ckemp

McGill Sailing has a home..

2005-10-02T20:10:00.000-04:00

This post is created solely in the hopes that the McGill Sailing site can be picked by Google and thus made easily reachable. Uh.. and you should check us out. Sailing = fun.

Apple!

2005-06-17T19:54:00.000-04:00

Got the job! Sweet!

I'm in the office at the UW at the moment.. at my other job, that is. heh. Kalei came and took me out for lunch at Agua Verde.. newly one of my all time favorite grubberies. Beautiful fish tacos, and the location can't be beat (it's right down on Portage Bay by UW Fisheries.. they rent kayaks). Maybe next time I'll snag a couple photos.

Holes

2005-06-16T23:23:00.000-04:00

Bit of a rough patch this week, I'm afraid.. I'm getting bogged down left and right, and a whole bunch of happenings are happening that I didn't expect and certainly don't understand. Friend trouble, that is - the passive kind, the worst. Not sure what to do, and I'm not too impressed either. Whatever happened to simple friendship? Kalei's making the rounds, but I'm in no rush to get involved. Nobody's been aggressive enough to involve me, anyways.

Dr. Sutton (my employer at the UW) has me doing some tricky qualitative analysis for the last two weeks, and I feel like a snail. You're supposed to be trained for this kind of thing. At least it's paid work, now.

On the bright side, Kalei and I had a wonderful weekend in Spokane with her sister Becki. It was all too short on a count of my Apple Store interview (yay!) on Monday, but staying with Beck is always fun. We wanted to go back on Wednesday to come back tomorrow, but again - work. Bah.

While there I snagged this:

I've been working on photography often lately. Probably because the trip to Hong Kong is looming on my horizon, and I'll soon have more chances for great shots than ever before. I hope my little point and shoot is up to the task.

Oooh! And tonight I'm going to see the new Batman. Hooray for the good things in life.

New Look, Busy-ness, Sasquatch Music, Arcade Fire

2005-06-03T19:18:00.000-04:00

Long absence! Well, sort of...

If you've been here before, you may notice a couple differences - namely, I've completely redesigned the template. It's now a teensy bit more eye-catching, and far more useable, searchable, memorable, and flexible. The top bar looks great with almost any photo, which is sweet. I'd love for it to pull random photos from my Flickr photostream, or (even better) the huge Flickr photostream of Creative Commons-licensed shots. Maybe I could tie that with a couple tags to pull specifically themed photos? If any of you know how, please comment!!! I'll send you something nice.

Been sick the last week, which coupled with late late nights at SU means I'm rarely up before 12. Just this week, though.

My big news, though, is my trip with Kalei to the Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge last Saturday, where the line-up included: The Dears, Ray LaMontagne, The Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Wilco, Modest Mouse, Kanye West, and Pixies. I was in Heaven. Unfortunately, the temp pushed 100, and with no shade and the most expensive food on the planet, Kalei quickly began to feel sun-stroked. We managed to see The Dears, Ray LaMontagne, Arcade Fire, and Wilco. For both Ray and Arcade Fire, though, we were just about in the front.

Ray played from his chill Trouble album - sort of a less-Southern Iron and Wine with a beautiful lullaby voice. Not so many people pressed forward to see him, so we had no problem getting to the front. Then. The Arcade Fire, and a massive press of people that filled the ground level attempting to get right where we were. Ha! And they were incredible! Hands-down, no question the most fun, most energetic band I have ever seen live. With quite a few members, who all seem able to play each others instruments, Arcade Fire had a gritty orchestral sound. You knew they were playing innacurately, that notes were missed and rhythms ignored, but they pulled it off with all their energy and the crowd ate it up. Beautiful. Do yourself a favor and buy their album, Funeral.

I'm no music or concert critic, so I'll shut up about that, but here are a couple pictures I managed to snap with my (contraband) digital camera from the front.

We saw Wilco from the grass, and gave up after that. Too damn hot.

I've spent the rest of this week getting stuff done for Sharon, and I've got an interview at the Apple Store (ha!) on Sunday morning. I've been home a month already, and that's shocking.

More soon.

The Films of Mitchell Rose

2005-05-24T15:03:00.000-04:00

Andrew pointed me to this brilliant collection of shorts by filmmaker Mitchell Rose. Each one is a little mockery of modern dance and performance art - and so, so damn funny. Watch them all. Seriously, find time.

Some Color for your Day

2005-05-23T19:57:00.001-04:00

Hibiscus by night n day

Three... Extremes

2005-05-23T03:36:00.000-04:00

Last night, as part of our 1-year anniversary celebrations (more on that later), Kalei and I went to a Seattle Film Festival screening of the Asian Horror Trilogy "Three... Extremes," with short films by Chan-wook Park, Takashi Miike, and Fruit Chan. It was a midnight screening at the Egyptian, with plenty of Seattle technogeeks at hand. In front of us sat That Guy Who Dyes His Hair And His Clothes Bright Orange, and to our right sat a pair of large perepetually unimpressed ladies wielding SIFF uber-passes slung on Sundance neckstraps.

Fruit Chan's "Dumplings" is an entertaining and severely disturbing story of a Hong Kong lady searching for eternal youth in potstickers - and going beyond the bounds of humanity in the process. Stunning imagery, if you can stomach it. "Cut" is everything "Saw" should be - smart, creative, and weirdly funny. Chan-wook Park must have laughed as he filmed it. "Box" reminded me of all the other Japanese horror films I've seen (think Ring), with far more creative characters and much less dialogue.

"Three... Extremes" did sneak a couple bad dreams into my sleep last night, so it deserves credit as a film-that-will-creep-the-shit-out-of-you. If you are even mildly sensitive about babies, fingers, or fire: be warned. You may not sleep as well as I did.

The LifeStraw

2005-05-20T15:01:00.000-04:00

Diarrhoeal diseases like typhoid, dysentery, and cholera are among the world's leading killers; and yet, they can readily be destroyed by proper sanitation. They stem largely from a lack of safe drinking water. By equipping a straw with a set of cheap filters, however, the problem can be neutralized at an affordable and individual level. Instead of relying on a community supply of purified or boiled water, the LifeStraw allows any person of any age to dip down to a lake or irrigation ditch and drink without fear of deadly infectious disease. It also provides a supply of much-needed iodine. From the site:

What first meets the water when sucked up is a pre-filter of PE filter textile with a mesh opening of 100 micron, shortly followed by a second textile filter in polyester with a mesh opening of 15 micron. In this way all big articles are filtered out, even clusters of bacteria are removed. Then the water is led into a chamber of iodine impregnated beads, where bacteria, viruses and parasites are killed. The second chamber is a void space, where the iodine being washed off the beads can maintain their killing effect. The last chamber consists of granulated active carbon, which role is to take the main part of the bad smell of iodine, and to take the parasites that have not been taken by the pre-filter or killed by the iodine. The biggest parasites will be taken by the pre-filter, the weakest will be killed by the iodine, and the medium range parasites will be picked up by the active carbon. The main interest to everyone is the killing of bacteria, and here our laboratory reading tells us that we have a log. 7 to log 8 kill of most bacteria. This is better than tap water in many developed countries.

This is a beautiful, brilliant application of cheap and simple technology that has the potential to save lives. For the impoverished of the world, it doesn't get much better than that.

Crying, While Eating

2005-05-20T14:18:00.000-04:00

Oh, my. So depressing.

Cryingwhileeating.com has collected videos of people weeping over food. The mix of emotion and comedy kills.

Google Will Eat Itself

2005-05-12T13:52:00.000-04:00

Here's another movement along the same lines as my earlier post about the European reaction to Google: Google Will Eat Itself (GWEI) is a clever project by Hans Bernhard and Alessandro Ludovico that intends to buy out Google with funds generated from Adsense.

Their website is disguised as a generic "Global Web-Marketing & E-Business Information Magazine," but is instead intended to hijack hits and generate revenue through their ads. With every Adsense click, they get a small micropayement, which will then be invested in Google shares. Bit by teeny bit, Google is being bought with its own system.

Similar to the European plan, this is obviously a reaction to Google's percieved information monopoly. Once they "gain control," GWEI will turn the company over to GTTP: Google to the People! Right.

Crustacean Rainfall

2005-05-10T12:10:00.000-04:00

On April 28, at the Summit residential development in La Jolla, California, it rained shrimp. Real shrimp. From the clouds. According to Bob Burhans, Scripps Institution of Oceanography curator, the shrimp were sucked up by wind to be dropped over the land. From the San Diego Tribune:

When the weather gets rough, juvenile shrimp at the ocean surface tend to gather in large numbers in the shallows, Burhans explains.

"There were warnings of potential sea spouts a couple of hours before that storm came in," says Burhans, adding that a sea spout can travel a mile or two, or even farther.

RIAA Queen Hillary Rosen Appeals To Consumer Rights

2005-05-09T18:13:00.000-04:00

Former RIAA CEO and chairwoman Hillary Rosen has spoken out (on the brand-spanking-new celeb blog Huffington Post, no less) against Apple and their policy of DRM-ing their mp3s, allowing limited access and playable only on the iPod. The irony is killing me. If you don't know, this is the same woman who would have liked to see us mere mortals paying every time we hear RIAA music, no matter what we play it on. DRM exists because of the RIAA's fear of losing rights over shared music. She then complains about the viruses that come with mp3s downloaded from pirate sites. Viruses that she once hired people to create and distribute across the p2p networks. From her post:

But keeping the iTunes system a proprietary technology to prevent anyone from using multiple (read Microsoft) music systems is the most anti-consumer and user unfriendly thing any god can do.

*COUGH*

Well, if she wants more music, I guess she could just rip some CDs, right? Oh, wait.

Europeans Go After Google

2005-05-09T01:38:00.000-04:00

With over 50 percent of the market share, Google is now the most used search engine on the net and is increasingly the place to satisfy the rest of your net needs: news, maps, mail, and even blogs are now hosted through the Google "portal." Last year, Google announced plans to digitize and put online the library collections of Stanford, U. Michigan, Harvard, Oxford and the NY Public Library. As profits soar and capabilities grow, Google looks unstoppable.

Europe, ever wary of the American culture flood, is worried. Google Print raises questions of culture: integrity, history, and destiny. What is the future of the Western intellectual heritage if online libraries lie in the hands of Google? Jean-Noel Jeanneney, cheif librarian of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, cautions that Google Print will anglicize the world's knowledge, calling for a French digitization effort in response. Chirac has given the green light. Last week, nineteen national libraries moved to form a massive pan-European digital library to counter the Google-powered American hegemony. Then, a couple of days ago, EU culture ministers and hundreds of artists and intellectuals met in Paris to close the deal and issue a continent-wide directive to preserve cultural heritage, starting with digitization.

This may indeed turn out a valuable project, being a civic effort where Google Print is largely a commercial one. The Europeans might bring full electronic editions instead of searchable scans - annotated, structured, and employing other scholarly resources. I hope.

Anyways, there'll be tons more information online. And that's cool.

Get Perpendicular

2005-05-05T18:35:00.000-04:00

My friend Andrew just sent me a link to this incredibly geeky flash animation made by Hitachi about their proposed method for organizing bits on a hard-drive. What kills me is that someone had to have spent a good day creating that animation, and some band actually had to perform that song - which, by the way, has everything from old-fashioned jazz crooning to disco, rap, Barry White, and the Supremes.

En Ete

2005-05-04T17:52:00.000-04:00

It's official, it's summer, it's warm, it's green, and I'm back. From Montreal, that is, finished with finals and half moved into the house on Cherrier. Flew back on Monday drinking bottle after bottle of water. Had a great weekend with Dad.. on Saturday we went up to Quebec City, which was all European and grey stone and big ramparts. We ate plenty of great food over the last few days, too.. Sushi again at that place under the Marriot, Thai on Crescent, Santropol, and Schwartz's. On Sunday we had to deal with those ridiculous ex-tenants, but it all worked out. As far as I know, they've moved out and left a nice big empty house for our summer subletters.

This is the first I've had proper computer time since at least Thursday, so sorry for the lack of updates. Moving out is damn hard. Oh, but did I mention that everyone went out to St. Sulpice for an end-of-the-year party on Friday night? Incredible! Of course, I was the only sober person there, but that didn't matter. Drunk people don't care! So there were lots of happy goodbyes, and I have the numbers of a few B.C.ers who want me to visit over the summer. Um, that's about all I can say about the last week in Montreal. Hectic.

Seeing Kalei and my family has of course been my reward at the end of all this. Time to relax, get a job, and settle down for a warm four months in Seattle.

Happy Slap TV

2005-04-29T00:38:00.000-04:00

Following the latest fad, kids are running all around London slapping random strangers and capturing the event on their video phones. This isn't just playful slapping, though - I'm talking full on violence. Kicking people in the head. Knocking down fast-moving bikers. In the name of jokes. Boredom. See for yourself in a video compiled by blogger Alfie Dennen. Some kid in the background is cackling the entire time. Warning, though - if you can't stand violence, skip the video. The whole fad is revolting. I guess it's racially charged, too. Just what the world needs, right?

Do YOU Believe in Bigfoot?

2005-04-27T23:52:00.000-04:00

A Manitoba man has allegedly captured footage of Bigfoot in Manitoba, north of Winnipeg. The FOX show A Current Affair has since bought the rights to air the video twice on its show in a couple weeks. All this has led me to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, which has compiled all reported sitings of the Sasquatch and a neat little physiological analysis. Sadly enough, I find this all pretty interesting. There are still regular sightings in North America, often by groups of people in the middle of the day in the remotest mountain regions. Could they all be faked or imagined? What if we do have a distant relative hidden in North America, naturally selected to avoid human contact?

*smack*

Mm.. wow. I need to get some sleep. Sorry. I'll stop.

A Free Man

2005-04-27T15:52:00.000-04:00

Having gone through five mechanical pencils and plenty of sanity, today I am emerged fully rid of all finals. I finished up Cognition this morning and my 40 minute (!) Italian exam yesterday morning. Done, and it feels damn good. My handwriting's approaching normal, too.

Today, the weather is shit and getting shittier by the minute. Went for a wander with John and John to look at "garage" sales, found absolutely nothing. One guy, whose ad on the McGill classifieds went something like this,

I must be CRAZY to offer things so low, but I am!!! Everything must go today!!!
Insanely cheap prices, Everything must go today!!! Get this stuff out of my house!!! Many Free Items. 3475 Durocher 1-8pm

had a one room apartement that smelled like (yea, you guessed it) shit and tried to sell me toilet paper and a half-used bottle of windex. No furniture. It was just him in there and a guy who looked suspiciously like the Boustan deliveryman trying to buy a broken phone. We backed out real quick. Others sold only repetitions of Ikea, and if I wanted cheap particle board I'd go there myself and choose something that actually looked nice.

Home in five days, neuro appointment tomorrow, St. Sulpice on Friday night. Move-in date: the 1st. If we can get the stubborn tenants-whose-lease-ends-on-the-30th out first.

Vimeo: Video Tagging

2005-04-26T19:13:00.000-04:00

Vimeo is del.icio.us meets Flickr in movie format:

This is a site for organizing and sharing your video clips. Vimeo also makes it easy to watch your friends' video clips, or to view clips that have common subject matter.

Apparently you can also assemble longer movies from the short clips, and even view "Automatic Movies" compiled based on a tag search (example tag: concert). Still in beta, but most certainly worth a little attention.

Woman Stoned To Death in Afghanistan

2005-04-26T10:53:00.000-04:00

In the first such incident since the end of the Taliban, a woman accused of adultery was publicly stoned to death in Afghanistan. From Reuters:

Amina, a 29 year-old married woman, was publicly stoned to death on the basis of a district court's decision on Thursday in Argo district to the west of Faizabad, the provincial capital of Badakhshan, they said.

Her accomplice recieved 100 lashings.

Huffington Organizes Celeb Blog.. Meh

2005-04-25T22:49:00.000-04:00

The New York Times reports that Arianna Huffington, columnist and former independent candidate for governer of California, has created a blog to be written by the likes of Walter Cronkite, Norah Ephron, Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, and Vernon E. Jordan Jr. News, politics, nature, that sort of thing. With all the popularity blogs have been getting recently, I guess this isn't so surprising. The NY Times bills the upstart as a competitor of The Drudge Report, though really it's just another celebrity vanity project - one that us mere mortals may comment on. Assuming, of course, that celebrities even write the thing. They might as well hire minions to do it for them. Don't expect candid as-they-see-it reporting, either. Remember, they have reputations to look after.

Nah. For entertaining, insightful, uncomfortable blogging I'll stick to the unknowns out there who find their voice through this medium. That's how it started, anyways.

K-Rock 96.5 Off The Air

2005-04-25T20:24:00.000-04:00

For those of you who live in Seattle and enjoy, uh, "alternative oldies classic rock," today must be a sad day. In a move typical of umbrella ultramegacorp Infinity, which owns most of the radio, K-Rock 96.5 abruptly stopped broadcasting recently and is now filling the dead air with movie clips and Don Henley.

Ex-96.5-DJ Andy Savage has this to say:

Andy, Steve, Jodi & Ron want to apologize to everyone who made us their first choice every morning. We sincerely wish we could have said something on the air to let you know what was going on but we had no idea. It came as quite a shock to us. All we can say is please check this site again soon, we shall return to a radio near you...in the meantime, browse the site and check out the cool things we've done with many of you in the past year! And thanks for your patience...

The station is switching to Jack FM format: pre-packaged, pre-programmed, pre-scheduled radio from somewhere else. Hoo-ray.

Slow Wave: Collective Dream Diary Comic

2005-04-24T21:34:00.000-04:00

Slow Wave is a set of internet comic based on reader-submitted dreams. The sheer randomness is hilarious, as is the perfectly portrayed idiotic submission of the dream state.

1337 Hacker "Bitchchecker" Wreaks Internet Havoc.. On Self

2005-04-24T20:06:00.000-04:00

Check out this hilarious 'hacker' dialogue from an IRC chat. Attempted DOS attack goes awry. Very awry. FYI, 127.0.0.1 is always the ip of the computer you're using, and any activity directed there comes back to you. See the results.

bitchchecker: shut up i hack you
Elch: ok, i’m quiet, hope you don’t show us how good a hacker you are
bitchchecker: tell me your network number man then you’re dead
Elch: Eh, it’s 129.0.0.1
Elch: or maybe 127.0.0.1
Elch: yes exactly that’s it: 127.0.0.1 I’m waiting for you great attack
bitchchecker: in five minutes your hard drive is deleted
Elch: Now I’m frightened
bitchchecker: shut up you’ll be gone
bitchchecker: i have a program where i enter your ip and you’re dead
bitchchecker: say goodbye
Elch: to whom?
bitchchecker: to you man
bitchchecker: buy buy
Elch: I’m shivering thinking about such great Hack0rs like you
bitchchecker: Quit (Ping timeout#) [he crashed his own computer]

He tries three more times, eventually deleting his own hard-drive. I'm still laughing.

Mock Terror Attack Video

2005-04-24T13:11:00.000-04:00

Here's a crazy 30 minute video of a news team practicing for an all out attack on the United States. The black plague in New Jersey, a suicide bomb, a plane used to deliver mustard gas in Connecticut, and thousands dead or injured. It is clearly improvised, but scary nonetheless.

I Are Invigilatored

2005-04-22T21:59:00.000-04:00

Spent the day feeling like a prisoner at the hands of the invigilators, a group of sadistic $10/hr fiends who proctored (sounds comfortable) my two-in-one tests today, for I am a conflict student. Yes, that's right - I commited the grevious offence of registering for two classes who eventually decided to schedule the same exam period, and because of my actions I have had to be dealt with quite specially. This morning around 8:45, I arrived at my Bio exam (5 hours before the normal exam) and was told not to talk to anyone including myself, except for the invigilators. Such a terrible word. I took my exam, was escorted into the bathroom after, sat in silence for another two hours, and then was herded with another girl to my linguistics exam at the hands of Herr Chief Invigilator herself, who couldn't help but glance at me every two seconds as if I was about to commit murder. Or call my friend and spill the answers to the exam. Either way, no respect. None. Took linguistics, had to "invent" a brand-spanking-new grammar unit in French, and left in a daze.

Well, that was my day. The week's been spend studying and stressing. Tonight we're going out, though, and then I'm watching a movie with Kalei. Home soon, moving into the house sooner, done with exams on Wednesday.

Ah, but I hear drunk people outside. Must run.

Kids With Cameras

2005-04-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

Kids With Cameras is a non-profit organization that teaches photography to marginalized third-world children, handing them cameras and providing an incredible inside look at their world. It was created after the release of the moving documentary "Born into Brothels," which captures the lives of children growing up with prostitute mothers in the red light district of Calcutta. Some of the photos have been uploaded to Flickr, and they're beautiful.

Extreme Fundamentalism, What?

2005-04-15T19:40:00.000-04:00

These Ultra-Christian t-shirt designs scare the hell out of me. How can these people claim to be so different from, say, the ex-Taliban? The similarities can be striking, and yet one side is consistently cast as evil: a religion of death, of discrimination, of abuse. Still, there are a huge numbers of Fundamentalists in the United States, with views just as extreme and right-wing. They even breed the occasional terrorist like Eric Rudolph, who expresses his religion with bombs. Sounds familiar. Yet, without a proper amount of education and perspective, this understanding is utterly lost on those trying to comprehend the state of the country and of the major religions of the world. Read a proper survey of world religions some time (check out The Religions of Man, by Huston Smith), and you'll discover something of the highest importance: we're not all so different as you might think.

That House

2005-04-15T19:23:00.000-04:00

I put pics of that house I'm moving into next year here on Flickr in case you're interested. We're looking for summer sublets in May, June, July, and August.

The place is on Rue Cherrier a couple blocks from St. Denis. Great location, 9 1/2, 14 ft. ceilings, tip-top. Contact me if you need a place.

Returned!

2005-04-11T20:46:00.000-04:00

Hey there, sorry for the lack of activity over the last couple of weeks. I went home last Thursday the 31st of March, and while I had a wonderful weekend at home with Kalei, I also went through a pretty serious single event that has had me in the hospital since I got back to Montreal. Importantly, I've been discharged today to a beautiful sunny city and I'm feeling healthy. There's nothing terribly wrong with me. Thank goodness.

Final season is upon me, though I am deferring the roughest couple (my handwriting still needs work).

Oh, and I have a place to live next year! I'm moving into a house with four people: Elaina, Jaren, Sebastian, and Maddy. Elaina's one of my good friends, and called me last Monday to see if I'd be interested in replacing someone who backed out of their plan. Sounds like a wonderful place, and I couldn't be happier with it.

Well that's all I have energy for now (my typing sits with my handwriting), but there'll be more later. Lastly, though, I want to give a huuuge thanks to all my friends who came out with such wonderful support over the last week, to my parents, and of course to Kalei who was always there.

Now, sleep.

Laura K. Krishna is a Plagiarist and Everyone Knows It

2005-03-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

Boing Boing pointed me to this deliciously evil fun.

The story: Nate Kushner recieves an instant message from an unknown college student asking him to write her a paper on Hinduism, apparently because his AOL profile lists "Eating Hindu Sculpture" as a hobby. He leads her on, writes her a bogus paper, and proceeds to destroy her for trying to plagiarize. Amazing.

Nate Kushner: Yeah, that;s something we can talk about.
Laura K. Krishna: lets talk about it then
Nate Kushner: As long as you understand that plagiarism is not going to free you from the painful cycle of death and rebirth any quicker.
Laura K. Krishna: ok
Laura K. Krishna: so can u help me
Nate Kushner: I think I can. It is my duty, as we are all children in the arms of Chivas.

From the essay:

The second class is the Kshatriya, the warrior class, who acted as the protectors of the peace. I made a doody. Vaishya, the producing class, work as business people providing economic stability to the society.

Of course, this story has spread across the blogosphere like wildfire. Justice will be delivered.

The Long Emergency

2005-03-28T21:59:00.000-05:00

My friend Andrew Hitchcock has pointed me to an interesting article by James Howard Kunstler of Rolling Stone discussing the future of our world without fossil fuels, a period he calls the "Long Emergency."

The Long Emergency is going to be a tremendous trauma for the human race. We will not believe that this is happening to us, that 200 years of modernity can be brought to its knees by a world-wide power shortage. The survivors will have to cultivate a religion of hope -- that is, a deep and comprehensive belief that humanity is worth carrying on.

Scare tactics? Absolutely. However, I strongly feel that the article is worth a read. It offers some stark realities of the present day, most of which are rarely publicized. The fastest growing communities of the United States are simultaneously the most ridiculous: places like Las Vegas and Phoenix, where neighborhoods are yearly built in the dozens but life is entirely dependent on the bubble created by our fossil-fuelled economy. That is, they are spawns of the American Way. Las Vegas entertains the mindless bored. Neither city could exist without air conditioning.

Are we doomed to regress into the serfdom dark ages? Give the article a read, give Andrew's post a read, and then let me know what you think.

NYTimes Editorial Far From The Mark

2005-03-28T19:55:00.000-05:00

This editorial on the Grokster case makes many common mistakes. For example:

...individual creators of music, movies and books, who need to keep getting paid if they are going to keep creating. If their work is suddenly made "free," all of society is likely to suffer.

I refer the writer to a recently published article in the Economist. It is in no way clear that illegal downloading hurts legal music or movie sales. If those industries are seeing sales declining, perhaps they should first look to the source and wonder whether their products are even worth buying. From another editorial by Alan Wexelblat:

There's just one eensy weensy problem here - NOBODY's livelihood is being stolen. It's just not happening. There were no WMD in Iraq, there was no cocaine on that boat (*), and music sharing does not cost artists money.
...
In addition to a lack of negative effects, the study argues, there is evidence for a positive correlation between sharing music and purchasing more new music.

He refers to this study by Keio Universtity Economics professor Tatsuo Tanaka. See also this study by Strumpf and Oberholtzer.

So, let's face it. p2p services are being wrongly blamed for dipping sales, while the true culprits are ignored: consumers have access to a wider range of media services than ever before, and have begun to realize that the top 40 RIAA titles are not worth their attention. Fat cats fear the Long Tail, but it's comin'. Time to switch business models or sink fast.

That said, should Grokster lose its court battle, I guess I'll be giving up the use of Xerox, VCRs, TCP/IP, blogs (sorry), e-mail, CD burners, silly putty, iPods, and tape decks, all of which have the potential to infringe copyright restrictions.

Actually no, I won't. So sue me.

Rut

2005-03-28T18:49:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's because I'm sick, or because the dorms have been empty, or because the day is dreary, but regardless - I'm down and optimism is draining. My goal for this coming week: do things right and stop thinking so much. I need to make a few reconnections, too.

Netdisaster: Burn One Down

2005-03-28T16:44:00.001-05:00

Is there a particular website you'd like to see blown to bits? Trampled by dinosaurs? Infected with deadly bacteria?

I sure would. Now it's possible, thanks to the good folks at Netdisaster!

My personal favorite is the slow burn. It gives a truly apocalyptic feel. Try while listening to Neutral Milk Hotel's "Pree Sisters Swallowing a Donkey's Eye" from On Avery Island.

Anatomy as Illuminated Manuscript

2005-03-27T13:23:00.000-05:00

The Institute for the Future of the Book has a beautiful post up about the comparisons that can be made between the illuminated manuscripts of old and medical anatomy illustrations:

The text alone would have been less than useful to me and the illustration without the text would not been enough either.

Poster Kim White also provides insight into the digital future of such illumination. I love the drawings she provides, especially this one.

It's Quiet... Too Damn Quiet

2005-03-26T21:19:00.000-05:00

Everybody left for Easter! Me, Dan, Kartik, Laura, and Lex are all that's left of Molson 5 East, sadly.. it's like Canadian Thanksgiving all over again. Been finding a few things to do here and there - today was great - but why does it have to be this quiet? I feel so out of it.

Ah, not like you care though. Unless you happen to know me and want to do something tonight, in which case I urge you to CALL CALL CALL the cell. Please.

Sorry. There's not much else to write about today. I found a cool little deal called Clocky which I need considering how many alarms it takes to get my ass out of bed. Basically, it's fluffy and it rolls and when you click snooze, it rolls off your nightstand and finds a place to hide, forcing you to get up and find it. Apparently it finds new hiding places every morning. I'm impressed.

Oh, and is the Pope dead? Seems like we've seen little proof of life in the last week, and yet this would be such an unfortunate weekend to lose the Pope - maybe they're waiting to spread the news? You decide.

Still Searchin'

2005-03-25T04:49:00.000-05:00

So, the apartment with the two guys was great, and they were chill and we all liked the same music, but they're living with a friend anyway. Go figure. Wow it's late. Watched Baraka tonight, after Old Dublin and sketchy pizza and long discussions about the differences in music taste between West coasters and East coasters and why I should be chastised for listening to Dave Matthews (I stick to my guns there, don't worry). Four day weekend coming up, but nobody's here save a few. I'll call some other people looking for roommates, and maybe I'll strike it lucky again.

Here's hoping. Good night!

Moonwalking Coconut Octopus

2005-03-24T18:35:00.000-05:00

Nature reports the finding of Cal Berkeley scientists in Indonesia, who have recorded the incredible get-away movements of two small species of octopus.

Octopus marginatus, about the size of an apple, flees danger by shaping itself into a coconut and moonwalking backwards across the sand. Octopus aculeatus, on the other hand, raises its arms above its head to look like a clump of agae. Funny evolutionary tactics.

Amazon A9 Driver Caught In Photo

2005-03-24T16:55:00.000-05:00

This guy's face pops up along Commonwealth ave in Boston. Could he be the A9 driver guy adjusting his camera pod? Wonder how much he gets paid to drive up and down the road taking pictures.

Transparent Powerbook

2005-03-24T14:47:00.000-05:00

Today I tried a little trick with my laptop - I had a bit of spare time. Here are the results:

See the Transparent Screens group on Flickr for a how-to. Let me know if you make your own!

Decemberists Turn To Bittorrent!

2005-03-23T20:14:00.000-05:00

The Decemberists, one of my absolute favorite bands these days, has decided to skip all the MTV/VH1 bull (they're far too busy with the Ashlee Simpson Show to play music anyways) and release their new video Sixteen Military Wives across the net using Bittorrent. So what are you waiting for? Grab a copy of Azureus and seed that shit!

For those of you who don't know the band, a quick intro: they remind me of Beck and Neutral Milk Hotel and the singer uses a vocabulary reminiscent of the mid-1800's. Sweet.

The video release today corresponds with the release of their new album Picaresque, which is just as wonderful as their previous albums.

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps: We're All One or None! Exceptions Eternally? None!!

2005-03-22T23:46:00.000-05:00

An absolute must see. Dr. Bronner, "third generation master soap-maker," produces soaps with a social message. So much message, in fact, that his labels are entirely filled with text, including gems like:
Absolute cleanliness is Godliness! Who else but God gave man Love that can spark mere dust to life! Poetry, uniting All-One! All brave! All life! Who else but God! "Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One!"

Each swallow works hard to be perfect pilot-provider-builder-trainer-teacher-lover-mate, no half-true hate! So, each day like a bird, perfect thyself first!

Essene, Chinese, and other birth control methods must reduce birth or Easter Isle type overpoulation destroys God's Spaceship Earth!
Think that's nuts? It's only the beginning. Seems the man was placed against his will in an insane asylum, where for the six months before he escaped he endured electric shock therapy. He has since passed on, but his "message on the bottle" remains. The soap is all-natural and environmentally friendly. Just remember:

Warning! Keep Out of Eyes! Wash Out with Water! Don't Drink Soap! Dilute! Dilute! or Wet Skin Well! OK!

Jon Johansen to Apple: So Sue Me

2005-03-22T19:17:00.000-05:00

Jon Johansen has re-opened the iTunes hole just recently blocked by Apple, making 3rd party access possible again. From his blog:

The iTunes Music Store recently stopped supporting iTunes versions below 4.7 in an attempt to shut out 3rd party clients. I have reverse engineered the iTMS 4.7 crypto which will once again enable 3rd party clients to communicate with the iTMS.

Ballsy.

Greg Duffy Bakes Google's Cookies

2005-03-22T18:50:00.003-05:00

Greg Duffy, a college student in Texas, has figured out how to read copyrighted Google Print books in their entirety by "baking" the cookies Google uses to restrict searches of protected material. Duffy hopes his bravery will result in a job with Google. I just hope it doesn't land him a lawsuit. During the commotion following his posts, his name mysteriously disappeared from Google's web search, to reappear only after Google Print fixed the vulnerability. Read his post on how he did it. Here's some:
So recently I wrote some software to grab and store up a bunch of cookies, keep them for more than 24 hours, and then automate searching for pages by this method. If I wanted to view page 100, the software would search for it and attempt to extract the image with a regular expression. If that doesn't work, it will search for page 99 and extract the "next page" link to get to page 100. It will continue doing this for page 101, 98, and 102 until it finds the correct page. Whenever a cookie would hit the hard limit, I'd replace it with a new cookie from the queue. By grabbing the "next" and "previous" links automatically in this "inductive" fashion and using the search for skipping, I could view an entire book on Google Print with one click every time. I later modified the software to spit out a PDF of the book. I used simple components like GoogleCookie (cookie with accessible properties), GoogleCookieOven (queue with "baking time", i.e. it only pops when the head of the queue is old enough to get the ability to search), and GoogleCookieBaker (thread that keeps the oven full of baking cookies by querying Google for new ones when the number drops below a certain threshold).
I love all the cookie-isms.

Thinking Jobs

2005-03-20T22:38:00.000-05:00

Apartment searching has got me thinking about another decision/effort that has to be made soon - where oh where am I to work this summer? I need to get something fulltime, or at least a job that will fund my rent and random costs for next year. Nice on the resume would be good - you know, a job that uses all that "schooling" I've been having for the last million or so years. No more landscaping, although being outdoors is a plus. Number one candidate at the moment: spending one month on a UW research vessel in the Pacific, cooking and cleaning. I'd bank $5000 for a month's work. Not bad. Plus, who knows? I could meet some good scientists. And serve them their food.

Yahoo Acquired Flickr!

2005-03-20T21:15:00.000-05:00

Internet giant Yahoo! today announced (finally) that they are acquiring the incredible online photosharing community Flickr. Fortunately, it sounds like any changes will be made in a good direction. Flickr will not merge with Yahoo! Photos (big sigh of relief there - no LOLLLZ!!).

From Flickr's announcement:

What is going to happen to Flickr?

Flickr will be continuing on the path it's on -- to Flickr 1.0 and beyond. We'll be working with a bunch of people that Totally Get Flickr and want to preserve the community and the flavor of what is here. We're going to grow and change, but we're in it for the long haul, with the same management and same team.

You're not going to become a bunch of suits?

No, no, no! The precious DNA we've got -- that of the Ludicrew -- is on side and revving up for building Flickr. Having the team building out the team's vision for Flickr has been stressed as our number one priority, and keeping us around -- in spite of our wiseassery, tomfoolery and tendency to hoot spontaneously -- is crucial for preserving the Flickrness that is Flickr. They're not going to replace any of us with suits, nor induce us to wear them. Lapel? I don't know what you mean.

I <3 Flickr.

Alone Again

2005-03-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

Well, looks like I may be living alone next year unless something comes up. I'm going to start looking at 3 1/2 apartments tomorrow. Hope I can afford what's available. This has not been a good process.

Looked at a 6 1/2 apartment on St. Denis tonight, but I didn't like the location (on top of a busy shopping street) and the landlord was a dick. Plus, it's too far away from campus. Oh yea, and I don't have two other people to live with at the moment.

McGill Srikes! Err, Strikes!

2005-03-18T16:07:00.000-05:00

Today, Quebecer McGill students striked en masse in response to the Quebec government pulling some of their financial aid. Over 100,000 students across the province are already striking. Not sure how I feel about this: the rest of Canada already pays federal taxes that go towards the Quebec welfare system, and yet when students from anywhere else in Canada come to McGill, they pay over four times as much as the Quebec students. I don't hear any Quebecers mentioning that, of course. Nor the illegal raising of international student tuition, which I am of course paying. In the end, students here pay less for their education than any other student in North America. However, when you're founding your province on the principles of socialism, I can see where sentiments like this can come from.

For more info, see The McGill Daily.

MOBA: Best of the Bad

2005-03-16T21:10:00.000-05:00

At least they gave their all. The Museum of Bad Art claims to be the "world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms." Most of the art was found in dumpsters, yard sales, and thrift stores. $6.50 was the most ever paid for a piece. Wicked commentary on all of it. From grandma, above:

The motion, the chair, the sway of her breast, the subtle hues of the sky, the expression on her face -- every detail combines to create this transcendent and compelling portrait, every detail cries out "masterpiece."

"Art too bad to be ignored."

Generous While We're Watched

2005-03-16T18:40:00.000-05:00

What drives human altruism? Is niceness a mirage?

Harvard scientists Terry Burnham and Brian Hare recently pit 96 volunteers against each other in an anonymous game where they can either donate money or withhold it. A community pot would yield more money for all, as long as everyone gave.

Half the subjects sat at a blank screen. The other half, however, sat at a screen with a big picture of kismet the cute robot. Interestingly, those staring at the nonhuman face donated 30% more than the others. Why?

Because we have evolved to assume that being cast as charitable will have favorable results in the long run. Even when it's only a fake human looking at us, one who really doesn't care. From the article:

Burnham believes that even though the parts of our brain that carry out decision-making know that the robot image is just that, Kismet's eyes trigger something more deep-seated. We can manipulate altruistic behaviour with a pair of fake eyeballs because ancient parts of our brain fail to recognise them as fake, he says.

Red Cross, Planned Parenthood, take note.

Neon Water

2005-03-16T10:12:00.000-05:00

Woke up to this this morning. Yum.

Bell Canada At Issue With Female Body, God

2005-03-15T18:45:00.000-05:00

So, what am I supposed to take from this? Oh, right: ovaries are BAAD. Stop children, don't look! You might get educated. What kind of world is this, anyways?

Ah, right. Now I remember. This is the same world where people want to destory SpongeBob for rampant displays of respect and tolerance. What was I thinking?

Now, this isn't the first time Bell has portrayed women in a less than favorable manner. There was also the "overprotective mummy" TV ad for ISP service, and the "incompetent parents" ad for cable TV. So now, they're making women feel stupid, mentally unstable, and dirty all at the same time. Great PR guys, you'll go far.

Feel like complaining? Bitch at will.

Jay Dowling on Music Cognition

2005-03-15T18:02:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned, today in Cognition we heard a guest lecture by Jay Dowling, apparently the world leader in the study of music cognition and perception (with over 1,400 publication referrals). While the concepts he covered were incredibly interesting, I felt a bit bad for the majority of students in the class with no musical background. He blew through discussions of key context and such without pausing to look back, and most had no idea what he was talking about.

Personally, I found the most interesting bit to be the divisions he makes of all sound pitch into a hierarchy, namely:

Psychophysical function - the infinitely divisible range of pitch we can hear

Tonal material - 5 to 9 basic tones defined by each culture

Tuning system - those tones that form the roots of scales or keys

Modal scale - do, ray, me, fa, so, etc.

The idea, basically, is that each and every culture has selected between five and nine specific tones out of the psycophysical function to serve as "correct notes." In the Western European tradition, of course, that is CDEFGAB. Each culture that chooses it's own scale conditions its citizens to adopt that scale as natural. Therefore, when we hear a note at 440hz it sounds perfectly in tune, while 444hz is sharp. 444hz in another culture, however, may be the center of a note. It's all relative. From those 5-9 notes, octaves can be reached according to a logarithmic scale. Every culture uses similar names for each note across the octaves. A is still A one octave up, for example.

That is about as much sense as I can make out of it. Music majors would probably laugh at me, but hey. I'm no music major.

Ah, and yesterday I participated in my first Psych experiment, testing my smelling abilities while sitting and lying down. It was fun, but they could have used a nicer smelling chemical. I had hoped it would be food. It wasn't. They confirmed, though, that I have a superior sense of smell!

Relief

2005-03-15T12:46:00.000-05:00

Done! Just finished my last midterm of the semester, ending three weeks of virtually non-stop work since the end of break. Biology this morning, Cognition last week, and Linguistics the week before. I'm thinking they all went pretty well, but I haven't heard back about the grades yet. Things are looking up all over the place.

For the rest of the week, I think I'll spend some more time on the guitar, get back into my swimming routine, and go out a bit. The Sailing Team's having a party tonight at Cafe Campus. Beautiful.

Today in Cogntion we're to hear a guest lecture by one Jay Dowling from UT Dallas on the development of music perception and cognition. He's supposed to be a pretty big deal, and he's flying in just to give us the lecture (not bad for an intoductory psychology course, eh?). I'll try and talk a bit about it tonight.

You Found Me How?

2005-03-14T18:20:00.000-05:00

Behold, a list of the search engine queries people have used (in ever so random a fashion) to find my site.

* exurbia
* shish taouk
* "columbia social work" worst
* xanga quiz "what is your name" favorite color
* galang galang
* ckemp
* christopher kemp
* greg duffy
* decemberists video
* http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog
* strumpf
* srikes
* Laura Krisha
* Nate Kushner
* boustan daughter montreal
* plateau/outremont
* Johansen So sue me
* dowling, jay
* the long emergency anti-american
* tag: kids with cameras
* manitoba bigfoot sitings footage
* bigfoot sitings in manitoba
* 96.5 jack andy savage
* bigfoot
* watch happy slap tv video

End of the Free Newspaper?

2005-03-14T10:10:00.000-05:00

These days, we're well accustomed to the wide availablity of newspapers and other media online, most of which we get to see for free. Today, however, The New York Times is running an article questioning the long term business validity of major newspapers offering their content free online. There are now more online readers than print readers. As a result (even though online advertising is their fastest growing source of revenue), newspapers are cannabilizing themselves. Could this be the end of our free lunch?

The Gates: An Experiment in Collective Memory

2005-03-13T12:32:00.003-05:00

The Institute for the Future of the Book has created The Gates: An Experiment in Collective Memory - a collection of photos shot of the artwork collected on the Flickr Network. Flickr has over 7000 photographs of The Gates to date. According to the Institute:

Now that the Gates are gone, we begin the process of remembering them. But it is not just the objects themselves that we recall. It is what happened while they were here: the conversations, the crowds, the impromptu visits, the unexpected snow, the long ambling walks, and the various artifacts - photographs, sketches, films, swatches of fabric - that we amassed. Memories often begin with an image, and the Gates project is almost certainly among the most photographed works of art in history. So it is with images that we will begin.

To submit your photos, simply upload them to Flickr with the tag "gates memory" and they will be assembled with the other submissions.

Giant Steps

2005-03-12T19:37:00.000-05:00

Giant Step is a short (and light) film by designer Michael Levy exploring the aesthetics of art and structural design, all set to the famed Giant Steps by John Coltrane.

From his site:

I have chosen a short Jazz piece, which I have known for many years of my playing the saxophone: "Giant Steps" by John Coltraine. Coltraine made a major break through with his album "Giant Steps" in the year 1959. It was the first time in the history of Jazz music that someone based his music on symmetrical patterns, which stemmed from a mathematical division of the musical scale.

The structural approach of John Coltraineto music is associated with architectural thinking. The musical theme defines a space and the musical improvisation is like someone drifting in that imaginary space.

Wonderful. Check it out.

Cheers to Drawn! for this.

Hunter S. Thompson: Leaving Exactly As Planned

2005-03-12T16:51:00.000-05:00

Thompson, gonzo journalist and author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, would have liked to have his ashes shot out of a cannon. Rather than let himself suffer the indignities of old age, Thompson shot himself late February, acting out a suicide plan he had been discussing for the last ten years. The man lived as he wanted, died as he wanted, and now his remains will be handled as he wanted. Shot into the sky and exploded.

Political Influence of the Blogosphere: Red vs. Blue

2005-03-12T13:43:00.000-05:00

Researchers Natalie Glance and Lada Adamic (of BlogPulse and HP Labs, respectively) have written a fantastic paper documenting the degree of interaction and behavior among top conservative and liberal blogs in the months leading to November's election. They examine the posts of 40 "A-list" blogs, and provide a snapshot of 1000 political blogs on a single day.

Highlights?

Almost an equal number of influential liberal and conservative blogs.

Conservative blogs showed a greater tendency to link to other blogs (84% linking vs. 74% liberal linking).

Clear preference lines were drawn as to which news sources to cite (Fox News vs. Los Angeles Times, for example).

Liberal blogs referred to Bush more than conservative blogs, and conservative blogs referred more to Kerry than liberal blogs.

Hmm. I hate such stark divisions - red state vs. blue state and all that. Makes us all seem much more distant and different than we really are. Remember, we truly all live in a purple state.

Old Boy

2005-03-12T13:25:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of indie movies, and this one called Old Boy looks particularly good. To my tastes, anyways. It doesn't hesitate to use action, while at the same time using poetic imagery to a depth never found in most movies. At least, that's what it looks like from the trailer. If it comes to Cinema du Parc, I'll see it.

Too Late You Down! Galang Galang Galang!

2005-03-12T12:46:00.000-05:00

Nice. Sri Lankan pop star can neither sing nor dance. But her backgrounds are pretty sweet. Check out the nuclear weapons and fighter jets.

Here's her video, Galang Galang. Worth a laugh.

The Week

2005-03-11T00:57:00.000-05:00

One of those I can't quite wrap my mind around. Full of much work stress and emotional rollercoasting. One day I feel perfectly happy with my world and people seem happy with me, the next I'm disconnected and alone and there's nobody. Except for Kalei, of course: she's always there for me. The endless string of tests, projects, papers, and appointments doesn't help. Neither do some people. Sometimes I don't understand people. Actually, I rarely understand people.

Montreal Shows Forum + Archive Project

2005-03-10T00:48:00.000-05:00

Finally on the recovery after a hacker attack forced the deletion of their forum (and many valuable anecdotes about Montreal musicians no longer with us), Montreal Shows is back with another forum ready to be filled. Cuz remember, we're cool now, right?

Right?

Right.

At the same time, they're creating a "Montreal-area gigposter, flyer, handbill archiving project." So, if you have any lying around, from any period or any band as long as they played in Montreal, scan and send them here.

Ned Kahn

2005-03-10T00:18:00.000-05:00

Check out Ned Kahn, an artist who uses scientific principles to design incredible interactive sculptures. Chances are you've seen some of his stuff.

Snow Blind

2005-03-08T01:36:00.000-05:00

Today.

Shred

2005-03-07T19:28:00.000-05:00

What this big machine shred just about anything incuding concrete, a washing machine, and a boat.

Careful, you should have a good ten minutes free time on your hands.

Fargo, anyone?

Uh Oh

2005-03-07T10:24:00.000-05:00

There's a blizzard. More later, if I can make it up the hill. Don't know if I can make the summit. May have to send for help.

Bagels, the Montreal way

2005-03-06T19:04:00.000-05:00

If you're American (or really, live anywhere in North America outside of Quebec), chances are you think of New York when you think of bagels. Noah's. Thick, warm fluffy bagels with a savory yeasty taste, topped with lox, cream cheese, and the works.

There is, however, another world of bagels, nestled within the second largest population of Hasidic Jews in North America: the Plateau/Outremont area, Montreal. And it's another thing altogether.

These bagels rarely come in more than four or five varieties, and you can for the most part forget about those three inch bagel sandwiches. These are made for munching: thinner and with a slightly sweet taste, you buy them out of massive baskets set at the end of a conveyor belt leading to the oven, from where they emerge in rows like something out of Willy Wonka. Imagine a bagel with the flair of a Polish donut. They're cheap - I believe ours were around fifty cents.
For the best, try:

The Bagel Shop 263 Rue Saint-Viateur Ouest
Fairmount Bagel Bakery 74 Avenue Fairmount Ouest

Unauthorized Linking

2005-03-06T11:29:00.000-05:00

So this blog first created by the people who watched Fox News to gather information for Outfoxed posted an entire copy of a Bill O'Reilly column, and soon recieved a letter from the company syndicating the column telling them to take it down. They did, and linked to the column instead. This company persisted, accusing them of "unauthorized linking."

As far as anyone knows, there is no such thing as unauthorized linking. So, from those who still believe in free linking, here's the link.

Post this on your site if you believe the same. Should keep those lawyers busy.

Cheers to Lessig Blog for this.

New York Public Library Opens Digital Gallery

2005-03-05T22:38:00.000-05:00

The New York Public Library has just released some 250,000 (soon to be 500,000) of its archived images in digital form in an online gallery. It's an incredibly interesting reference tool to surf.

Within three minutes, I found the placard of a popular Yiddish theater in Buenos Aires:

Exurbia

2005-03-05T22:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I found this must-read article by Tristram Hunt of The Observer

Some excerpts:

"This is the cultural landscape of modern America: not the downtown conviviality of Cheers, but the soulless anomie of Desperate Housewives; not the urban chic of Friends, but the sprawling southern California of The OC."

"Aided by a welter of federal subsidies securing investors against depreciation, developers find it far more profitable to commission an entirely new mall than to renovate the present. In 2002 alone, half a billion square feet of retail space - the equivalent of some 4,000 dead malls - were left empty."

"A study by the Los Angeles Times revealed that 97 of the 100 fastest-growing counties in the US supported President Bush, providing him with a decisive 1.72m vote advantage over John Kerry."

Interesting stuff. Entirely visible, of course - take a drive ten miles out of any urban center in the States and you'll see it. Scary to think of the implications: sprawl means driving means fuel means oil wars and fossil fuel depletion, for example. Half a million dead in Iraq, for example.

The world is going downhill. There must be other ways.

Tale of a border crossing

2005-02-28T01:42:00.000-05:00

There's much I have to say about the last week, but at the moment there's no time so I'll just tell a story.

A few weeks ago, as I mentioned, the McGill sailing team ventured on a skiing trip to Jay Peak in Vermont and then to Sutton in Quebec. We left early on a Saturday morning in two cars: one little suv with all the skis and then a van that carried most of us. I was in the van. At some point the two got seperated, and we in the van were left at the hands of Travis. Travis is a Montreal local and one of the fastest drivers I've ever had the terror of riding with. He wasn't driving today, but he gave directions - the shortcut sort.

Of course, we ended up in Nowhere, Quebec, near the border but not near a large border crossing (you know, the kind with armed guards and stop signs). Miraculously, we found a small two-lane that turned down into the States. Here's where my story comes in.

Approaching this border crossing, I knew it was something else. No signs, no announcements, no warnings or speed signs or concrete blocks. Just a simple country road, and there: a shack, a pickup truck, and a beat-up sign suggesting we stop by to announce our presence.

We pull over, and out steps a grizzly border official well into his seventies, wearing a United States Customs jacket and a Canadian Customs hat. He's just finished a donut.

"Well then, how long have ya been in the United States?" he asks as our driver Jeff rolls down his window.

"...uhh aren't we going into the States now?"

Border official's eyes dart quickly up the road in both directions.

"Mm. Right you are. My apologies... the Canadian guy didn't show up this morning. How long have you been in Canada?"

Removes Canada Customs hat, stuffs into back of pants.

"We're all students at McGill, going to ski at Jay peak. We're the McGill University Sailing Team."

"Sailors, eh? Much sailing these days?"

The rivers are frozen. "No. That's why we're going skiing."
I might remind you that there are no skis in the van.

"Alright, well.. How about you let me see your student IDs."

We pass them forward, and he looks at maybe four. Then he takes another long look at our van.

"Didn't I see you guys come through here half an hour ago? Could've sworn you were going into America. Didn't stop. Goin' real fast."

"No sir, we haven't been here before."

"Ah well alright. On your way. Good luck."

And that is how Vermont does Border Crossings.

:-)

2005-02-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

It's a beautiful snowy day, I am in awe of snow flakes, and I'm boarding a fligh home in three hours.

More from the road!

...what?

2005-02-15T17:08:00.000-05:00

Alright, so I apologize but I feel like I need to yell. Or type, I guess. You'll understand why, and probably feel like yelling yourself. Here goes.

Yesterday, one of my neighbors and good friends sat down to breakfast at the opposite end of a table with three other guys. The moment he sat down, the three guys looked up and, beyond all my comprehension, told him that "this is a WHITES ONLY table." When my friend was too stunned to move, they got up and left.

When I heard this, I was at first more stunned than angry. But the anger grew pretty fast. It's unfortunate that my friend has no idea what they looked like, because god damn. What kind of backwards fck thinks he can talk like that? I feel that sort of comment should get you kicked out of school. Or at least suspended. How dare they try and make my friend feel like he doesn't deserve to sit where he wants?

I am daily forced to realize that ideas like this still exist. And not just among the KKK or whomever: massive prejudice (not just racism) lives on in the general population - in a society I once considered modern. People hate gays, hate women, hate men, hate Muslims, hate Christians, hate Jews, hate immigrants, hate rednecks, hate liberals, hate conservatives, hate the rich, hate the poor.

Well, here's one who won't sink to that level. Here's one who's sick to death of all the ignorance, all the pettiness, all the blindness.

I will never make apologies for those who judge, those who generalize, those who hate.

Fire alarms god damn!

2005-02-13T23:17:00.000-05:00

Four in the last four days. That's right, four. One early Saturday morning. All results of burning popcorn, grilled cheese, smoking, and ultra-sensitive smoke detectors. The funniest, though, are the times when the alarm doesn't go off. Like this morning, when our microwave burst into flames as my neighbor Kartik heated pasta. The hall still smells of melted plastic. But did the alarm go off? No! Or when my floor got slightly over-zealous assembling absinthe shots (for those of you who don't know, it involves melting sugar) and lit an alcohol fire across an entire desk. But hey, neither of those fires spread, right? As long as we're safe.

See?

2005-02-04T19:46:00.000-05:00

iPod is still the most popular digital music player at Microsoft's Redmond campus. Much to the chagrin of management.

They're ubiquitous at McGill. I know a few people who've started to wear different headphones simply so that they do not "join the masses." But why be ashamed?

Little white headphones and multi-talented professors

2005-02-04T18:08:00.000-05:00

Everywhere! It's incredible. Call iPods what you want: symbols of upper-middle class yuppiehood, an integral piece of the generic college student, or even a part of the holier-than-thou neo liberal anti-American movement (according to one source). Never before has there been such a seamless and flexible vehicle for appreciating music. Having one has an interesting and entirely visible effect on a person's musical horizons. With the iPod comes the ability to own more music. Where before you could reasonably only carry so many cds, now all of a sudden you have this space to fill, and with that comes the desire to listen to more. This is especially true on the college campus, where a massive range of music is available across the networks. I may be generalizing a bit much, but this is simply what I've seen: people who suddenly have this capacity (whether from an iPod or even just iTunes or some other easy way of organizing digital music) start snatching new music at an incredible rate. And that's pretty cool.

Related to that, you might be interested to learn that (at least at McGill) the Music Library has unlimited rights over the cds they check out, so if you bring a laptop with you (you can't leave the library with the cds), you can rip as much music as you want. They have a respectable selection of jazz and classical; not surprising considering that's what they teach. At McGill, the Music Library is on the 11th floor of the Blue Cross building, across Sherbrooke from the Music Building itself.

Yesterday, I found out that, in addition to being a world-renowned researcher, award-winning comic artist, comedian, and all around ego fiend, my Psychology of Cognition Professor Daniel Levitin also happens to be a Grammy/Academy Award/Platinum Record winning record consultant, musician, and producer. Umm, ok. He wrote a midterm review song for our class, and performed yesterday. Meetings with people like this make me beg one question: do I ever get to be like that?

As usual

2005-01-30T23:52:00.000-05:00

Strange week for me - one of those ones where I can't quite pick out the individual days or pieces of the day or anything too specific, it feels too mixed. The ski trip was a wonderful break and chance to blow som steam, but I've been hammered since. Something about this semester's schedule keeps me going non-stop I'm on campus all day, but with weird and useless breaks between all my commitments. I bounce around n more than three classes and a couple other commitments a day, and then it's dark and I'm working and the it's 12 and I sleep. Or should. That's why I can't pull much from my week: there's this horrible rythmi monotony.

Add to that some depressing developments at home and some painful realizations about my life here and it gets oppresive.

I really shouldn't complain, though. That's something I need to work on.

Bio midterm on Tuesday. I've spent much of today trying to study and sometimes I'm marginally successful, but actually I daydream most of the time. I blame it on the GY!BE records. They mess with my head. At 5pm, a picture in my Bio textbook of the surface of Mars shot me into a 2 hour day dream marathon in which I came up with the full plot for an exciting space adventure movie. Including the trailer, which if you ask me is always the funnest part. Then I fell asleep, and Dan woke me up and I related the whole story to him and we agreed it's pretty sweet.

This week I rediscovered Tim Hortons. Tonight, we're ordering Poutine from Mama's.

Freedom and liberty

2005-01-21T18:02:00.000-05:00

President Bush is truly steadfast, a model of resolution in the aim of achieving his goal: the total elimination of tyranny and oppression in every corner of the globe, as put forward in his second inaugural speech yesterday. What wonderful news! Apparently, with Bush in office, we can expect:

-Equal rights for women and free elections throughout the Middle East, including countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt
-The ousting of Pervez Musharraf
-Pressure on China to democratize
-No more close relations with oppresive regimes
-Democracy in Iran
-etc.

What was missing, of course, was the how, when, where, and who. Now, it sounds wonderful to parade our founding values , and few Americans would quarrel with spreading freedom around the globe, but there remains a huge gap between Bush's flighty aspirations and the reality both in D.C. and the rest of the world. In truth, he has managed to contradict much of the last four years of his administration: supporting oppresive regimes in Asia that helped out in Afghanistan, for example. Of course, these ideals are nothing new; Bush has been quite proactive about spreading freedom already. Remember Iraq?

Oh, that's right. Americans are still dying in Iraq. Most of the world still hates us for "spreading our freedom." Why? Because with Bush, spreading freedom means bullets, bombs, death, alienation, inhumanity. If Bush truly means what he says, then the American Armed Forces are going to have a busy four years. And we'd better all buy gas masks.

My favorite commentary, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, reads:

"The cherished democratic ideal of freedom took on a grim cast in President Bush's inaugural address yesterday.

"While the President didn't come right out and threaten more military invasions in far-off lands, it was hard to mistake his combative message to virtually any undemocratic nation on the planet. Embrace liberty, he warned, or face the terrible swift sword of the most powerful democracy on Earth."

There are other ways! There is diplomacy, negotiation. Reducing our reliancy on places like Saudi Arabia and China by reducing our oil intake and manfacturing our own goods, so that we aren't constantly supporting their regimes. Even Reagan could pull it off without sending American troops. In short, helping the oppressed of the world does not need to be a grab-your-gun-in-one-hand-balls-in-the-other-don't-mess-with-texas-or-you-must--hate-freedom demonstration of how much power we have!

In other news, I'm going to Jay Peak this weekend with the official McGill University Sailing Team Skiing Team. Kick ass.

Happy Birthday Kalei!!!!

What's that smell?

2005-01-18T03:24:00.000-05:00

Ah, Molson Hall. Land of the long green cloud. Where would we be without ou freedoms, eh? That is, until 9 am - 4 pm January the 31st, when parents an high school students plan to wander doe-eyed around our dorm. By the reaction of some people on my floor, you'd think the NHL had been cancelled forever "No pot??" they screamed, and tore about bludgeoning the walls. "At 9 am?? O a Sunday?? Never!" For the rest of us, of course, this means seven hours o relief. For once, the dorm might actually smell like a dorm, instead of Jamaica

Je ne me souviens pas. No, it's too cold.

2005-01-13T02:37:00.000-05:00

Back in the good ol' seceding land of Kay-bec, and I'm thinking about buying a humidifier. Think I sound like an old lady? Fine. You don't know the dryness. My face crackles and crunches like the murderous ice that's everywhere out to get me. Falling on the sidewalk isn't funny here; it's a part of life. Still, falling in the cafeteria or during finals merits a laugh.

Imagine: taking a three hour final, sitting in a gym surrounded by hundreds of other students in silent parallel rows of hunched shoulders. It's 2:30 - half an hour in, the pencils are flying and the static of firing neurons is all that can be heard. Hopes are shattering. Tears appearing. Then... creak, creak, BAM. Some poor soul has just finished short answer, when his desk collapses. Screws, splinters, pencils all scatter. Student lies sideways in a heap of twisted remnants. One thousand heads turn.

Speaking of painful experiences, I'm now taking Calculus 2, Biology 2, Psychology of Cognition, Into to Linguistics, and Italian 2. The first two are prereqs for McGill's cog sci major, I'm afraid. To all you High School seniors reading this (nobody I'm sure), take your AP tests!. If you're going to a school like McGill, it could save you a year of college. No joke.

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but things have been busy. I spent my last three nights in Seattle at Kalei's dorm, and I wish I was still there. I never have so much fun as when I'm with her.

Now, I'm not as much one to post or advertise my politics, but I see people tend to splurg a bit on their sites. A couple things have been on my mind since around New Years:

President Bush's initial response to the Tsunami disaster was a pledge of $35 million dollars, less than the $45 million in aid he pledged towards his own second inaugeration ceremony, and roughly equivalent to the amount spent before breakfast in Iraq. On the other hand, the world as a whole has responded wonderfully to the disaster. If only it would bother to respond with such force to a disaster even more widespread that kills over a hundred thousand people every few weeks: AIDS. The nations of the world can do incredible things when sufficiently motivated. They need to be motivated more often!

That's about it for now.. it's late and I should sleep. More soon!

I <3 Holiday

2004-12-24T01:52:00.000-05:00

I've been too busy to write since I got home, so sorry for the lack of activity but no worries it's been fu times.

Kalei picked me up from the airport on wednesday afternoon, after a little confusion over which terminal/baggage claim/airport I was at. Needless to say, it was wonderful.

Since then, I've done a lot of relaxing, christmas shopping, exploring, driving, singing jazz duets wtih Kalei, and basically enjoying myself. I went up to Mt. Baker over the weekend with my dad, Nicholas, and his friend Dwight. That was really nice - we stayed in a little cabin not half an hour from the slopes. Unfortunately, it's been a bit warm so the snow wasn't spectacular but whatever it was great. [continued]

On that note, I hear it's about -39' F in Montreal (with wind chill?). It's hovering around 45 here. Joy.

As of this morning, I'm totally done with Christmas shopping, and as usual I'm close to broke. But it's worth it - I'm giving good stuff this year. I'm not about to go over everything I've done this week, because I think that would take a while, so I'll just mention the last two days.

Last night was incredible. I got all dressed up, grabbed some flowers, and picked up Kalei (looking spectacular in her black dress) for a night out at the Nutcracker. It was at the new McCaw Opera House.. so much fun. We were the nicest dressed people I could see. I was a little confused, though. I've seen the Nutcracker once before. I was much smaller, but I still felt like I could remember most of the story. However, the ballet I saw last night had little or nothing to do with what I remember. Since when is there a Pasha, Chinese Tiger, or Peacock? I remember Sugar Plum Fairies and candy canes, and much more conflict with the mice. I guess there are several interpretations? And who wrote the original story? Tchaikovsky? Hoffmann? Mmmm.

After, we tried to go to a little Italian place that we love in Pioneer Square, but was closed. Instead, we hit up the happy hour at Ruth's Chris, and for $20 we got two ceasar salads, a quarter pound cheese burger with fries, onion rings, bbq prawns with potatoes, blackened chicken skewers, and three drinks. Not bad, eh?

Today, I picked up Matt and we finished my Christmas shopping, before heading over to Seattle Center. We hoped to see the Bob Dylan exhibit at the EMP, but I had had no idea how much their tickets cost. Twenty bucks! Ridiculous. So instead, we went to the Pacific Science Center, and smashed all my childhood memories on the rocks. I used to go there all the time as a little boy, and I thought hit was sooo cool. It's so ghetto now! For that matter, all of Seattle Center is run down. Very carny-esque.

Anyhoo, now I'm off to see Meet the Fockers with Kalei and Lisa. I'll try to make a better effort to keep up with my writing after Christmas. Until then!

Good Morning!

2004-12-15T14:36:00.000-05:00

Good morning, I'm about to get on my plane for Seattle. Bit of a bumpy flight into Chicago, I'm afraid. At least this time, there's no snow. Anyways, I'm home in five hours! Can't wait. Till then.

Home!

2004-12-14T22:31:00.000-05:00

The last two days have largely been spent studying... and eating. I had my Sex Ethics final this afternoon, which I believe went at least as well as the midterm. I'm in a wonderful mood at the moment, mostly because in less than twelve hours I'm on my way home! Right now I've got a load of washing on, and I'm about to break out the massive duffell bag that I have to lug home so I can lug it back with skiing equipment.

Sunday morning, I went to the little restaurant Santropol with Janet and her sister. Seth was supposed to come too, but he's nocturnal. Absolutely incredible place... had to be one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. It was simple - smoked salmon, cream cheese, lettuce, red onion. But so good - it had to be five inches thick. The bread was freshly baked, brown as anything but much tastier than your average whole wheat. I had a nice big cup of hot apple cider to go with it.

Yesterday, I was introduced to two bands that I wish I'd heard sooner: the Books, and God Speed You Black Emperor! (GYBE!). The Books draw from a massive library of recorded sounds, pulling it all together with some original recordings of guitar plucking, violins, banjo and occasional vocals. The result is beautiful: seemingly random loops of sound form rythms that feel classically Americana. You can't necessarily understand all the lyrics, but their meaning comes across clear as day. The music feels like a raw expression of emotion. Try any of their tracks, and you'll understand.

GYBE!, on the other hand (or GY!BE as they are apparently called these days), I can't really explain. They're from Montreal, a full orchestra that weaves together massive soundscapes that last forever. I've got the F#A#oo album, which is three tracks each around twenty minutes. I think part of "East Hastings" may have been in 21 Days Later. Every time I listen, it feels like a new soundtrack to a completely different movie. Every listen has a storyline. That's easy to feel, as they mix in long recordings of apocolyptic street preachers to drooping guitar.

Alright, well I need to go grab my washing. Tonight I'm off to the Upstairs Jazz Bar for another night of free jazz student music. Next post, I'll either be at home or on my way!

Bah

2004-12-10T23:47:00.000-05:00

I must let out some frustration. I cannot stand immature, self-involved, disrespecting college students. Evidently, everyone's been told that college should be the one time that life should be lived selfishly. This is fine, but not to the extent that I see all around me. I'll just stop there.

It's been snowing all day, and the city is beautiful again. Went for a walk up the mountain (see today's pics), saw plenty of little animals and nice winter woods.

There's not a whole lot else to say about my day without getting bitchy and frustrated, so I'll just end by saying that last night, I discovered Neil Young's After The Gold Rush, and I've hardly stopped listening to it since. An acquired taste, indeed.

Tomorrow, never see the things that come today.

The Shish Taouk.. and BMH Food Poisoning

2004-12-09T22:59:00.000-05:00

I've spent quite some time tonight thinking about food (nothing new there, I guess), so I figured I'd write a bit about the best new thing I've tried since arriving in Montreal: the Shish Taouk.

For those of you uninitiated, I'll explain. It's Lebanese. Basically, a thin pita wrap (not the gyro kind) with marinated chicken, lettuce, tomato, crunchy radish, and garlic sauce. It might sound simple, and it might sound like any other Middle Eastern wrap you've tried, but no - it's better than that. They're filling, they're yummy, and I'm addicted. These days, I like to get them delivered from a placed called Boustan, where they come with a drink and rice or garlic potatoes.

I was first introduced to the Shish at Sailing team - there's a little Dep (commonly known as the "Paki Shack") across the road from the yacht club where we'd snag them before hopping the bus back to town. For four bucks, it doesn't get much better.

And in other news, my suspicions about the dorm cafeteria are coming to life: several people on my floor have spent the last two days embracing porcelain. The alleged culprit: cottage cheese. The problem: food that sits on the buffet line for days before being eaten. I can't wait to have my own kitchen!

Tonight, I think I'll go swim laps and then probably talk to Kalei till I can no longer keep my eyes open. Am I waking up too late in the morning if she, three hours behind, has to call to wake me up? One alarm doesn't seem to be enough. I think tonight, I'll set two.

Ice, Christmas, Nicholson, and Lynch

2004-12-09T16:47:00.000-05:00

I saw ten people fall while walking today. We've had freezing rain for the last two days, and for the first time I can remember (being from Seattle and all), it's actually sticking, and there's now two or three inches of ice everywhere on the ground. Beautiful sometimes, but scary when you have to walk a steep sidewalk down to class.

It's been an incredibly relaxing week: staying up late talking to Kalei, waking up past noon to the grey light of a cold day, in general taking my time and enjoying it. I've done a bit of Christmas shopping - downtown's spectacularly done up with lights and wreaths and such, and everything's festive. It's wonderful shopping for someone I know so well and love so much.

Yesterday, I tweaked the site even more, and I think I'm approaching a finished design. There's still a bit of code I'd like to add, however.

I watched part of As Good As It Gets last night with Kalei, and we finished it this evening. Beautiful characters, and we both decided that some day we'd get one of those dogs. I think that Shatze would be a nice name.

Ah, and earlier this evening, I watched the David Lynch movie Eraserhead with Janet, Seth, Dan, and Andrew from the dorm. Not for the queasy, I'll tell you. It involves an awkward man with tall hair, a hysteric daughter with a hysteric mother, a girl with puffy cheeks who lives in a heater, and an inhuman baby that looks like a skinned rabbit. It seemed to have a lot to do with (Lynch's?) discomfort with sexuality, women, and childbirth especially. Lots of symbology involving little sperm/fetus/worms. Reminded me of an article I once read called "Monstrous Mothers" by Marina Warner. If you feel like something trippy, uncomfortable, and low-budget, then check it out. Otherwise, I say Lynch can keep his issues to himself.

Not much else to say for now. I'm home in a week, and I couldn't be more excited.

Oh, and anyone reading this should check out Calexico's "Feast Of Wire" album. Americana mixed with mariachi at its finest.

Dead Week

2004-12-06T15:33:00.000-05:00

Ah well, it's dead week at McGill, and these days I only rarely glimpse m neighbors, on their way back and forth between here and the library. I'v somehow managed to avoid the suffering, with only one exam that isn't for week and a half, so I'm probably not anyone's favorite at the moment

I'm spending my time reading, wandering the city, christmas shopping, and setting up this site (a goal of mine that I've had for a while). I'm grateful for the chance to relax, but at them same time I'm straining to go home. Home sounds fantastic right now.

Not much else to add. It's getting cold, the snow has fallen, and I'm wondering where the squirrels and pigeons will go when it becomes too cold to live (can't be too long now). Do squirrels hibernate? What about pigeons? This is not a city in which to live without a home.

it's been awhile!

2004-02-27T19:14:00.000-05:00

hey, so i've been convinced to post again on my LJ, something i haven't done in... 3 months? at least.

i am now a second semester senior, complete with less stress and more free time! huzzah. still waiting to hear back from colleges, but they can take their sweet time, no worries. the choice is gonna be tough, though.. on one hand i could go somewhere like montreal or new york, on the other hand it's very hard to say no to four free years at the uw...

there's nothing like a little stevie wonder to brighten your day.

the floating plank at sea

2003-11-17T04:39:00.000-05:00

Love is like oxygen. Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong.

All you need is love.

I am about halfway through one of the strangest essays I've ever had to write... and it's on LOVE! Love, romance, brotherly love, one love, one heart, friendship on fire... and let's not forget Socrates and his boys.

As you can tell, it's late and I'm tired, but I'll be here a while longer. Send your dreams my way!

whatever lola wants

2003-11-16T05:09:00.000-05:00

First of all, congrats to Kate and everyone for a great job today!

The weather decided to turn sour today, which put me off a bit, but it was still a great day. I had birthday cake for breakfast and drove out to Liberty with Song to see the Interlake drill performance, which was quite impressive. We also stopped by Frys Electronics to say hello to the sentient refrigerator (well not quite, but close enough..).

I've just now returned home from a night out with Kalei, Emily, Max, Josh, and Lisa. Red Robin, Broadway, Rado, Metro. Enough said.

We also watched "Better Luck Tomorrow." If only high school life could really be that interesting.

Or maybe not.

and it's all part of the process...

2003-11-14T19:36:00.000-05:00

People are really nice to you when it's your birthday. Case in point. Riiight.

Anyways.. I started writing a short story today during French, because we were doing very little. Maybe I'll post it when it's done, but probably not. It took me an hour to write a single paragraph, so I doubt I'll be done any time soon.

Dinner out avec la famille tonight! I can't think of much else to write now.. maybe more later.

Arrived!

2003-11-13T21:40:00.000-05:00

Yes yes i've made the long journey from Xanga, at the expense of maybe an hour or two of "study time."

Speaking of study time. Where oh where did the notion come from that high school students must be busy during all hours of the day, and that if they aren't they are wasting time? I value my ounce of free time every day, thank you very much.

Oh, and to all you nanowrimo fiends out there: fight on! Only 25k left...

Current Mood: determined

Current Music: st. germain - so flute

2003-11-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

I am not a fan of 3 day calculus tests.

On a brighter note.... I have a SOLO in wind ensemble! No, wait.. TWO SOLOES! For those of who unfamiliar with band, the bass clarinets never get soloes... but in Slava! I have two of them. Watch out now.

In other news... umm.... yea nothing much happened today. We discussed love for an hour in Humanities, getting exactly nowhere, which isn't to say it wasn't fun - it was.

OH yea... I'm 17 tomorrow!

2003-11-12T18:31:00.000-05:00

yes!

Yes so anyways. As many others have said, calculus is the absolute BANE of my existance! Does it really need to be this hard? AAAH.

Today we had Tuga substituting for Welch in Biomed, and at the end of class he decided to tell a story about a boy who falls off a roof. And impales himself on rebar. Which punctures his heart. And severes an artery to his face. And forms a bulge in his neck. Now I was already feeling crappy, because I hadn't eaten and I've been sick since Sunday, and this story pushed me over the edge - I think I actually fainted. The blood ran out of my head, anyways. Remind me never to become a doctor, please.

And now, for a mini-rant. Humanities - why oh why won't people just say things that are relevant to the discussion?? I swear we waste half the class period and destroy perfectly good discussions every single day. I'm sorry, but "sure, TV can be good sometimes, especially for disabled people who can't do anything else but live vicariously through TV people..." is not a valid response to the question "well, what would society look like if everybody lived entirely mainstream? would it be good?" NOT to mention all the assumptions, generalizations, and sexist comments that we hear every day even in a good discussion... BAH I'm done.

2003-11-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

*sigh* someone should really tell Zamberlin that we've been able to use passe compose and imparfait for 3 years now. We don't need her to whip it into us again.

I'm 17 on Friday! You hear that, Galleria lady??? That's right, I won't need buy any more Under the Tuscan Sun tickets from YOU to see a rated R movie, I can go LEGIT! HA! HA! HA! The day is mine!

some folks say there ain't no bears in arkansas...

2003-11-02T16:24:00.000-05:00

So Much To Talk About!

I apologize for the lack of posts recently, but I've been pretty busy. Let's see... school Wednesday and Thursday was pretty uneventful. Thursday evening I went over to Kalei Mulhollands house to make popcorn balls and cupcakes for Halloween, and then we met up with Lisa Bridge and went costume shopping! I was Zorro.

Friday I found out that most of my grades aren't quite as horrible as I thought they were, though they're still in the gutter. Friday evening was Halloween!!! I spent the night with Kalei and Max DeMent and that whole bunch, and we went down to the deserted Seattle waterfront to get clam chowder in our costumes. We also watched a few Halloween movies and Michael Jackson music videos, and ate candy and popcorn balls.

Saturday! was boring until the evening, when me, Matt, Dbab, Bert, and the Interlakers met up to drive into Seattle. We split up into two cars (me and Bert) and aimed to meet at the Broadway Dicks. Of course, nothing (especially nothing involving the Broadway Dicks) goes as planned. My car arrived in good time, but 10 minutes after arriving Alex Song calls to tell us that they're lost. Very, very, lost. So lost that they don't know which side of the freeway they're on, nor where Seattle is at all. In the end I made them park on the side of the road, and we drove down to find them.... they had ended up on 23rd in the Central District. Somehow.

When all of us finally arrived at Dicks, the fun really began. A guy came up to ask us for change, and Matt shook his head and halfsuggested that none of us give him money. Bert gave him a quarter, and the guy then proceeded to jump up into Matts face and get very very pissed off. I'm sorry Matt, but it was amusing. While on Broadway we checked out the Metro, where they sell several chainmail bikinis, and we almost got Alex to try one on.

Alex then took us to Rado, and Robert suffered a nervous breakdown. You see, at Rado they sell such fun items as a Cat of Nine Tails, bottles of lube, assless chaps, and other unmentionables. Needless to say, it was intense.

At this point we decided to head over to Bellevue, and on the way we lost Matt, Bert, and Alex (not lost lost, but leaving lost). Eventually we ended up at some random guys apartment. The two guys already there spent the evening shooting each other and a cat with BB guns. Needless to say we didn't stay very long. In fact, I was home by 12:30... probably the earlist I've been home on a Saturday night so far this year.

Anyways, I've gotta go do the laundry, but maybe I'll post more later.

2003-10-28T19:59:00.000-05:00

HALLOWEEN CANDY!!!!!

What is this??? Dark at 5pm!!

Welcome, friend, to the next 5 months of your life. Happy times for all!