Check the plethora of photos of the protests at the Republican National Convention in NYC.
Simply gorgeous.
27 August 2004
standards & practices
I just wanted to point out a very important thing will never, ever in five million years be loaded onto my new iPod. Which of course is Lenny Kravitz. This will not happen. Never the twain shall meet. My ipod --> Lenny Kravitz? Nope. Not gonna happen. Not ever. Ever. Never.
22 August 2004
20 August 2004
dancing in our heads
I don't need graham crackers, I don't need milk. Just give me the nap.
It's high time our culture embraced the institutionalization of the nap. The siesta.
Imagine:
You get up early, while the air is still swimming in night-ness. You go about your day, picking up steam around nine or ten o'clock. You get into the feeling of the day. You produce, you create. Then, about three or four o'clock, all that focus starts to catch up with you. You slow down a little bit. Rather than being irritated by this, you're pleased. It's siesta time.
You go to your bedroom/designated nap room. You take off your clothes and have some room-temperature lemon water or tea. You enjoy being in the dim, with just a touch of late afternoon sunlight coloring the room. You enjoy being quiet, being where other people are not. You splash water on your face. You breathe. You lie down and everything feels soft. You relish the sheer pleasure of being horizontal, of having no pressure put upon your body. You let the day go, and before you realize it you have fallen into sleep, that strange, hard, mid-day sleep that is so good it can only last thirty or so minutes.
You wake up, and feel that your body is made of lead. It is a wonderful feeling. You start moving slowly, slowly. In a few minutes your heartbeat quickens and the events of the day come back to you. You begin thinking about what you've done, and the things you wish to still do before the day is over. You get dressed, down the rest of your beverage, and return to the world, renewed. Ready to finish tasks and then to enjoy an evening meal. You stay up just a little later and enjoy the night and the people in it just a little more because your body has been replenished.
Doesn't that sound great? It's very F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's romantic, and it's also healthy for your mind, body and spirit.
And, while I would prefer to take many of my siestas alone, one should not discount the luxury of a siesta taken with a lover that comes complete with mid-afternoon shag and post-shag snoozing. This is a lovely amendment to an already satisfying tradition.
We need to get on this train, I say. War? Pain? Cruelty? Nah, forget it. It's nap time.
It's high time our culture embraced the institutionalization of the nap. The siesta.
Imagine:
You get up early, while the air is still swimming in night-ness. You go about your day, picking up steam around nine or ten o'clock. You get into the feeling of the day. You produce, you create. Then, about three or four o'clock, all that focus starts to catch up with you. You slow down a little bit. Rather than being irritated by this, you're pleased. It's siesta time.
You go to your bedroom/designated nap room. You take off your clothes and have some room-temperature lemon water or tea. You enjoy being in the dim, with just a touch of late afternoon sunlight coloring the room. You enjoy being quiet, being where other people are not. You splash water on your face. You breathe. You lie down and everything feels soft. You relish the sheer pleasure of being horizontal, of having no pressure put upon your body. You let the day go, and before you realize it you have fallen into sleep, that strange, hard, mid-day sleep that is so good it can only last thirty or so minutes.
You wake up, and feel that your body is made of lead. It is a wonderful feeling. You start moving slowly, slowly. In a few minutes your heartbeat quickens and the events of the day come back to you. You begin thinking about what you've done, and the things you wish to still do before the day is over. You get dressed, down the rest of your beverage, and return to the world, renewed. Ready to finish tasks and then to enjoy an evening meal. You stay up just a little later and enjoy the night and the people in it just a little more because your body has been replenished.
Doesn't that sound great? It's very F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's romantic, and it's also healthy for your mind, body and spirit.
And, while I would prefer to take many of my siestas alone, one should not discount the luxury of a siesta taken with a lover that comes complete with mid-afternoon shag and post-shag snoozing. This is a lovely amendment to an already satisfying tradition.
We need to get on this train, I say. War? Pain? Cruelty? Nah, forget it. It's nap time.
17 August 2004
vegas, baby
We came. We saw. We are in recovery.
I wish I had pictures of the inside of the limo. It had blinky neon lights and the coolest, cheesiest bar I've ever seen. It was so long I could barely see Randall sitting down at the end. Ok, maybe there were other reasons I couldn't see him.
I wish I had pictures of Randall drenched in sweat, dancing at the club. When normally he does not, not, not dance at all. Epic.
I wish I had pictures of the performers in Zumanity, particularly the two lovely ladies who swam around in a giant bowl of water, seducing each other and performing such acrobatics that I could hardly breathe. At one point, one of them did a handstand over the other one and then ended up basically with the other woman's face between her legs. It was a sight, a sight indeed.
Lorie was mad with the puns - the entire trip! She made more friends in four days than I think I've made in my entire life.
Boobs, boobs, everywhere boobs. Some of them even real. Sequins we saw for sure. I think we even saw a klingon- she had a very small dog with whom she had a strange relationship. I never quite made it over to the craps table like I'd been hoping to. All told, a brilliant time was had by all. Unfortunately, the most brilliant things I cannot repeat here or anywhere. Some of them were captured on film, but will be kept safely in the classified files.
A most successful trip into debauchery by all accounts.
I wish I had pictures of the inside of the limo. It had blinky neon lights and the coolest, cheesiest bar I've ever seen. It was so long I could barely see Randall sitting down at the end. Ok, maybe there were other reasons I couldn't see him.
I wish I had pictures of Randall drenched in sweat, dancing at the club. When normally he does not, not, not dance at all. Epic.
I wish I had pictures of the performers in Zumanity, particularly the two lovely ladies who swam around in a giant bowl of water, seducing each other and performing such acrobatics that I could hardly breathe. At one point, one of them did a handstand over the other one and then ended up basically with the other woman's face between her legs. It was a sight, a sight indeed.
Lorie was mad with the puns - the entire trip! She made more friends in four days than I think I've made in my entire life.
Boobs, boobs, everywhere boobs. Some of them even real. Sequins we saw for sure. I think we even saw a klingon- she had a very small dog with whom she had a strange relationship. I never quite made it over to the craps table like I'd been hoping to. All told, a brilliant time was had by all. Unfortunately, the most brilliant things I cannot repeat here or anywhere. Some of them were captured on film, but will be kept safely in the classified files.
A most successful trip into debauchery by all accounts.
10 August 2004
of great importance
I'll tell you what I don't like. I don't like praying mantises who think they can just waltz into my bathroom. (Of course this is an expression; however I think that could be a very riveting addition to Fantasia 3: The Waltzing Mantises.)
I don't like it when people use the word "ultimately" in the last sentence of any essay or article.
I really really don't like any kind of music that specifically states it is for adults in its title. Adult jazz, adult alternative. Shiver.
I really do like, though, that the British use the phrase "push chair" instead of "stroller."
I don't like, however, celebrities who think they sound cool and in interviews they all, all, use meaningless quotes in place of adjectives or direct objects...
"Well you know it sort of becomes this thing of, 'How do I do this?' And I start getting really unsure of myself and how people are going to perceive it and it becomes very 'What is going on here.' Do you know what I mean?"
I'm sure, Mr. Fancy Actor Man, I would know exactly what you meant if you actually said something.
People just don't get that good language is important and stuff and blah blee blah.
I don't like it when people use the word "ultimately" in the last sentence of any essay or article.
I really really don't like any kind of music that specifically states it is for adults in its title. Adult jazz, adult alternative. Shiver.
I really do like, though, that the British use the phrase "push chair" instead of "stroller."
I don't like, however, celebrities who think they sound cool and in interviews they all, all, use meaningless quotes in place of adjectives or direct objects...
"Well you know it sort of becomes this thing of, 'How do I do this?' And I start getting really unsure of myself and how people are going to perceive it and it becomes very 'What is going on here.' Do you know what I mean?"
I'm sure, Mr. Fancy Actor Man, I would know exactly what you meant if you actually said something.
People just don't get that good language is important and stuff and blah blee blah.
05 August 2004
poet laureate of nascar
"This ain't no rag, it's a flag and we don't wear it on our heads. It's a symbol of the land where the good guys live. Are you listening to what I said?"
So goes the apparent country hit written after September 11.
*scatching head* Gracious, I can't imagine why people hate us.
So goes the apparent country hit written after September 11.
*scatching head* Gracious, I can't imagine why people hate us.
04 August 2004
barack obama
Well, just as I was fuming over our divisiveness, I really stopped and thought about Barack Obama's DNC speech. Beyond the sound bites...
*Afterthought: Barack wrote the speech himself. Finally, a political It boy who deserves some spotlight.
We are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper- that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. 'E pluribus unum.' Out of many, one. Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America- there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
*Afterthought: Barack wrote the speech himself. Finally, a political It boy who deserves some spotlight.
more corporate welfare
As we know, or should know, numerous lawsuits are currently filed against Wal-Mart for shoddy employee treatment, both general and specifically toward women; also by groups trying to stunt this monster's cancerous spread across our great nation.
Now, a new gem.
Wal-Mart employees received $86 million in 2001 in public assistance IN CALIFORNIA ALONE. Because they get paid s-h-i-t. In fact, they get paid about 30% less than employees at other, similar retailers. This from a new report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
Cause Cali doesn't have enough financial problems.
Remember when the grocery worker unions went on strike in SoCal last year? Why do we think the grocery chains were so hard to deal with? Hmm.... you guessed it. It was, in part, because they have to compete with Wal-Mart. This parasite has already ravaged the South... now it's coming and ruining what little individuality and beauty remains in retail markets all over the country.
Well, all the other big companies do it, don't they? Push as much of their expenses as they can onto the public?
Time for Wal-Mart to pee with the big boys...
Now, a new gem.
Wal-Mart employees received $86 million in 2001 in public assistance IN CALIFORNIA ALONE. Because they get paid s-h-i-t. In fact, they get paid about 30% less than employees at other, similar retailers. This from a new report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.
Cause Cali doesn't have enough financial problems.
Remember when the grocery worker unions went on strike in SoCal last year? Why do we think the grocery chains were so hard to deal with? Hmm.... you guessed it. It was, in part, because they have to compete with Wal-Mart. This parasite has already ravaged the South... now it's coming and ruining what little individuality and beauty remains in retail markets all over the country.
Well, all the other big companies do it, don't they? Push as much of their expenses as they can onto the public?
Time for Wal-Mart to pee with the big boys...
03 August 2004
meanwhile, back in the hall of justice...
I'm getting more and more disturbed by the political divisiveness of this country. What follows is disjointed rambling.
Driving down the freeway the other day, I see this guy in a big truck. Two American flag stickers, and one Bush/Cheney in '04 sticker. (I mean, come on. I can see if it was an old sticker from 2000. But now? You're still on that train? Wake up dude!)
I got frustrated about that, and I got frustrated for a lot of reasons. I hated that I felt like I immediately knew everything this guy stood for. Iraq was necessary; gay marriage is a joke; war protestors are disgusting and unpatriotic. And you know, I'm probably not wrong. He could have looked at the stickers on my car and guessed that I stand for many of the opposite views; he wouldn't really be wrong either.
Is that what it's come down to?
I don't know. It's never that simple, and of course there are many whose beliefs are somewhere in the middle. Maybe even the majority, although it doesn't feel like it anymore. The folly of the Bush administration has caused people to run to either side. Most Democrats don't even like Kerry, but boy they are out there touting him anyway (something I refuse to do. Not that I'm a Democrat. But anyway).
I digress. Ultimately, these people who have gone and gotten themselves Bush- and O'Reilly-ized, Fox-ized, Coulter-ized.... I really wish they would stop for a minute and think about their humanity.
I feel strongly about this because I went through a conservative phase in my late teens.
I had always had a liberal outlook on life, but found myself to be very different in a lot of ways from my family and the small town where I went to high school. Finally, at around 17, I succumbed to conservatism for a while, hoping to close some of the gap between myself and the validation I needed. I went to church with my brother a little bit. I read the Bible a little bit. I started debating the conservative point of view in my classes, whether I knew what I was talking about or not, and talking to my parents about politics.
The phase lasted about a year, and I came out of it feeling quite bitter. The only reason I did it was because, for once, I wanted to feel accepted. I wanted to feel right, and I wanted to be approved of. And I was. I was stroked almost daily for this behavior. Oh, was I stroked. They loved it. And in church, in particular, I felt right. It felt good to have all these people coming together for what seemed to me the purpose of feeling right together. I watched with amazement how strongly behavior was reinforced. Of course, reinforcement happens in liberal circles too, and it's a human thing, not specific to any type of group. But the solidarity there was so very strong. Stronger than anything I've felt anywhere else.
And that's just so scary.
It seems to me that the live-and-let-live, liberal attitude is more natural. Echoing our good friend Elvis Costello, what IS so damn funny about that?
Individualism and community are both beautiful concepts that can co-exist. As an individual I have the right to do whatever the hell I damn well please as long as I don't hurt anybody. But I also give my time and resources to my community, to my country. The right-wingers spin that around, don't they? They say: You don't have the right to be "immoral" in your personal life, and we can legislate that. But when it comes to economics you can have your individualism and do whatever the hell you want.
Including hurting people, as has become so obvious.
Driving down the freeway the other day, I see this guy in a big truck. Two American flag stickers, and one Bush/Cheney in '04 sticker. (I mean, come on. I can see if it was an old sticker from 2000. But now? You're still on that train? Wake up dude!)
I got frustrated about that, and I got frustrated for a lot of reasons. I hated that I felt like I immediately knew everything this guy stood for. Iraq was necessary; gay marriage is a joke; war protestors are disgusting and unpatriotic. And you know, I'm probably not wrong. He could have looked at the stickers on my car and guessed that I stand for many of the opposite views; he wouldn't really be wrong either.
Is that what it's come down to?
I don't know. It's never that simple, and of course there are many whose beliefs are somewhere in the middle. Maybe even the majority, although it doesn't feel like it anymore. The folly of the Bush administration has caused people to run to either side. Most Democrats don't even like Kerry, but boy they are out there touting him anyway (something I refuse to do. Not that I'm a Democrat. But anyway).
I digress. Ultimately, these people who have gone and gotten themselves Bush- and O'Reilly-ized, Fox-ized, Coulter-ized.... I really wish they would stop for a minute and think about their humanity.
I feel strongly about this because I went through a conservative phase in my late teens.
I had always had a liberal outlook on life, but found myself to be very different in a lot of ways from my family and the small town where I went to high school. Finally, at around 17, I succumbed to conservatism for a while, hoping to close some of the gap between myself and the validation I needed. I went to church with my brother a little bit. I read the Bible a little bit. I started debating the conservative point of view in my classes, whether I knew what I was talking about or not, and talking to my parents about politics.
The phase lasted about a year, and I came out of it feeling quite bitter. The only reason I did it was because, for once, I wanted to feel accepted. I wanted to feel right, and I wanted to be approved of. And I was. I was stroked almost daily for this behavior. Oh, was I stroked. They loved it. And in church, in particular, I felt right. It felt good to have all these people coming together for what seemed to me the purpose of feeling right together. I watched with amazement how strongly behavior was reinforced. Of course, reinforcement happens in liberal circles too, and it's a human thing, not specific to any type of group. But the solidarity there was so very strong. Stronger than anything I've felt anywhere else.
And that's just so scary.
It seems to me that the live-and-let-live, liberal attitude is more natural. Echoing our good friend Elvis Costello, what IS so damn funny about that?
Individualism and community are both beautiful concepts that can co-exist. As an individual I have the right to do whatever the hell I damn well please as long as I don't hurt anybody. But I also give my time and resources to my community, to my country. The right-wingers spin that around, don't they? They say: You don't have the right to be "immoral" in your personal life, and we can legislate that. But when it comes to economics you can have your individualism and do whatever the hell you want.
Including hurting people, as has become so obvious.
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