on the wing

2005-01-30T23:55:00.000-08:00

"For it is not inertia alone that is responsible for human relationships repeating themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and unrenewed: it is shyness before any sort of new, unforeseeable experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope. But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes nothing, not even the most enigmatical, will live the relation to another as something alive and will himself draw exhaustively from his own existence." --rainer maria rilke ...but really, i saw it on kissing jessica stein and now, for completeness, here's what happens to this quote when I run it through the Gizoogle translator: "Fo' it is aint inertia alone that is responsible fo' human relatizzles repeat'n themselves frizzay case ta case, indescribably monotizzles n unrenewed: it is shyness before any sizzay of nizzew, unforeseeable experience wit W-H-to-tha-izzich one does aint think oneself able ta cope. But only someone who is ready fo' doggy stylin' who excludes noth'n, aint even tha mizzle enigmizzles will live tha relation ta anotha as sum'm sum'm alive n will himself dizzle exhaustively frizzom his own existence . Keep'n it gangsta dogg."

2005-01-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

"feisty women never get boring" --soapy, northern exposure

2005-01-30T11:36:00.000-08:00

"She called me a pathological neurotic, ok. You know how the imprecise use of medical terminology drives me crazy." --dr. joel fleishman, northern exposure

2005-01-30T10:38:00.000-08:00

"I want miss little smart girl with your glasses and all your books. And I want the stupid girl who gives me all those dirty looks." --louis xiv, finding out true love is blind

2005-01-30T04:16:00.000-08:00

"I would be happy to have a gay child. He would be a Boy Scout, and he would teach all the other Boy Scouts how to build a fire with two sticks and a back-handed compliment." --margaret cho, revolution

2005-01-28T23:29:00.000-08:00

"Still it was worth it as I turned the pages solemnly, and then With a winning smile, the poor boy With naivety succeeds At the final moment, I cried I always cry at endings" --belle & sebastian, get me away from here i'm dying

closet of poems

2005-01-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

"Erika only wants to own it and look at it. Look at it from afar. She doesn't even want to try it on. It's enough for her to hold up this poem of cloth and colors and move it gracefully. As if a spring breeze were wafting it. Erika tried the dress on in the boutique, and now she will never slip into it again. Erika has already forgotten the brief, fleeting spell it cast on her in the shop. Now she has one more corpse in her wardrobe, but it is her property." --elfriede jelinek, the piano teacher

2005-01-27T20:38:00.000-08:00

"She gave me some dictation But my strength is in administration I took down all she said I even took down her little red dress" --belle & sebastian: step into my office, baby

2005-01-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

"I wrote a letter on a nothing day. I asked somebody 'Could you send my letter away?' 'You are too young to put all of your hopes in just one envelope.' I said goodbye to someone that I love. It’s not just me, I tell you it’s the both of us. And it was hard. Like coming off the pills that you take to stay happy. Someone above has seen me do alright. Someone above is looking with a tender eye. Upon her face, you may think you’re alone but you may think again. If you think to yourself “What should I do now?” Then take the baton, girl, you better run with it. There is no point in standing in the past cause it’s over and done with. I took a book and went into the forest. I climbed the hill, I wanted to look down on you. But all I saw was twenty miles of wilderness so I went home." --belle & sebastian, if she wants me

2005-01-26T22:07:00.000-08:00

"completely baffled by the backward indication that an inspired word would come across your tongue" --white stripes, there's no home for you here

2005-01-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

"I can't believe life's so complex, when I just wanna' sit here and watch you undress." --pj harvey, this is love

2005-01-25T01:03:00.000-08:00

"For most of history, Anonymous was a woman." --virginia woolf, a room of one's own

2005-01-24T21:10:00.000-08:00

"If I was a woman these days, I'd be killing motherfuckers. My handgun would never cool and my hands would be covered in testicular blood. I would have a horrible reputation with a lot of men because I would be calling them on their weak bullshit left and right." --henry rollins, solipsist

2005-01-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

"Breaking off is misery I see a wilderness for you and me Punctuated by philosophy And a wondering how things could’ve been" --belle & sebastian, i'm a cuckoo

2005-01-23T22:19:00.000-08:00

"The odds are good, but the goods are odd." -- a saying among the women of Caltech

best metaphor EVER

2005-01-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

"the situation still sucks syphilitic Cheneycock" --christine

2005-01-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

i'm continually impressed by how much of the music i like is so relevant... "Its not a matter of you versus me. Its fine the way you want to be on your own, But in the end its always me alone. I'm losing my favourite game. You're losing your mind again." --cardigans, favorite game

2005-01-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

"It’s easy to be easy and free when it doesn’t mean anything. You remain Selfless, cold, and composed. Come on baby. Now throw me A right to the chin. ... You just smiled like a bank teller, telling me bleakly have a nice life." --ben folds five: selfless, cold, and composed

sarcasm

2005-01-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is fake, but still funny. This is in a letter written by Princess Diana to Mother Teresa

"By the way, how many Royals does it take to screw in a lightbulb?... Give up?... nine!! Prince William to screw it in and other eight to go fuck themselves."
--jon stewart, naked pictures of famous people

over

2005-01-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

"I'd like to roll in the clover With you over and over On the white cliffs of dover And then I'd let you push me over" --blur, clover over dover

meh

2005-01-20T08:32:00.000-08:00

"Thinking about your friends How you maintain all them in a constant state of suspense For your own protection over their affection ... And now you see your first mistake was thinking that you could relate For one or two minutes she liked you ... If you're alone it must be you that wants to be apart." --elliott smith, alameda

2005-01-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

"We need to talk. Step into my office, baby. I want to give you the job. A chance of overtime. Say, my place at nine? She’d never stand for any lies. She’s got an Out Tray full of guys. I could sense a breath, a whole new feeling. Now she says she wants to call a meeting." --belle & sebastian: step into my office, baby

2005-01-18T09:09:00.000-08:00

"A woman's pain never private, always seen. I want to close my eyes. I want to cut the wires. I want a day not made for you to see. Was it a lie? Was it a lie? Did it fill your head? Did it entertain? Will you feel alive at the end of it? When you play it back to me, it feels more like a parody. And that's all I will ever be. That's all I will ever be. I really don't care about it. I don't care if it's cold. You know I want to be the prettiest wreck you've seen." --sleater-kinney, was it a lie?

paralysis

2005-01-17T23:13:00.000-08:00

"Observing me the young lady came over and asked me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty. I looked humbly at the great jars that stood like eastern guards at either side of the dark entrance to the stall and murmured: 'No, thank you.' The young lady changed the position of one of the vases and went back to the two young me. They began to talk of the same subject. Once or twice the young lady glanced at me over her shoulder. I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make my interest in her wares seem the more real. Then I turned away slowly and walked down the middle of the bazaar. I allowed the two pennies to fall against the sixpence in my pocket. I heard a voice call from one end of the gallery that the light was out. The upper part of the hall was now completely dark. Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger." --james joyce, dubliners, araby

lies

2005-01-17T13:41:00.000-08:00

"Nobody gets on with you very long, cause you don't feel bad when you lie. I'm going to sleep now. Back to find square one. Square 2 will be where I can deal with the shit you've just done. It won't be soon. To say the least, it's gonna be hard. So bad, so far. Your love is sad." --elliott smith, shooting star

2005-01-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." --ecclesiastes 9:11, kjv

2005-01-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

"I am a pimp and a slave." --the libertines, the saga "I am a goat in a moat with a boat. Who's got the crack?" --the libertines, who's got the crack

2005-01-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

"In crowded situations I always want to go. And if I see you leaving, I beat you to the door." --le tigre, after dark

does north korea exist?

2005-01-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

Every country has a country code. In fact, there is even a big table of all the country codes. You might notice, 'gee, even Palestine and Antarctica have country codes.' Well, I guess the people who doled out the codes were a little liberal in what counted as a country. Regardless, what I'm interested in is North Korea. I'm sure you've all seen the nice picture demonstrating how incredibly dark North Korea is at night. Now, have you ever met anyone from North Korea? Nope. Have you ever received an email from North Korea? Nope. Does the internet exist in North Korea? Good question. Let's see what Google says. Try searching for site:.kp, and you'll get a fairly depressing smattering of presumably all .kp websites in the Google index. For me these all dead links. Do they work for you either? Nope.

My conclusion: North Korea does not really exist.

2005-01-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

"If the light pegs don't touch your heart, then you don't have one."
--andrea seigel

2005-01-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

"So memorize my number, that's why I got a phone. [...] I don't mind being debated as long as you're with me tonight." --le tigre, after dark

best of...

2005-01-05T01:26:00.000-08:00

So, I was thinking about the last year, and decided to put together a list of the best things of 2004. I've also put together the same list for 2003 for the sake of completeness and reference. Note: when I say something like "best album", I mean the best album I bought that year, and not necessarily the best new album of that year. 2003 ==== Best movie: Talk to Her Best album: Elephant by The White Stripes Best fiction: A Portrait of a Lady by Henry James Best non-fiction: Massey's Algebraic Topology Best "fun book": The Three of Us by Abha Dawesar Best concert: White Stripes at the Warfield Best museum: Göteborg Kunstmuseet Best city: Zagreb Most interesting man I met: Gunnar Carlsson Most interesting woman I met: The Dutch girl I met on a Danish train who intimated her lovers with her life-size statue of Mary Actress I obsessed the most about: Parker Posey 2004 ==== Best movie: Good-bye Lenin Best album: Oh, Inverted World by The Shins Best fiction: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy Best non-fiction: Dispatches from Chechnya by Anna Politkovskaya Best "fun book": The Beach by Alex Garland Best concert: Sleater-Kinney at the Fillmore Best museum: Van Gogh Museum Best city: Paris Most interesting man I met: Al Gore Most interesting woman I met: Tie between Christine Fort and Molly Tanenbaum Actress I obsessed the most about: Scarlett Johansson

modernromance

2004-12-30T13:06:00.000-08:00

"Well, I've been dragged all over the place. I've taken hits time just don't erase, and baby I can see you've been fucked with too, but that don't mean your loving days are through, 'cause people will say all kinds of things. That don't mean a damn to me, 'cause all I see is what's in front of me, and that's you. Well I may be just a fool, but I know we're just as cool, and cool kids they belong together." --yeah yeah yeahs, modern romance

2004-12-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

"But if you are feeling sinister Go off and see a minister Chances are you'll probably feel better If you stayed and played with yourself" --belle & sebastian, if you're feeling sinister

2004-12-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

"She was quite ready to take his word for it, she said. Only then they need not cut sandwiches - that was all. They came to her, naturally, since she was a woman, all day long with this and that; one wanting this, another that; the children were growing up; she often felt she was nothing but a sponge sopped full of human emotions. Then he said, Damn you. He said, It must rain. He said, It won't rain; and instantly a Heaven of security opened before her. There was nobody she reverenced more. She was not good enough to tie his shoe strings, she felt." --virginia woolf, to the lighthouse

2004-12-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

"Strife, divisions, difference of opinion, prejudices twisted into the very fibre of being, oh, that they should begin so early, Mrs. Ramsay deplored. They were so critical, her children. They talked such nonsense. She went from the dining-room, holding James by the hand, since he would not go with the others. It seemed to her such nonsense - inventing differences, when people, heaven knows, were different enough without that." --virginia woolf, to the lighthouse

galois

2004-12-18T13:52:00.000-08:00

Ludicrously beautiful math theorem of the month:

The regular n-gon can be constructed by straightedge and compass if and only if n = 2^kp₁...p_r is the product of a power of 2 and distinct Fermat primes.

2004-12-15T10:57:00.000-08:00

"You don't find answers, you only find opportunities." --kristin, in conversation

jon's contribution to the kitchen

2004-12-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

2004-12-09T01:38:00.000-08:00

"Vittlar sat stiffly, crossed his legs, taking good care not to disturb the crease in his pin-striped trousers, and putting on the expression of eccentric hauteur characteristic only of himself and perhaps of the angels in heaven, said: `I am on the raft. It's pleasant on the raft. Mosquitos are biting me, that's bothersome. I am under the raft. It's pleasant under the raft. The mosquitos aren't biting me any more, that is pleasant. I think I could live very nicely under the raft if not for my hankering to be on the top of the raft, being molested by mosquitos.`" --günter grass, the tin drum

eponymy

2004-12-06T21:54:00.000-08:00

"His soul had arisen from the grave of boyhood, spurning her graveclothes. Yes! Yes! Yes! He would create proudly out of the freedom and power of his soul, as the great artificer whose name he bore, a living thing, new and soaring and beautiful, impalpable, imperishable." --james joyce, a portrait of the artist as a young man

2004-12-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

When I die, I want to have a bench named after me.

waiting for my Bitch...

2004-12-01T23:50:00.000-08:00

Quarterly magazines are like bad girlfriends. I mean, all I want right now is the next Bitch magazine. I've read the latest one several times over. I've cherished the carefully selected book recommendations. I've laughed numerous times at the risque advertisements for sex toys. I've poured over the social and political commentary. I particularly liked the article about the media's myopic vision of transsexuals. But, this is where my relationship with Bitch is ultimately painful and abusive. It's super high quality, but super low quantity. I covet the Bitch, and I want the Bitch (badly!), but Bitch could care less about me. Bitch is stringing me along. Bitch likes the coveting, but doesn't particularly care for me. So, what ends up happening. Every three months Bitch re-enters my life, and is encouraging, thoughtful, and absolutely wonderful. And me, stupid me, I just act giddy and allow myself to fall into a state of happiness. But the happiness is fleeting, and is followed by yet another period of longing and loneliness. And I recognize the asymmetry, but I don't connect the dots. I should tell Bitch to bugger off, and get out of my life, because the alternating teasing and neglect are preventing me from any chance of real happiness. I should just buy a subscription to US Weekly. I mean, sure, I don't really care for US Weekly, and I'll never be able to replicate the intense moments of passion and inner peace that I have with Bitch. But, at least US Weekly would be good for me. You know, as a person. Stability is more important than passion, right? But I don't do this. Instead, I long for Bitch every night as I go to sleep and every morning when I wake up. I count the days until the next issue, convincing myself that Bitch is just really busy, and that Bitch loves no one other than me. You know, as if Bitch was just really busy preparing for the MCATs. Oh Bitch, won't you please delight me with an early arrival? Everything's ready for you. You've always been welcome at Goatland. You've always had a place in my heart. Please, Bitch, please.

a gem from Annie Hall

2004-12-01T17:25:00.000-08:00

Pam: "Sex with you is really a Kafkaesque experience."
Alvy: "Thank you."
Pam: "It's a compliment."

implement the thrust

2004-11-29T01:26:00.000-08:00

A funny video of me opening a door: AVI (1.3 MB)

ho ho ho

2004-11-29T01:22:00.000-08:00

ATTN FAMILY: this year for xmas, buy me books, please. In my ongoing efforts to describe my life in under 10k of semistructured text, I have now added my amazon wish list to the 'about me' section on the right side of this page. Enjoy =)

rock*

2004-11-26T13:12:00.000-08:00

"But the road was long and home was far, So I stopped off at this little cowboy-looking bar. I walked on through the door and she just smiled. In a long pony tail and a pretty white dress She said, 'Hi, bull riders do it best.' I said, 'Oh my God! What's your name? My name's Lyle.'" --lyle lovett, give back my heart

modernmouse

2004-11-24T23:45:00.000-08:00

"I wanna live in a city with no friends or family I'm gonna look out the window of my color T.V. I wanna remember to remember to forget you forgot me ... They gave me a receipt that said I didn't buy nothin' So rust is a fire and our blood oxidizes My eyes rolled around, all around on the carpet" --modest mouse, a different city

2004-11-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

a great article: My Iraqi conquest—in Denmark. When a 21-year-old American flees to Copenhagen to escape his country’s militarism, he finds himself drawn to his own quest for liberation: Getting his secret Iraqi lover to come out

2004-11-23T01:12:00.000-08:00

"What a brute he had been! At it again? A fair unsullied soul had called to him and, wretch that he was, how had he answered? An utter cad he had been. He of all men! But there was an infinite store of mercy in those eyes, for him too a word of pardon even though he had erred and sinned and wandered." --james joyce, ulysses, nausicca

2004-11-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

"In long-range planning for a trip, I think there is a private conviction that it won't happen." --john steinbeck, travels with charley

2004-11-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

moderncommerce

2004-11-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

this picture was taken at the athens airport

somehow, adverts in greece are just better than ones in the states

modernscience

2004-11-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

-- There's one thing it hasn't a deterrent effect on, says Alf. -- What's that? says Joe. -- The poor bugger's tool that's being hanged, says Alf. -- That so? says Joe. -- God's truth, says Alf. I heard that from the head warder that was in Kilmainham when they hanged Joe Brady, the invincible. He told me when they cut him down after the drop it was standing up in their faces like a poker. -- Ruling passion strong in death, says Joe, as someone said. -- That can be explained by science, says Bloom. It's only a natural phenomenon, don't you see, because on account of the... And then he starts with his jawbreakers about phenomenon and science and this phenomenon and the other phenomenon. The distinguished scientist Herr Professor Luitpold Blumenduft tendered medical evidence to the effect that the instantaneous fracture of the cervical vertebrae and consequent scission of the spinal cord would, according to the best approved traditions of medical science, be calculated to inevitably produce in the human subject a violent ganglionic stimulus of the nerve centres, causing the pores of the cobra cavernosa to rapidly dilate in such a way as to instantaneously facilitate the flow of blood to that part of the human anatomy known as the penis or male organ resulting in the phenomenon which has been dominated by the faculty a morbid upwards and outwards philoprogenitive erection in articulo mortis per diminutionem capitis. --james joyce, ulysses, cyclops

nostalgia

2004-11-15T13:19:00.000-08:00

at amber fort in jaipur, india

2004-11-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

"the cruel uneventful state of apathy releases me" --the shins, saint simon

2004-11-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

it's 1:30pm, i'm done with interviews, and i have a rental car. time for this foolish boy to explore as much of vermont as i can in one day.

2004-11-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

"It's a luscious mix of words and tricks That let us bet when you know we should fold On rocks I dreamt of where we'd stepped And the whole mess of roads we're now on." --the shins, caring is creepy

2004-11-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

options for those considering expatriating

extended metaphor

2004-11-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

from about.com's Coming to Accept a Child's Hearing Loss, the Stages of Acceptance:

Denial - Some parents may deny the fact their child has a hearing loss. Sometimes this stage manifests itself when parents insist that their child communicate orally or through sign language, when the child may be better suited to a different method of communication or learning.
Anxiety - Parents learn things like "the average deaf high school graduate reads at fourth grade level" and worry about their child's future academic abilities and employability. They worry that their child may not be able to communicate with hearing children in the neighborhood and have friends.
Depression - Some parents ask themselves, "Why us? why our child?"
Anger - Some parents think, "It's not fair! This is not fair to us or to our child! We/our child don't deserve this!"
Guilt - Parents may feel that their child's hearing loss is the result of something that they did, or did not do. For example, ear infections when untreated can cause hearing loss - but today doctors must make judgment calls on whether to prescribe antibiotics for ear infections because of the risks of antibiotic overuse.
Acceptance - Parents learn about deafness and hearing loss. They become acquainted with others in the deaf/hoh community, and see that their child can have a normal, fulfilling life. It becomes clear that their deaf or hoh child can have a good future as a productive adult regardless of the communication mode that is chosen, or how severe the child's hearing loss is.

TO EVIL!!!!!!!!

2004-11-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

activism

2004-11-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

i will perform sexual favors (hand jobs, blow jobs, Bush jobs, ...) for anyone from florida, iowa, ohio, new mexico, or wisconsin, who, in the next 24 hours, changes their vote from Bush to either nader or my Johns

repose

2004-10-31T21:47:00.000-08:00

"oh, i think you're holding the heart of mine. squeeze it apart, that's fine. do what you want to. do what you want to. be what you want to. be what you want to. go on and step on me." --cardigans, step on me

highlights

2004-10-30T14:46:00.000-07:00

...from my recent trip to providence/boston: the jacuzzi in my hotel room, reading persepolis 2, seeing chris, paul, joel, and carolyn again, watching the red sox win the world series, watching the exuberant cambridge students celebrating in harvard square, adding rhode island to my states list

2004-10-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

so, if men are from mars, and women are from venus, wouldn't that make every opposite-sex marriage an interracial marriage?

2004-10-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

in case any of you ever wondered, this is why i continue to read andrea seigel's blog:

"And for the sake of full disclosure, which is only fair, I have to admit that I already possess a fondness for acne. I have a long history of chasing after the black and whiteheads of loved ones and quasi-friends, begging their cultivators to let me pop some zits. So Ya-Ya looks like a fun time to me. I remember regretting going down the cheerleader path when my brother, who was a football player, told me about a team member who had a zit on his back that was so big the coach was forced to something about it. I think the pressure of it was limiting movement. The whole team went back to the locker room, where the guy with the zit lay down on an injury table with his back to the ceiling. Then, either the coach or one of the teammates, I can't remember which, applied all the pressure that he could summon to the zit (which I hear was about the size of a quarter), and a gigantic ball of puss broke through the skin to the sound of the player's agonizing scream, and soared through the air until it hit the wall. I was always jealous that my brother had been there, and I hadn't."

2004-10-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

http://geekt.org/gopconstrm.mov

2004-10-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

sigh. i've been so busy'n'frazzled as of late with work, females, travel, gigantic dinners, and the general exercise of being. and, it's getting to me. for instance, i made four distinct logistical errors today when meeting a friend for brunch. i'm getting sloppy in my old age. anyhow, hopefully my upcoming trip will give me some refrain, and i get super-focused once again.

so, i depart tomorrow for Ann Arbor, Michigan, where i'll be doing on-campus interviews for google. and yes, this means i get to add another state to my states checklist!

2004-10-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.knife-party.net/flash/barry.html

check it

2004-10-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

From last night's debate: Cheney: "Well, the reason they keep mentioning Halliburton is because they’re trying to throw up a smoke screen. They know the charges are false. They know that if you go, for example, to factcheck.com, an independent Web site sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, you can get the specific details with respect to Halliburton. It’s an effort that they’ve made repeatedly to try to confuse the voters and to raise questions, but there’s no substance to the charges." So, let's see if he's right. Oh wait, that's not factcheck, that's actually a redirect to George Soros' webpage!!! CNN is running a story on this blunder right now. Moreover, according to Reuters: "Factcheck.org, run by the Annenberg Center of the University of Pennsylvania, said on its site on Wednesday that Cheney not only got the domain name confused, he had mischaracterized its fact-finding. "Cheney ... wrongly implied that we had rebutted allegations Edwards was making about what Cheney had done as chief executive officer of Halliburton," the site said on Wednesday. "In fact we did post an article pointing out that Cheney hasn't profited personally while in office from Halliburton's Iraq contracts, as falsely implied by a Kerry TV ad. But Edwards was talking about Cheney's responsibility for earlier Halliburton troubles. And in fact, Edwards was mostly right."

abortion-hatin' & orgy-lovin'

2004-10-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

“I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged.”
--justice antonin scalia, speaking yesterday to an audience at harvard

ahhh, clearly i am out of touch with the everyday life of hard-core conservative supreme court justices.

tangled web

2004-09-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

"But to say that there's only one focus on the war on terror doesn't really understand the nature of the war on terror. Of course we're after Saddam Hussein -- I mean bin Laden." --president george bush, in debate with senator john kerry

device to root out evil

2004-09-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

happy BRRRTHDAY

2004-09-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

2004-09-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

"I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself." --samuel johnson, rasselas

2004-09-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

"Tired of living in a cloud
If you’re gonna say shit now you’ll do it out loud"
--elliott smith, 2:45

udaipur, india

2004-09-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

something cultural

something beautiful

and something quirky

suck...

2004-09-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

from some random storefront in boston.

also, here's my horoscope for today: "You've been 'focused' for far too many days. It's time for some fun, and you're quite ready to go out and find it. Take someone along for the ride who's also had just about all the intensity they can stand."

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it"

2004-09-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

me, in paris, imitating the winston churchill statue, as three frenchmen watch on

modern pirate

2004-09-16T11:17:00.000-07:00