It's Aaron Sorkin Day!

Run don't walk.

Things Over Heard at Work

Big ups to Scribble Scrawl for this exchange.

Woman 1: Hey, are you wearing socks today?
Woman 2: Yeah....
Woman 1: Can I have them?

Now I never wear socks, but I can't fathom the situation where I would be at work and need to borrow some other persons socks. Also you should check out Scribble Scrawls blog on a divine birth mark.

Sometimes I am like an Ostrich

I have owned The West Wing The Complete Series for over a year now. I bought it the second it came out. I have been obsessed with the show for as long as I can remember. For a myriad of reasons, I missed season seven. I spent the last year not watching season seven. I couldn't come up with a single reason why I did this. So this weekend I sat down with the intention of powering through the final season. Well I did it. I finished at 2:30 AM Monday December 17. Guess what I learned? I was better off not having seen it. Not because it was a bad season (actually it was fucking great), but because it's now really over. Before I could just pretend the show wasn't over b/c there were all these episodes out there that I had never seen. I can't do that anymore, and I am not exactly wild about it. Some how I have developed what can only be described as an unhealthy obsession with these characters. Let's just say that when the end credits were rolling it was real dusty in my room.

This is huge

I brought this up at brunch yesterday, and it seemed as if people had not heard about it. Let's cure this disease so that I never have to hear Bernie Mac say Sickle Cell Anemia again.

On Music

I don't really speak much about music anymore. The main reason being I got tired of being called an elitist or some other such non-sense. Believe me, I want to share my thoughts on music with people, but I simply don't. It causes to many problems, and tends to leave both people in the conversation staring blankly at one another due to a lack of common ground. The number one draw back to this is that people have no clue what kind of music I enjoy. So I figured I would post a bunch of links to various bands that I like a whole bunch, and could let people listen at their leisure. None of this is necessarily representative of everything I like, but this should give a good idea of the things that make me sing along in the car.

The Heavier Stuff
Yage
Orchid
Reversal of Man
Torches To Rome
City of Caterpillar
Four Hundred Years

More for the masses
The Casket Lottery
Billy
Mineral
Sunny Day Real Estate
Jawbreaker
Knapsack

All of the above bands have the misfortune of no longer being together.

So everything below is a hodge podge of bands who are still around and putting out records. These are no particular order and I suggest giving them all a shot.


Three Mile Pilot
Boards of Canada
A Silver Mt. Zion
Explosions In the Sky
Envy
Des Ark
Kids Explode
Pinback
Desert City Soundtrack
Settle Fish
Rats on Radar
Careta Careta
Verse En Coma
Harlan T Bobo
Swearing at Motorists


And last but not least my favorite band (defunct). I could not find a descent recording or video so this will have to do. The camera man can't move the camera and Mag's voice is a bit off, but overall I think it represents them.

Yaphet Kotto

So this isn't an exhaustive list by any means. I left off tons of bands who mean the world to me, but this is a descent primer.

A quick lesson in computers and probability

If a computer is processing thousands and thousands of things, and you get an answer you don't agree with for one thing out of the many thousands, what is more likely:

A) There is a huge sweeping flaw in the computers logic?
B) Something is actually wrong with the one person?

I'll leave this as an exercise to the reader.

Over heard at work

I missed the first part but it had something to do with sending messages to Canada. The reply was

"Your assuming Canadians can read... I mean they probably have maple..."

He then trailed off.

Inside the Loop

Wanna make downtown Memphis the epicenter of the city? Ok here is how you do it. Get FedEx and International Paper to move their offices inside of the I-240 Loop. More explicitly get them to move all the way down town. If the city had a huge Fedex Services, Fedex Express, Fedex Corporate, and International Paper office to pair with AutoZone, I promise you that downtown would be the most amazing place ever.

Of course the more plausible idea is to get some other large company to move their IT, Sales, and Marketing shops here.

On Sporting Events

I try to make it out to a number of live sporting events every year, and there have become three constants whenever I go to a Memphis Grizzlies game.

1) I will feel extremely awkward during the National Anthem.

2) I will feel even more awkward when I am expected to stand and applaud some random person who has recently returned from Iraq.

3) I will want to throw something very large and very heavy at the person singing yet another breathy Whitney Houston inspired version the National Anthem.

Let's address these events in reverse order.

During my teens and early twenties I listened to a band called Lifetime with a shocking amount of regularity. I still smile from ear to ear whenever one of their songs comes up on the ole mp3 player. However I can't help but feel like they did the world a disservice. A friend of mine once remarked that he wished he could go back in time and talk to "Jersey's Best Dancers" right as the finished recording "Hello Bastards." He said the conversation would go something like this, "Hey guys, look your new record is amazing. You are about to see levels of success you didn't think possible. I need you to give me all the DAT tapes so that I can distribute them to the correct people. See you are about to inspire more shitty bands then I can shake a stick at." I feel much the same way about Whitney Houston, except I would simply ask her to never sing again.

The second issue is a bit more complex. Due to this I shall talk about it rather quickly. I find it very strange to stand and clap for someone who was part of a group that invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses. While it is by no means that persons fault that this happened, it happened. I am glad they are home safe, but over all I find the process a bit disconcerting.

And lastly the first point shall be tackled. How in the holy hell did we screw up so bad that I am now ashamed to be from this country?

Things over heard at work.

The corporate work place is one of the more amazing melting pots a person can ever experience. My job often leads to me associating with a great many people I normally wouldn't. They are all truly great people, but our lives are just drastically different, and if not for work I can imagine the situation where I would have ever meet them. This often leads to me hearing several things that I find more or less jarring to my sense of the world around me. I shall attempt to post these things with some amount of regularity.

11/12/2007

"Allowing all these guys from Open Wheel racing is really hurting NASCAR. You get all these guys who's name no one can even pronounce. It's simply not good for the sport."

Please feel free to leave some of the more amazing things you hear at work.

Hollywood we need to talk.

Hey man, how's it going? Really? Good good. Glad to hear your dog's feeling better. Look I don't know the best way to tell you this, so I am just going to come right out and say it. Please for the love of God, Allah, Brigham Young, Confucius, Shiva, and Buda stop writing about computers in your TV shows and movies. You suck at it. You do plenty of other things really well, so this is nothing to be ashamed of. We all have our short coming and faults. You need to believe me when I tell you that you have no earthly idea what your talking about when it comes to computers. The way you write about technology reminds me of a drunk uncle during Christmas. Completely and utterly unintelligible, and just not terrible fun to be around. Some of my favorite examples of your bad writing include, but are by no means limited to:

1) The movie Hackers. I mean wow...just wow...since when is surfing the Internet even remotely like that?

2) Sword Fish. While I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the topless Halley Berry shot, can you please explain to me what a Hydra is exactly, and how getting several cubes to line up a certain way remotely effects whether or not a virus is going to work?

3) The Last Die Hard Movie, it seems they are hacking all of the Internets again...

4) Any movie where the computer screens contents are being projected on to a persons face. Now your just breaking simple laws of physics. For more on this please visit XKCD.

5) While I never saw Firewall, I can only assume it was god awful.

So please in the interest of our on going relationship stop writing about technology. Stick to great movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Hot Fuzz.

Home

Long ago my parents inherited the farm that my father's parents raised him in. I remember being a kid, and getting shipped off to the farm to spend a few weeks hanging out in the country with my grandparents. I was decidedly a city kid. There were all kinds of things that I simply could not stomach while I was there. Be it the smell of the pigs outside, the lack of cable tv, the utter lack of children to play with, or the grotesque slop bucket that sat in the kitchen corner, I simply couldn't stand being there.

A few weeks ago the farm house burned down. The authorities believe that it was due an electrical fire. When I alerted my brother to this news he seemed to be taken aback a bit. I didn't really think much about his reaction. I assumed he would handle the situation the same as I. I was stunned, and then realized that I never went to this place, and had no real connection to it anymore. His subsequent reactions were in direct opposition to mine.

We stood in front of the burned down house taking it all in and taking a moment to reflect on what had happened. When I looked over at my brother he had a look as if our grandparents had just died all over again. Once we were back in the car, he said how it was official, "we have no where we can go home to anymore." This struck me as very very odd. I never really considered the farm house to be home. I spent a fair amount of time there, but I never considered it some place that carried all the traits of home. This lead me to understand a fundamental difference between my brother and I. For me home consists of the people in my life. My home is wherever my friends are (though lately they are all spread so damn far apart). I base everything off my experiences with my friends, while my brother bases them off of his childhood memories of family. Personally I think he has the better approach.

A Blur and a Differnt Feeling

On Sunday October 28th 2007, my baseball team (The Boston Red Sox) became World Series Champions. It was the second time in four years that we won the World Series.

Baseball has no real off season for me. Sure there are a few months were we are not playing games, but I busy myself obsessing about the free agent market, and what young players can be called up that can make an impact on the big club. I spend countless hours pouring over the newest statistics that can give the Red Sox and my fantasy baseball team that all mighty edge.

Once the season has started, I have already spent tons of money on making sure that I can see every single pitch. I bought a lovely HD TV. I purchased the Baseball Package so I can watch my Red Sox play every night. I purchase MLB.TV to watch the game via the Internet in case there is a day game, or I am unable to be at home. I ditch plans with my friends in order to watch the game. It is nothing short of a sickness.

Yet once all of the October dust has settled, and my Team and I stand victories, it is all a blur. Oh sure I have clear memories of everything that happened. I have countless stories to tell of triumph, indifference, and heart ache. Though this year the stories were mostly of triumph, but it is rather hard to put it all into words. It was like years and years of living crammed into a 173 games.

Before when we won the world series it was like a weight being lifted. It put an end to countless jokes. I had ammo to fire back at Yankee's fans. Now though...I am just happy to be able to enjoy watching a game and know that there isn't some silly thing that is going to get in my way. At long last I am just a fan.

Lance Hahn

It was the summer of 1997. I was riding somewhere in the sweltering heat with Luke Hall. He is playing some really catchy and fun pop on the cars tape deck. In the next few minutes I would learn that this band was known as J Church, or as he most likely put it, "THE ALL MIGHTY MOTHER FUCKING J CHURCH...BITCH!" The album was, The Dramatization of Alienation. This album became a main stay in my record collect for the next three to four years. It was spun so often that i feared it would break in half. It lead to shopping at record stores while traveling just to see what J Church records existed in that town that didn't exist in mine.

To call J Church prolific would be understatement at best and an out and out lie at it's worse. This band has a discography so complex I question if even they knew its full contents. There are maybe two other bands who I own more releases by then J Church, and I still do not think that I grasp what the band was all about. The songs run the gambit in style and sound, and I never really knew what to expect from one release to the next.

Over the weekend the founding member of the band (Lance Hahn) succumbed to illness. I was aware that he was sick. I had just received the newest J Church release (as well as a benefit CD for Lance) in the mail right before I left town. I never even entertained the idea that anything bad could happen. I had already moved on to thinking about what the next J Church release would be. Now I am forced to figure out what it will be like knowing there won't be anymore ultra obscure J Church records for me to stumble upon while record shopping. I am not a big fan of this new reality and truly wish things could go back to how they were before.

The NLCS

Let's get one thing out of the way, I am American League baseball fan. It is not because I think the Designated Hitter is the greatest thing since sliced bread (though who wants to see most pitchers hit?), but more because I happen to root for an American League team. I watch far more American League games then I do National League games because of this. I do however have a fair amount familiarity with the National League because of fantasy baseball.

With all that said, can we please stop saying "that no one saw the Arizona Diamond Backs or the Colorado Rockies coming." If you spent even five seconds looking at a projection system before the season started, you would know that both teams had a really good shot a making the playoffs. A great deal of that is predicated on the fact that pretty much everyone expected the N.L. central to be a salute to mediocrity again. Guess what, it was. Sure the Brewers had a pretty good year, but honestly I kind of expected that as well.

Both the Rockies and the Diamond Backs have been stock piling young up and coming talent for the last 3-7 years. It isn't surprising that young talent eventually matured into great major league talent. I would argue that it was inevitable. So please I am begging the talking heads to stop acting as if we should all be SHOCKED AND AMAZED that two smaller market teams made the NLCS. Also if they could stop talking about how MLB and TBS are pissed that two smaller market teams are in the NLCS that would be great as well. God forbid people watch the game solely because it is the best team sport there is. ..

On a side note: Sure my Red Sox have a huge pay roll, but don't act like we didn't get huge contributions from our farm system as well.

This is home.

I am without a doubt one of the biggest homers you could ever meet. I will sit around an extol the virtues of Memphis to whomever will listen. It is my childhood home. It is the place were I decided what I would do when I grew up. It is the site of my first kiss. It is the site of my first heart break. It is the site of the place where I first landed a varial over a set of stairs. It is also the place I left with both middle fingers waving back at it.

During my six years away from this town I learned and saw more things then I can possible put into words. I was convinced that Memphis was the worst city on the face of the Earth. I can't express how wrong I was to even entertain such thoughts. This town has more potential and character then most others I have visited.

We just recently had our city elections, which lead to all kinds of negative hype about the city. Most of the arguments you hear against the city are true. There is a great deal of crime. There is a huge separation between the races and the rich and the poor. It is a very difficult city to move to and meet new people. It is anything but pedestrian friendly.

I cannot argue with any of those statements. All I can do is try. So from now on, I am going into "Super Posi" mode. I am refusing to be one of the Memphians who talks bad about their city all the time. I am going to pimp its virtues. I ask those in all cities to join me in the act of stopping people from tearing down their cities and instead attempt to build them up.

On race relations

Top 5 things that I hate in no particular order

1) When the whiskey bottle is empty and there is no more in the house.
2) The fact that most of my favorite bands have broken up, and I am faced with a lack of new music to choose from.
3) When people try to tell me that I am not black enough, or that they are more black then I am, despite the fact that they are white.
4) My dog eating the stuffing out of the couch.
5) Living in suburbia and the long drive from the bar it entails.

Actually all of those things except two and three are pretty much bullshit, and don't bother me all that much. So lets address number 3.

The other night I am out at some rock show with friends, when a drunk acquaintance of mine comes up and starts rambling on about various non-sensical topics. At some point during this conversation the fellow turns to me, and proclaims that he is in fact FAR more Black then I am. This a person who I believe to be of more or less Irish and German descent, and I am not talking about the Black Irish either.

Please allow me to go ahead and set the record straight on this topic once and for all. Pay close attention. If you fall into the category of the person mentioned above, no matter how many hip hop records you buy, no matter how many Spike Lee films you watch, no matter how much you attempt to hide your natural speech pattern, you will never (repeat NEVER) be more Black then I am.

Being Black isn't about fitting into some sort of stereo-typo that was mostly conceived through some sort of false advertising. It's a mind set to be sure, but step one to being Black, is to have the skin town to back up your claim. Not saying you can't be one of the "light skinded brothers", but you certainly cant be 99% German either.

Web Comics Redux

I am in the middle of testing out code that takes about three hours to run. I could fill that time by doing all sorts of mind numbing things that I don't enjoy, or I could bring some joy into the lives of my readership. I personally prefer the later as opposed to the former. I did some true Internet surfing for the first time in awhile and stumbled across some new stuff.

There is a new Copper comic out. I am can't express how happy this makes me.
I discovered this comic (Octopus Pie) today while looking around on the Bolt City site.
David sent me to this site featuring some pretty rocking art as well.
Ugly Hill may be my new favorite comic.

Let's see... I feel like I should give you more. I have had some thoughts of substance as of late, but I can never really decide on a way to serve them up for mass consumption. Not that anyone actually reads this blog... So how about a quick brain dump?

Changing the world is a daunting and scary task. You are not going to be able to simply draw up a road map to take you from Point A to Point B. It doesn't work like that, and nor should it. Choose an area that you can improve upon and work to improve it. If everyone does that, we are going to be just fine.

Why exactly does MLB wish to speak to Jay Gibbons but it doesn't want to speak to Rick Ankiel or Troy Glaus? This makes little to no sense. Is it because Gibbons is not a very good player and Ankiel and Glaus are? Why are people not as out raged about this as they were about Jason Giambi or Barry Bonds? Has the bar been lowered that much? I am going to choose to hope it has not been. If it has been, we may be seeing my last days as a sports fan. While were talking about Performance Enhancing Drugs, (can we please for the love of all that is holy and right in the Universe come up with another name for them?) I don't mind the double standard as it relates to drug use between baseball and football as long as we are held to a higher standard.


cheers!

Information security

By now we have established that I work in IT, and am nothing more then a reluctant (yet enthusiastic) geek. A large portion of my day is spent talking about various security flaws in code and other applications. It seems you cant walk more then ten feet without hearing someone tell you about this great new security protocol they have created. I have no true point here other then to make a small statement. MOST INTERNET SECURITY IS A JOKE. It is impossible to make anything perfectly secure. Please by all means keep trying, but don't you dare try and tell me you did it because I will call you a liar to your face.

cheers

I take it back.

I have long held the belief that You Tube is worthless, and for that I was wrong. I have never had much interest in the things that people have sent me from You Tube, but recently I discovered something about You Tube that I am in love with. I can watch old skateboard videos whenever I want, and I can watch videos of my favorite bands that I never saw. I don't have a long post to make about this because there is simply nothing more to say, but I will now leave you with links to some things that I have truly enjoyed. Be warned that the sound quality on some these isn't the best but it's still good stuff. Without further adieu the links:

Best of Rodney Mullen
Jake Brown

Torches to Rome
City of Caterpillar
Yaphet Kotto
Reversal of Man
Orchid

This final link is of a band who I hung out with a great deal, and traveled about the west coast with. I love these kids. I am pretty sure I am somewhere at this show.

The Spirit of Versailles

I am sorry but we have to break up.

It's not you it's me... I mean I just think I need something more. I have really enjoyed the time we have spent together, but it just feels like it might be time to move on. It's nothing that you did per se, but more of what you didn't do. See Charles, I loved Post Office and Women. They were wonderful, they made me feel not so bad about my drinking( b/c I am clearly no where near as bad as you). It's just...well...like Woody Allen, you just don't bring anything new to the table from book to book. Look I know there are people out there who love reading about being drunk, never holding down a job, and sleeping with tons and tons of women, but I am simply not one of them. Mayhaps we will meet again one day in your poetry, but dearest Charles, I think Fac-to-tum will have to be our last trip down Novel Lane. It's been lovely and I cherish all the time we spent together.

cheers always

A War of Attrition

I love seeing live music. There is almost nothing else in this whole world like it. A giant crowd singing or screaming their heads off in unison, or a small intimate gathering of individuals listening intently to the next up and comer. These are moments to be held and cherished for all time. Enjoying the the bliss that comes from spending countless hours with your friends driving around the country to see a band that you have been trying to see for years... These are the things that make music so damn worth while.

However lately it has seemed like there is a bit of a war going on within the music scene (i am mostly speaking of the indie scene). If you have a job or possible early classes, or mayhaps just are not a night owl, it is almost impossible to see good shows. They rock shows seem to start later and later every year. Whatever happened to the 7:00 PM all ages show that was over no later then 10. It allowed you to either go home, and get some sleep or hang out later with friends and discuss what you had just seen.

I love my job, I take a good deal of pride in my job, but I am sick of having to choose between my job and a desire to see a band. I can not believe that everyone who is going to the show is seriously so busy that they can't show up until 11:00. What the hell are all of these people doing before the show anyways? I understand that if you work a second shift schedule, its impossible for you to get anywhere before the witching hour, but I don't believe that most of these people actually fall into this category. It seems like year after people show up even more fashionable late then before. Look I get that it sucks to be the first person at the show, but really midnight? Are you shitting me? What were you doing before you got to the show? Is there some super secrete bar or party that happens before shows that I am not privy to?

It seems the older I get the less faces I recognize at the show. Part of that of course that people lose interest in seeing shows. I understand that impulse. It is very rare that a show comes through my town that I actually care about. However I think a bigger reason is that as you get older you have more responsibilities, and thus can't be out drinking and watching rock till 3:00 AM on a Tuesday. It simply won't work.

A Clarification of my position

I am a computer guy. Try as I might to avoid them, deny them, and on rare occasions destroy them, they are are a huge part of my life. I have been rather obsessed with them since I was 13 years old. I decided at that young and tender age that I was going to be a software developer. I am in fact now a software developer.

My love/hatred of computers often leads people to misunderstand my point. This is mostly b/c I am a HORRIBLE communicator. I have very explicit beliefs on what the best operating system is, and what I want out of all of my gadgets. I am Debian GNU Linux man, and I don't get a lot of newer tech ideas (see blue tooth headsets). While I was very impressed initially by the iPhone, as I read more about it, I cooled. It simply does not do several things that I want a phone to do, and I get the distinct feeling I would not be wild about the interface. If your wild about the interface, that's great. I am not saying it can't work for you. I am saying that it doesn't work for me.

Here's the major problem though. People don't get it when I complain about various things Apple Inc does. It's not that I don't find it funny; it's not even that some of the ads are incredibly untrue (which they are), it's that I am not making these statements as a disgruntled windows user or even an M$ (thats Microsoft for those scoring at home) fan boy. Trust me, I am neither. I in fact loath Windows. I am a very satisfied user of Linux. Sure I have complaints about my OS, but I think it's the best thing going. It's free, I have tons of free software, it runs very smoothly, and I can customize as much as I want. It's everything I need. So if you ever meet me (or anyone like me) we are not saying mean things about Apple. We are simply amazed at the idea that people think that there is nothing better then a Mac and the bizarre cult of personality that has developed around the Mac.

The way Apple is going these days, it won't be long before you drive your iCar to the local Starbucks and order your iLatte. So please don't get me wrong, Apple is a solid company. They make nice and what seem to be reliable products, but I won't simple give them a pass on all criticism. I don't understand why anyone would. So please the next time I say I am not a fan of some piece of technology, be it the iPhone, the Wii, blue tooth headsets, please don't take it personally. I am not making an indictment of your life. I am simply saying I don't agree. Well, unless of course your that ass hat at the bar or the store talking on their blue tooth headset at the top of their lungs for all to hear. FUCK YOU! YOUR NOT THAT IMPORTANT!!!! HOW HARD IS IT TO PUT THE PHONE TO YOUR HEAD? HONESTLY, HOW FUCKING HARD IS THAT!

An Annoying Duality

One of my favorite things in this world is to go out and watch the baseball game at the bar. I don't really care who's playing (though a Red Sox or a Yankees game is ideal). All I want to see is a well played game. Pitchers dual? Suits me just fine. I can put my newfangled information that I gleam from Will Carol to use. Big time hitting match up? No worries I am certain Will Carol's colleges can shed some light on something I hadn't noticed before, or mayhaps Rob Neyer, Keith Law, Peter Gammons, or Jonah Keri (he does work for both ESPN and Baseball Prospects) will offer me up a new way to watch the game I love. Oh, and how can we forget the all might Buster Olney. The point is this, I LOVE BASEBALL. I spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about it, reading about it, and talking about it to ANY of my friends who will listen. I don't even care if they like baseball.

Now here is where the duality sets in. If I do not know you, please for the love all that is holy and right in this world don't talk to me while I am watching the game. If you don't have anything to bring to the table, that's fine. Please just act as if you have been struck dumb. I am not looking for you to be an expert on the game (lord knows I am not), but please do not detract from my enjoyment of the game. Things that I would prefer that you not do.

1) Tell me about how you love getting stoned. If Roger Clemens is going for his 350 win, I promise you that I find that infinitely more interesting then your theories on where to get good weed. Really it's great that you like the herb, but I really couldn't care less.

2) Trying to convince me why everyone needs a permit to carry a hand gun, and how we should adopt ANY law strongly endorsed by Texas. In fact, can we make a new rule that says, "If Texas thinks it's a good idea, we are going to do the opposite." Can we get that put on the books somewhere please?

3) Please feel free not to tell me about how you just don't like baseball and think it's slow paced and various other things along this line of thinking. I DON"T CARE. Did I ask how you felt about the game? Nopah, can't say that I did.

The point is thus, please I beg you, if you don't have something to offer that will in some way increase my enjoyment of the game, "don't speak."

Why yes, I am in fact a fan boy.

I love watching well crafted TV shows. I am 100% unapologetic about this. I don't understand people who sit around and say TV is worthless and that it has never offered up anything good. I certainly can understand people who do not have enough money in their budget to afford cable or even a TV for that matter. These are not the people I am speaking of. I can even appreciate people who would simple rather read a book. The people I take exception with, are the sanctimonious individuals who sit there and pretend they are better then everyone else because they don't watch TV, and often times think those who do watch TV are addle minded sheep.

Last night a show that gave me more joy and happiness (and for far to short a time) then any other show has in a very long time. It was a show that did everything that I love. For as horrible a writer as I am, and even though I have a complete inability to spell, I think the study of language and the ability to craft a well formed thought is crucial. That's why I find the end of Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip to be rather heart breaking. This was a show that for once expressed politics as I see them. It addressed the hypocrisies that liberalism can lead to (not unlike conservatism for those scoring at home), actually real race issue as the exist in and outside of the Black community, it talked about religion in an honest and real way, it discussed morals and more importantly moral imperatives. In short the show depicted what life can and sometimes is like.

It's gone now, and a void will exist in my heart where this show once was. I dunno, maybe people are right...maybe there isn't anything good on.

An Irony of Sorts.

People oft think I am joking when I say, "technology is the devil." I could not be more serious when I utter those words. Now, this is a bit of a duality because I am a software developer. My problem with technology mostly stems from how people use it. I am in fact a huge fan of new and inventive technology, but I question how much of it is useful. I am the first to admit that my iPod and I are in a torrid love affair, but what I absolutely can not stand is the whole cult of personality that goes with the iPod. Lets be clear, the iPod is not necessarily a better device then most other mp3 players (in fact there are about 4 things I can not stand about it). The things that makes the iPod so successful are that it was first and that it was able to develope a huge cult of personality behind it. Now that cult of personality has led to some truly inventive occurrences. I bought mine solely b/c it has far and away the best car integration scheme going. However b/c of the iPod's cult of personality status, it gets tons credit it does not deserve.

Contrary to popular belief, you are no more or less artistic and creative if you use Apple products. Apple inc. is a solid company who make fine products, but they are also egregious liars. Their entire Mac vs PC add campaign is simply untrue in most cases. This is dangerous. Not in a, "HOLY SHIT IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!", kind of way, but in a how responsible is it for a large international corporation to spread patent (and in some cases baseless) lies?

The other issue with technology is a far more personal issue. I have increasingly found myself in conversations with people who tell me about some theory they read about T.V. show X on some Internerd site. Now, I have no problems with the idea of cyber communities, but what I don't like is how they can often taint shows. Often times writers get sucked into reading these chat rooms to see what the "average" person thinks about their show. Well I got news for you, these people are not "average" by any definition. Then writers start trying to cater to these people and often times lose what was good about the show in the first place. Coughtheoccough. Also these groups tend to be inhabited by the most reactionary people on the planet. One bad episode? Your shows jumped the shark. Odds are the episode wasn't even that bad, but everyone wants to be the first person who realized that show X jumped the shark. I will never understand this impulse (odds are it has something to do with a decline in western civilization, but that's a different blog) as long as I live.

The other wonderful joy this whole Internet and T.V. revolution has brought us is web content actually made by the show. Lost is a prime example of this. I enjoy how Lost has done this, but I fear the precedent. With Lost you can completely ignore the web content and be no worse for wear. However I see a day in the not to distant future where to watch a T.V. show, you will be forced to surf the Internerd for hours on end in order to keep up with the latest episode of Over the Top Teen Docudrama X. I find this to be an extremely tiring and depressing idea.

A small bit of thievery

I have been meaning to write. I promise...see I just have not had much to say that would be positive. Sure I could bitch about love, life, and a lack of a love life, but what fun is that? Instead I shall steal something from my friend Heather. She poses question that she refers to as "Weekly survey for the thinking class." I like the questions for the most part, so here we go.

1. What book, comic or magazine would you like to live inside?
I have to go with Dune here. However, I would want to be a descendant of Usul. I want the cool powers and shit. However I do not wish to go insane or become a giant slug. These are the rules.

2. List a few things you can buy for less than a dollar that make you happy.
So I don't really have any of these. This means one of two things. Either A, I am very materialistic or B the dollar simple does not have the buying power it once did. I would say its a healthy mix of the two. See what I did there, I made it sound like it was an either or situation, and then BAM I changed it to a combination. Damn I am crafty...

3. Write an obituary for any current cultural reference you want. (example: the death of lower back tattoos, Borat catchphrases, backwards ball caps, etc.)

On Thursday May 31st, the Pastel Polo Shirt with the collar "Popped" died of shame. It was a long time coming said the family of Pastel "Popped" Polo shirt. The family was not quite ready for this passing to occur. Many women are now unsure as to what to do. The Pastel "Popped"Polo Shirt served as either a mating call or a sign to avoid. Most girls heard the sounds, "DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER!", every time one was near. This will make bars a far far more dangerous place for women. Cynical men everywhere will have a harder time picking out their targets to mock. Pastel "Popped" Polo Shirt, you will be missed.

4. Is it hypocritical that every Democrat candidate took a private jet to the debate, instead of the better-for-the-environment traveling methods like carpooling, flying commercial, or finding a way to reduce their environmental impact?

Not so much since, these people may or may not even like one another. Plus, there is no telling what their schedules are like before or after the event. It would be way to hard for them to coordinate all of that.

5. What is a modern food marvel that offends you the most (examples: GO-gurt, blue ketchup)

Whatever that peanut butter and jelly in the same jar stuff is. I was once reduced to eating it on tour b/c I was so desperate for anything other then a peanut butter sandwich. It was bad times.

6. If you had a title in life, like most people have a title at work on their business cards, what would your title be?

Reluctant yet enthusiastic lush.

7. Do you believe the justice system works?

Not even a tiny bit.

8. What are the reasons you would never be able to be P.O.T.U.S.?

Besides the fact that I have no concept of how most of the things the president is suppose to do work, I have far to many horrible things in my past to even remotely consider this.

9. Best advice you have received in the year 2007 and where did it come from?
Someone suggested I pick up JJ Hardy in one of my fantasy baseball leagues. That has been panning out rather well.

10. What large corporation would you not mind endorsing in your life?

Well, I work for FedEx so I suppose it should be them.

Things that I find to odd

A very popular topic of conversation amongst the people I know seems to be about how a place is not as cool as it once was because of X reasons. Sometimes these reasons are more then valid, but a lot of the times they are just rather silly. In the interests of full discloser, I am just as as guilty of making up some truly moronic reasons not to go to a place anymore. However, the one that I find to be the most perplexing is this one, "that place has just gotten to white lately..." Now, if this was coming out of the mouth of someone who is not white, I would have two thoughts on the subject.

1) Wow, thats a rather fucked up raciest thing to say.
2) Yeah, I see what you mean.

However this tends to come out of the mouths of various Anglo-Saxon people in my life. Ironically I have the exact same reaction to this statement from them, but for wildly different reasons. Even more stunning is that I am supper annoyed when the later group says it. None of this is particularly fair, but it does happen. I am not even terribly sure why I would give a pass to all the people of the rainbow but one, but I tend to. I am not actually a fan of anyone using logic like this about a place, but I am even less of a fan of hypocrisy. I do not understand how anyone can fault a place or group of people for doing exactly what they are doing themselves. This is pure silliness. You can not be the loan cool individual of any group. Life simply does not work that way. Well, unless of course you are hanging out with a bunch of kids who like SKA a whole bunch, and you hate it. If that is the case, then you are light years cooler then your counter parts, but still not that cool since you are hanging out with people who like SKA...

On seat belts and other things of that ilk

My dear friend Sam and I were chatting this morning about various things in the world around us. The conversation went something like this.

me: users = bad
sam: NBA + David Stern = bad

This is not the middle of a conversation, this is how we start conversations with one another. This all swelled into a discussion about the concept of personal accountability.

See it seems more and more we have these hard and fast rules so that people don't actually have to think for themselves. The airport is a wonderful example of this. One jack ass tries to sneak a bomb on board a plane in his shoes and now we all have to take our shoes off every time we go to the airport. There is no leeway on this. This has also lead to things such as not being able to take things like wine tools or lighters on planes. This is absurd. I mean surely people are smart enough to decided what is truly dangerous and what is simply innocuous.

We see this everyday. I see it in the sports I watch, the restaurants/bars I frequent, and most certainly at work. We make all these silly hard and fast rules to remove any way for people to screw up. I certainly understand how you would not want to put someone in a position where they can fail, but do we really need to make the rules in such a way where there is no room for common sense to prevail?

Sam raised one of my favorite examples. We constantly hear about how Tennessee is starved for money, but we waste, what I can only guess are, millions of dollars on a campaign to let people know that you will get a ticket if you don't buckle your seat belt. Now, I understand these adds for maybe a year after the law was changed, but why in the name of God do we still need them? The other add that I find maddening is the add that points out that drinking and driving is a crime. Really? It is? I HAD NO IDEA!!!! We have to do these things so that people can't think for themselves. Well, I got some bad news for you. People who are going to drive drunk will not be convinced other wise by a million P.S.A.'s. Sorry just not happening.

When you don't see eye to eye with a legand

Joe Morgan is one of the greatest baseball players alive. He has seen and done things I can't even imagine. However, the more I learn about the game the less I can bring myself to agree with him.

He is constantly talking about how the game was so much better in his day, and in some ways it was, but there are tons and tons of things about today's game that are better. Today I read him saying how pitchers were better when he played then they are now. Personally I think he's full of crap. If you would put Johan Santana in the league back then, his ERA very well may have gone negative. I mean that's just how good he is.

I wonder if he (like many other people in the game) feel as if somethings have passed them by and just feel as if those things are just simple not as good because they didn't get it. I am not saying Mr. Morgan isn't smart enough to get it, but I liken it to my dad with the remote control. No matter how many times I explain how to use the thing, he never seems to truly get it. Maybe that's how SABER is for older guys. I don't know a single person who believes players should be rewarded solely for stats (or else Royce Clayton would have been out of the game already) but that stats augment and increase our appreciation of the game.

Well...yeah...

So it's always a bit disconcerting when you see your life summed up in a comic, but if your ever with me and the moment is well, there is about an 85% chance my thoughts are something like this.

This is part of my favorite new web comic to haunt. There has not been an installment for a long time, but this is the first thing that has made me decide to go to comic book store since sometime during the original bush administration.

The guy who does this comic has a pretty cool website with lots and lots of fun stuff. I recommend checking it out.

The struggle

I am desperately trying to figure out the best use for this space, but alas I have not come to a conclusion I am happy with. Not that anyone is staying tuned, but if you are, please bare with me.

For a hint as to one idea I have been kicking around, the name of this blog comes from a song by the band Karate. I chose the name for a few reasons:

1) It's one of my favorite songs
2) I like the idea that we are all constantly haunted in both good and bad ways by the ghosts of our past.
3) Most people would never guess that I like Karate a lot, which goes towards the idea of unpredictability that hope to make a part of whatever the heck this thing becomes.

How about some links to things I like? Yes some daily links, and by daily I mean whenever I think to do it.


XKCD a truly fabulous webcomic

Get Fuzzy

Debian my linux distro of choice.

Slashdot is a news site I enjoy a lot.

I thnk thats plenty for today don't you?