Christmas in July

So this past past weekend was atypical for me in that it was a weekend where I went out with a bunch of ladies, had deliciously girlie drinks, and celebrated Christmas (trust me, that link is worth it) amongst complete strangers and good friends.

Actually that sounds like most of my life...

On Friday I had the privilege of escorting my sweetheart, her temporary roomie (and my carpool buddy), my old (actually bordering on saurian) NASA friend, and our resident wedding planner (and all around gossip girl) to see "Inception". I have to say this movie was amazing in the same way that Vanilla Sky was. As it were, it is more similar than that--because I have no clue what happened in either of these. Granted, I have the attention span of a goldfish--and going to see any movie more complex than Star Wars for me is like walking into an aviary full of nitrous oxide and trying to play Scrabble with the Kookaburras while they stand around arguing about East-Asia Politics, but it is my personal opinion that these movies are strenuous no matter the audience.

The following day, after checking out the coolest restaurant this side of Chinatown (with the best Spinach and Brie sandwich ever), my sweetheart and I found ourselves at a Christmas-in-July party at my friend Henry's place. The rest of my friends arrived later on in the evening--and an epic celebration of holiday cheer and general debauchery ensued.

The picture is proof that I should have been a photographer--barely captured before the train scooted by! ;)

Brush your teeth and floss once a day!

Happy Christmas!
-B

My New Favorite Band?

So for the past five or so months I've been looking for a "new favorite band".

Naturally this is an odd thing to propose--but my argument is at least valid--my current favorite band is "The Misfits", a band that has been around for thirty-something years and is no longer producing new material reliably. When Danzig left the group, the band changed, but to be completely honest, I liked Graves better in some cases (and to be completely honest, I liked Danzig's material better when he formed his own band). Graves has since left. This has left me stagnating in the same songs without anything new for AGES.

Just a few days ago I found "The Creepshow" which fits the mold remarkably well. They've got the whole psychobilly/b-movie punk thing going on.

Still haven't decided if they are "favorite band" good, but I haven't found a point against them yet.

Here they cover a Misfits song--Halloween:



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And on an unrelated note, this website is ridiculous--and rated PG-13.

-B

The Things I Dream about When I Dream about Things

So lets get one thing straight--the things that I dream about when I dream about things at best mimic reality--but more often then not, do not correlate with any forme of reality that could ever possibly exist

Q.E.D.

To me at least the discussion is quenched, but perhaps I could bear to elaborate--for the good of all three of you out there reading this (if there still even are three).

When I was younger, I had a recurring nightmare of being lost in a funhouse version of my Pennsylvania home--and always finding my way to the basement just in time for the octopus monster with the sharp teeth to wake up and capture me. So often did I have this dream that when I would become very sick and start having minor hallucinations (which is not, contrary to popular opinion--linked to psychosis, mind you--and completely natural), I would be scared that the octopus would come back. Eventually, this problem sorted itself out--DreamBen promised the nefarious cephalopod the ghostbusters in return for his amnesty and I never had the nightmare again.

Last night I woke up quite surprised that I WASN'T at that same bus terminal I always visualize when I try to visualize Paris. Now, I have never been to Paris--I don't even know if there are bus stations the way I visualize them in France at all. I read a short story a million years ago where I managed to visualize an odd bus station with the Eiffel Tower in the background and an amber-striped, deep violet sky where the sun has recently set. I'm not quite certain why I was in Paris--nor why Mara, Farah and Marc were there (although the later two of these seem to make more sense than the former), but there we were and I was being criticized for being late to the terminal because, "the lions can't wait forever, you know!" and suddenly I was overcome with vertigo and I had to wake up--quite disoriented, and quite confused. Sometimes, despite the fact that a dream is ridiculous, you wake up and are not sure whether the dream was that crazy situation you just escaped from--or that warm, wonderful circumstance you have just entered. Feeling me?

Below is my favorite of the 4th of July in DC pics from this year--maybe someday I will treat this thing as a normal person's blog! :P

-B

Fast Approaching the Political Singularity

I hate talking about politics.

Now that that's out of my system I can talk about politics...

But seriously, its not that its not interesting to me--and of course I care about what's going on in the world. I have opinions...about...political thingys...and economy stuff...and they are well thought out and intelligent...no, seriously! I just prefer not to talk about these things mostly out of embarrassment. As an independent I get worried that people who are ACTUALLY outspoken will put me on one category or the other based on what I say at the time. It's really nerve-wrecking!

This is why it is so odd to me that for the second post of the month of June, I will be bringing up a news article. I guess I just find it funny because its something I do constantly but when I heard that Representative Joe Barton apologized for apologizing to bp (if you don't get that link's joke then I'm sorry, there's no reason for you to be here :P), I nearly died.

I recognize that its ridiculous to apologize for saying you're sorry, but I tend to do it anyways--for example, when somebody yells at me, I say I'm sorry, then they yell at me for saying so and I do it again--a good way to get lost in a recursive apology function. I just never thought that this would be a problem for our leaders.

Here's what happened: the guy apologizes for being so mean to the representatives from bp to Washington, then gets criticized for doing so and has to apologize to the public for his apology...

My question is, can you apologize for something you don't feel sorry for? And if yes, then which apology is the true one? I don't know...

Here's the truth behind the Mayan Calendar...Maybe the world won't end after-all?


Stay Frosty,
-B

A Serious Look at Management

See, up until fairly recently I was fairly confident that people in the "real world" had sufficient problem solving abilities such that they could tackle the requirements of their job.

That was until fairly recently.

See, maybe its the fact that I play so many videogames that gives me the idea that I can solve puzzles pretty well. Hell I could save the princess, collect all the pieces to build a Super-Megalotron Antimatter device , then use it to open up a hole in the universe and stop inter-dimensional wildebeests from invading. And I could do it all and still have time to pick up some cheesey-poofs on the way home. That's what I do in my spare time.

It is completely beyond me that the people down at bp still have yet to find a solution to their oil problem. I just have no way of describing how crazy it is that still, after a month and a half--45 days--the oil is coming.

This is a fact that has left me numb to the "real world". It is unfair that our children inherit our complete lack of creative ability.

-B

The Twilight of Videogaming

Today I found a crazy article no doubt written by underage teenage girls (its okay to click that second link--it just brings you to the same article...or does it?).

...

Yes it does.

The article brings up two points--the first of which is that ANYTHING, given enough hype, can be turned into a game. Remember E.T.?That by no means implies that the game is worth playing. Just because you have a satchel full of money-making ideas does not mean that you should act on every one of them--thats how scams like Amway occur--and trust me, it IS a scam.

The article points out that movie-based games typically (and by that we mean ALWAYS) get terrible reviews from game critics and generally favorable acceptance from fans. This is misleading because it is based solely on sales in the later case--any acceptance that occurs is just the fanbase going out to buy the game before they realize it sucks and return it. And besides, who are you going to trust on a game? A professional or an opinionated fanatic (who has probably played the game on her Twilight beanbag chair after washing her hair with her Twilight shampoo).

To tell the truth, most fans that DO give a damn about where their hard-earned money goes actually end up loathing franchises that submit terrible games. When the shareholders wonder where the fanbase is later on when sequels turn up, they try to rationalize where they went--the answer is met with angry backlash. Its like taking a delicious cheesecake and sticking your dick in it. You can explain the reasons why you did it all you want, but noone will care because you stuck your dick in it.

Babe the Demon Pig

In my spare time, when I'm not writing "Dragonball Z/Sonic the Hedgehog self-insert fan fiction" (kidding...maybe...click the link, anyways) I like taking other people's fonder childhood memories and tearing them apart.

Babe, for example, was a demon--he speaks in tongues to seduce sheeps to his will. Okay, maybe not demon but definitely a witch. He would be burned at the stake--and then taste delicious...

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I performed an experiment today to try and find a type of crossover fan fiction that has not been written. I was absolutely shocked to find that the following fanfics ACTUALLY EXIST.

Godzilla/Sailor Moon
Dragonball Z/Sonic the Hedgehog
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Half Life
Pokemon/Hardy Boys
Harry Potter/Monopoly

After finding every single crazy idea I could think of I gave up with a new-found respect for the crazies out there on the internet, where truely every terrifying possibility is possible...

"Silence and Valor"
-B