I suppose the joke about Christian Bale having gone batshit is too obvious and lame, even for me, I take it? Okay, just thought I'd ask, is all. Alright, we're not doing the joke. Shame, really. I had props and everything.
That is something I've always kinda wondered about actors, to be honest. I remember discussing this with Sabrina, before. Actors make a living by pretending to be other people, usually quite sane or otherwise reasonably likable characters. Not always, yes, but more often than not, enough for an actor to have a decent idea of what a "normal" person acts like. Take Tom Cruise, for example. Tends to play capable, rational (though passionate), dependable characters. You take Rain Man, Mission: Impossible, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky, Last Samurai, he's playing quite sane and even shrewd characters you can easily relate to. Hell, even when he played a sociopath in Collateral, you could still believe he was a man with both feet on the ground. ...So why in the name of Jesus Herbert Walker Christ can't he put any of that experience in playing characters who are sane and don't believe in aliens into convincing the world that he is sane and doesn't believe in aliens? Hell, even his honest working class Regular Joe in War Of The Worlds didn't seem like the type to believe in aliens until they were marching across his lawn, vapourizing the neighbors. Ugh, I dunno...
Ended up talking about What I'm Going To Do With My Life with parents at tea break this morning, which was sorta unexpected because it wasn't even one of one of those What Are You Going To Do With Your Life discussions, it just sorta wound up there. I will say this, I'm lucky to have very supportive parents, who would support me in anything I chose to do. They're just unlucky to have a son who can't figure out what the hell he can do that they could support. I know I have to go back to college and get a qualification in something "real". There's appeal in stuff like English, because if I did that, I could go anywhere and teach it as a foreign language. But it actually works out cheaper to go to college abroad than it does to go to one here. I'd hate to wind up in some Calvinball College like the last one, though. My dad says to me, all his life he's worked with his hands, but he knows whatever I do, I'm going to be working with my head. "Academic" was the word he used. Hey, I don't mind using my hands, I'm thankful to not be like the rest of my generation and spoiled out of doing so. As far as my folks are concerned, my depression was a medical condition that set me back, as sure as a broken leg sets back an athlete. *sigh* I would have liked to have been an explorer, you know? Only everywhere's been found by now. And by the time Mars opens up to people, I'll be too old. Barring transhumanism happening, of course =p
Oh, by the way, China just published a list of things their population aren't allowed ask any foreigners about during the Beijing Olympics. The usual stuff - religion, money, political views, all that stuff. Basically, anything the Chinese aren't entitled to have, or according to their own government, even know about. In case they figure out that they're being completely and utterly raped in every conceivable way every damn day of their enslaved lives, although common sense tells me they have an inkling about that anyway. So apparently, China's worst nightmare right now is that someone may get talking to an American tourist who runs his own company, has a large family, owns a gun, goes to church every Sunday and thinks the whole concept of Communism is fundamentally flawed as it goes against human nature. I'm not sure what the punishment for the poor Chinese guy is, but I assume it's the same one for everything from jaywalking to meditating or thinking Tibet should be free - a fucking bullet in the head. You know, they're so fond of Capital Punishment in China that they even have these specially modified "death vans" so that lethal injections can be administered more quickly and "humanely". Sure, why go to the death camp to be executed when the death camp can come to you? And probably has nothing whatsoever to do with the lethal injection being kinder to internal organs than a bullet, leaving them that little bit less messy and easier to harvest and sell on the black market. There are few things in this world more evil than when the eradication of human lives has become so routine that people end up sitting in an office somewhere thinking up ways to refine and streamline the process.
My God, that was a depressing subject. Tell you what, let's cheer things up with a joke. Tell me again the one about how America is an Orwellian nightmare where Bush is a dictator and everyone's having all their civil rights taken away. No, go on, tell me. I love this one, always cracks me the fuck up.
Bloody hell. In the short space of a few days, I got dumped by a really nice girl, used by some gold-digging vapid whore I haven't had the sense of dumping myself, ran errands for a heroin-addict IRA motherfucker, got drunk and fell off a bridge. ...Thank God all of that was only in Grand Theft Auto, though.
One thing this GTA has over the rest of the series, all the other ethnocentric crime organizations (the Yakuza, the mafia, the Triads, the Russian mob, etc) have been done, and in this one the Irish, or rather, the Westies, finally got a shot, pun unintended. A particular moment of snerk stood out for me - despite all the talk of the "old country" and the Troubles and Belfast and all that, only one character has appeared so far with an Irish accent. And I laughed my balls off when his obituary revealed him to be American-born and only came here a few months.
Watching "Doomsday" now. Doctor Bashir as Prime Minister? I'd vote for him. And hey, I was curious about the whole "post-Apocalyptic Scotland" setting. That's another problem with Ireland, we're completely anonymous in whatever universe it is that movies that happen in. Alien invasions, global pandemics, zombie outbreaks, natural disasters, forget it - nothing interestingever happens here, even fictitiously. American, Britain, Japan, all the cool stuff happens there in movie-world. I think it can be blamed on three reasons; 1 - we don't have any money. ...Okay, lie, we do have money, we have fuckloads of it, we're like the most expensive country in Europe or something, which is impressive when you consider we don't even have our own set of crown jewels, but we're also really damn greedy and won't spend any money on bringing our international image out of the eighteenth century. 2 - we're used to nothing interesting happening here. We're a very unromantic and cynical people. If something like War Of The Worlds tried to happen here, we'd be all "Ah, will ya shag off, that bollocks only happens in other places". Tripods flattening Galway? Yeah, right. 3 - even if something like War Of The Worlds did happen here, the default set of actions us Irish fall back on is somewhat different and less inspiring than other countries'. You see, the American, when faced with imminent alien invasion, has been raised in a culture where NOBODY has the right to fuck with their shit, so they grab their constitutionally-protected firearms and yippee-kay-yay motherfucker those martians back to where they came from. Your British, they'd be a little more down to earth about it. They'd face down an alien invasion with bravado, charm, guts and though their explosions may not be as big and they don't get the girl like the Americans, they'll get beat those ugly alien wankers for 'er majesty and have a cup of tea. But the Irish, when faced with an alien invasion, would just go "Ah, well, sure what can you do? Have another pint, I guess". That's why we're never in any of the movies. When all the cool stuff is happening, we're all down the pub grumbling about how there's nothing that can be done about it.
Seriously. That Rebel Alliance has no idea how goddamn lucky they were Luke Skywalker wasn't from Clontarf. Darth Vader: "This space station is now the ultimate power in the universe!" Luke Skywalker: "He's right, you know. Sure, what can you do? I'll have another, thanks." Obi-Wan: "Luke, you must use the Force!" Luke Skywalker: "Bollocks, nobody does that shite anymore! I haven't even been to mass since me nephew's christening."
I've applied at Office Max and CVS asking for $9.00 an hour. Office Max might be good because it's just opening in Tosa, and if they're going to pay me, then that's super. Keep your fingers crossed for me. :) I could really use a $2/hour raise. Then again, who couldn't?? XD
Still awaiting a response from MATC. I'm also waiting to hear back from my instructor about Psychology; vacation nailed me hard, so I asked her to tell me what I need to finish to pass with at least a C. Ahahaha, how sad am I. I just don't want $450 to go out the window. As long as I get my credit, it's cool.
Before I go to work, I leave you with the lyrics to a song that he left me last night. djkaton, your snooping has to begin. ;D
Hey, I'm the guy who found a treasure in your eyes, And that's no surprise. There's something 'bout you, clearly. I can't recall all the ones I met before. They move on by, and leave me nothing to believe in.
Though the night may grow, the winds may blow. The rain may fall from out into nowhere...
Through the night you learn what it is to yearn When you cannot find the girl. Through the night you feel how it is to kneel, Asking God for all the world.
Drove all the way to drop a circus in your face. If that's what it takes, I'll do it every day now. Still, for your smile, I would run another mile Barefoot and bruised, and laughing all the while.
Well, the rising sun says the night is done. Yeah, the day will come after the darkness.
Morning, tea break, discussion of weekend. Me, I had nothing to contribute, so kept my mouth shut and drank my coffee (wonder why tea stains mugs but coffee doesn't?) while Dad talked about the Abba musical and explained the plot to Pat. Dad: "And Meryl Streep in it, she was a bit of a wagon back in the day, so she has a daughter and the father is one of these three guys, you know, just three different fellas, Tom, Dick and Harry-" Pat: "Sounds more like Dick, Dick and Dick."
He never misses one, that guy.
And speaking of dicks, a French one passed through here on a mission to subvert Democracy & Freedom™. See, we voted "No" on that whole Lisbon thing, which thwarted ze fuhrer's Sarkozy's rise to dictatorship presidency of Europe. You see, the thing about Sarkozy, is that he is, for real, no foolin', what people say George Bush is like. See, people say that George Bush controls the media and hates Muslims and wants to do away with the seperation of church and state, but Sarkozy actually does do all those things. Bush couldn't even think of getting away with half the shit Sarko does because he's either not that dumb or has too many safeguards in place. For instance, the leader of the free world has, to my knowledge, never described the Muslim population of his own country as "riff-raff" and started any Muslims rioting in his own capital. ...Other countries' capitals, yes, but not his own. And if a bunch of Muslim kids were killed running from American police, Bush wouldn't be stupid enough to refer to them as "scum" near any sane human being within earshot. But not our Sarko, oh no. Bush may be a Christian, but at least, to the best of my knowledge, he doesn't want to give political power back to the Catholic church, or give money to mosques so he can "bribe" off potential terror attacks. More on them in a sec. Also, when you're telling people you're opposed to the War in Iraq, you've got some fucking nerve calling it a war for oil when Saddam was giving you a favored customer discount. In a country with MILLIONS of black people, George Bush would not give a speech calling Africa a shithole full of peasants without a mark to make on history. For all his humming and hawwing on stem cell research, George Bush would not make a complete fucknut of himself by saying that pedophiles and suicides were genetically predisposed to their actions. And also? George Bush would not personally sue into bankruptcy anyone who tried to point out any of the above. But George Bush gets all of the attention, and what happens when you give one bastard all your attention? You take your eye off the other bastard and give him free reign to do everything you're watching the first bastard for.
And speaking of bastards. Last week the Pope decried the evils of consumerism. Now, I don't know if you've ever been to the Vatican, or even seen it on TV or the movies, but let me put it like this - Vegas? Vegas is a fucking shanty town compared to the Vatican. The Vatican is Vegas without the sex and the gambling. The Vatican has more money than you or I will ever earn, see or even hear about in our entire lifetime. The Vatican has cash like deserts have sand, okay? If money was chocolate, the Vatican would be Willy gorram Wonka. If money was the word "motherfucker", the Vatican would be Samuel L. Jackson. The Vatican has so much fuckin' money, it's what Scientology wants to be when it grows up. You with me so far? Here's where I come into the story, and it's about time. See, my folks were supposed to be in Limerick last weekend for my Great Aunt's anniversary mass. Thing is, that got cancelled because someone in the parish died and church was being used for the funeral. Fair enough, you'd say, it's not like you can pull the old "Hey, we were bereaved relatives first!" line. So you can just reschedule, right? Or you can just ask the priest to give a shout-out for the dear departed like they used to do. It just like getting a request played on the radio, all you gotta do is slip the priest a name before mass, right? Wrong. Now you gotta book in advance. And by "book", I mean "pay". That's right. In the same week the Pope lectures on the evils of money, we have to cancel a memorial service because we didn't get the memo that it's cash up front now.
Grrr. You know, it would be nice if God could bitchslap these fuckers into being made to feel even a quarter of the guilt they beat into kids like me. To quote Bono - the God I believe in isn't short of cash.
Poor Keller. Only her second episode as a main cast member and already getting tentacle-raped. ...Still, it's a step up from being married to Rodney in an alternate timeline.
Took long enough to get here, though. For some reason, my connection speed has plummeted these last few days. Seriously, it's like being back on dial-up sometimes. *shivers* Those were the grim old days, kids, when we had to walk fifty miles in the snow to download a desktop-sized jpeg. And when you finally got it, it would be absolutely sundered with compression artifacts. And wolves.
Not much else to report, really. You know how weekends are. You go to bed thinking "Tomorrow, I'll get lots done!" and then when you wake after a well-deserved lie-in, you figure "Eh, I've done stuff all week, I deserve a day off". So you turn on the PS3, and next thing you know, you realize the only interaction you had with the "real" world was reading the sex problem columns of the newspapers for ideas. ...What? Oh yeah, and your horoscope.
Kidding. Read some shit about someone claiming how the great global warming myth is now responsible for destroying sea life on the ocean floor by icebergs breaking off from the poles and scraping it up. I grrr'd at this because as anyone who's seen my book collection knows, I have a fuckload of books on Artic and Antarctic exploration, from modern times back to the earliest days, and I can tell you that icebergs churning up the ocean floor is nothing new. There's many accounts, old and contemporary, of sailors and explorers seeing icebergs the size of a building. For those of you who missed science class, free floating ice has the bulk of it's mass underwater, so if you see an iceberg the size of a building, it's attached to something the size of a fucking mountain. And seeing some grant-chasing alarmist trying to pin down perfectly natural phenomena as something the evils of modern society is responsible for just so they can make a quick buck is NOT science. What are you gonna blame global warming for next? Volcanoes? This planet has survived oxygen catastrophies, nuclear detonations, the formation of the moon and meteors the size of Texas. I dare to suggest it may survive a 1987 Honda Civic.
In an attempt to stay awake at work, I am updating the LiveJournal.
I am exhausted. I had the most amazing vacation ever. I'm shocked that I didn't cry on my way out. Chicago is fantastic, I really think I ought to go down there more often.
I averaged about 4 hours of sleep a night while I was in Indiana. I was WAY too excited to sleep. I'd pass out aroudn 4AM, and wake up ready to go around 8AM. No one else was awake, of course, so I would sit around, clean up things in kitchen, or mill around until someone else woke up.
I'll be posting pictures on Facebook and Myspace, and a few select ones here. You can see them there. And if you don't have one of those accounts, you're a suckah.
I can't wait until next year. I'm setting aside a tiny bit of money from each check I get from now until then, just to ensure I'll be going. I don't want to wait another year to see everyone.
Between kicking butt at Brawl (just a little), the epic nerf ball into the ceiling fan, in addition to several rounds of ping pong hitting the fan, the walks through Chicago, teaching people about cake decorating, staying awake until your eyes water shut, watching old con videos... dude. Frick. I had the most amazing time in the world. I am smitten with all of these people, because they're so amazing. I can't stop; amazing, phenomenal, wonderful, fantastic, the list goes on.
I've been in a good modd since I've been back, despite leaving and having to work everyday since then. I'm hoping I don't lose my mood, and if I do, I hope I get it back.
I really needed the time off, but I hate coming back. XD
Here's to an amazing week next summer, and all the crazy things going on inbetween.
So, where to begin. This whole livejournal post thing, I'm not used to it.
Physically, the last few months I've been in a lot of pain. I've been battling with an old chronic back injury thats flared up twice in the past 6 months. It affects every aspect of my life, from work to personal, even my musical apirations. The first time I decided to start seeing a chiropractor about it, and was able to recover from it. Then in April, at work, while strapping ladders down to the top of the work van, I slipped off the top of it. I thought I was alright at first. I had managed to grab ahold of the luggage rack and steadied myself enough to land on my feet on the ground. However, while trying to stop myself from falling, I pulled a muscle in my back and everything flared back up again. Only this past week has my back begun to feel better, after another 2 months of chiropractor visits.
In the music department, things are getting busy. I've had several projects up in the air for quite some time now. Since May, I've been corresponding with someone who was interested in starting a Pantera cover band, which happens to be one of my FAVORITE bands. I had let him know I was interested in doing vocals. Only now is he serious and ready to get this thing started, but theres a twist. There is another person who is also interested in doing vocals. I just learned of this this morning. So basically, we're going to have to duel it out for the frontman spot. I'm confident in my ability to faithfully perform the songs, but to have been interested in this for so long, and to suddenly have another person, ahem, "dip into my kool-aid", kinda sucks.
There was another band who was interested in me doing vocals, and consisted of some guys I already kinda knew. In fact, one of them I used to babysit. I wasn't totally sure of what to do with the whole thing, as they're all significantly younger than I am (16-17 years old). For as young as they are, they're all amazing musicians. But I guess the drummer's family situation is not good right now, so the whole thing has kind of been put on hold. His father just got out of rehab, and is already back on drugs. He showed up the night after he got out, and was trying to clean out the house to sell everything for money. He was arrested and apparently sent back to jail.
Another band is interested in me drumming for them. I met up with these guys through the guitarist, who was working at a business I ran a service call on one day. He just out of no where asks me, "Hey, do you play drums?". I've jammed with these guys twice now, and they are very serious about me drumming for them. They claim to have upwards of 14 songs written. More than enough material to start playing shows.
The main issue is, do I commit to just one project, or do I try to juggle two of them? At this point, I really want to pursue the Pantera project. As much as I like playing drums, I'm more passionate about being a vocalist. However, there is a limit to how far the Pantera cover band can go. Theres a built in audience for it, and I can even make some decent weekend money playing shows. But I also want to do something original. Since my back has been doing better, I've been drumming more, and I've seen myself improving. Maybe things will just work themselves out.
I just paid my parents off. I had borrowed some money from them in January when I bought my PT Cruiser. It took me longer than I wanted to, but I'm happy to have it off my mind.
I finally got my next tattoo. Samantha gave me a gift certificate to the tattoo shop her step-dad's sister owns. Its a weathered grey and red nautical star, on the inside of my left bicep. I'll try to get a picture of it up at some point, otherwise you'll just have to wait until you see me. Now, hopefully it won't be another 3 years before I get another.
Oh, finally, thank Christ. It had been so long since there was anything decent to hear on the radio, I was beginning to wonder if there was any point to even turning the damn thing on. Between Coldplay and The Ting Tings (God, here's €2, go buy yourselves some fucking lyrics) or Kanye Goddamn West being in at least five songs all out at the same time, The Verve stepped up to bat and gave us all good reason to use the "on" button again.
I'm not old, I just remember 'em from first time around. ...Spice Girls too, but I didn't wanna boink any of The Verve. Urban Hymns? Brought credibility to Britpop after Oasis and their mongol hordes brought it to the brink of destruction. Never mind the overplayed "Bittersweet Symphony", I'll always remember "Lucky Man" and "Sonnet" as stand-outs on life's soundtrack. "Sonnet" is particularly beautiful, I don't know if you remember it. Some people write love songs, but this was a song about more than just "I wanna bone you forever" love. Love in general, love of humanity, love of God, kinda like George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" or U2's "Crumbs From Your Table". As for "Lucky Man", it's a song for anyone was ever stuck in a place where they really needed to learn how to love themselves. The fight the mirage of love that's keeping you depressed, and learn that most important kind is the one you find within yourself first.
Speaking of wonderful discoveries, check out "Therefore Repent!" sometime. It's a graphic novel, though you can read the first two chapters for free online. It's about life in post-Rapture America, though it's more of a liberal lefty answer to the religious right's "Left Behind" series. Every great work of speculative fiction asks "What if...?" and in this the question is "What if the religious right was right?". It deals with the social, spiritual and yes, even political implications of what happens when the rest of the non-Catholic sex-before-marriage pro-life world finds out that not only does God exist, but that He's an elitist prick, too. The story follows one couple living their lives in this strange world. Interested in how to be secular in the middle of Biblical events? Give it a look.
You know, I read the Book of Revelations. Not exclusively, though, I've read about the various armageddons of differing faiths. I don't think it was supposed to be taken any more literally than the rest of the thing. For instance, the idea of "a new Heaven and a new Earth" could mean a change in people's approach to spiritual matters, and the diminishing of cultural and political borders. One of the great things about Millennium was although it dealt with the stuff in Revelations coming true, they handled it in utterly realistic ways. For instance, the "sea of glass" is just a bunch of skyscrapers. They even point out that even in the bible, AntiChrist is just a mortal man, not a supernatural entity, he can't walk on water or stuff like that.
Anyway, some of it is a little uncanny. The ideas of both a resurrected Roman Empire (the EU) and the state of Israel, as well the decline of the Catholic church. But as with virtually every "prophecy", almost anything can be applied to fit it after the event. Now everyone's going around looking for The Mark Of The Beast or wondering which world leader will be the AntiChrist that starts WW3. The thing is, the AntiChrist doesn't start WW3, he does the opposite, he brings about world peace. Also cures disease, poverty, and all that other stuff, which makes everyone reckon he's the shit because look at all the great stuff he's done, how could he possibly be the bad guy?! ...But then again, people tend to be only any good at quoting the Bible, not reading it. Anyway, like I said, I don't think it's true, if only because I find the idea of a Christian Apocalypse more than a little bit impolite. I mean, Buddhism was around for thousands of years beforehand, and it's not like those folks are barking up the wrong tree. Seriously, it's hard to picture the Dalai Lama getting up one morning only to be bitchslapped by the Hand Of God. And what about all those babies being born on the last day of the world? Would God really be that much of an ass?
Just FYI, believing in creationism or God or eschatology or whatever doesn't automatically make someone an idiot. Believing in 9/11 conspiracy theories or moon landing hoaxes, on the other hand, does.
So long honey, babe Where I'm bound, I can't tell Goodbye's too good a word, babe So I'll just say fare thee well I ain't saying you treated me unkind You could have done better but I don't mind You just kinda wasted my precious time But don't think twice, it's all right.
“Ok. I'm on my way to Illinois right now towards Milwaukee. I just got to say It was like the best vacation I've ever been on. Best like five days I had ever spend. I'm so sorry I had to leave so much fun. Right now I'm just ___ I didn't realize Chicago was this bad. I was ready to ask, so the next time I drive down to Chicago it's probably gonna be in the Am where no one else is on the road. ___ I'm going straight to work after this as soon as I get there and then I'm going home and then hopefully I will be sleeping. ___ I had an amazing time this is like easily the best thing ever. I can't wait for next year. Next year won't come soon”
music: David Bowie - "Thru' These Architects Eyes"
Stomping along on this big Philip Johnson Is delay just wasting my time Looking across at Richard Rogers Scheming dreams to blow both their minds
It's difficult you see, to give up, baby To leave a job when you know You know the money's from day to day
All the majesty of a city landscape All the soaring days in our lives All the concrete dreams in my mind's eye All the joy I see Thru these architect's eyes
Cold winter bleeds on the girders of Babel This stone boy watching the crawling land Rings of flesh and the towers of iron The steaming caves and the rocks and the sand
Stomping along on this big Phillip Johnson Is delay just wasting my time It's difficult you see, to give up, baby These summer scumholes This goddamned starving life
I'm not depressed. Just wish I smoked so I could have a cigarette. This week is too fucking long, for some reason. Time flies when you're having fun, which is why life is such a drag. What am I feeling? Not depression, but definitely in its family tree. A lack of energy. Physically and emotionally. Aside from lunch with Sabrina, there's not a whole lot to get excited about. And this goddamn stupid weather would get on anyone's tits. Middle of fucking summer and you can't even wear a t-shirt because of the ever-present rain, so everyone's in jackets and coats and you can't tell sweat from raindrops. I miss winter, when you could wear a coat and feel good to be warm, and the rain would refuse to fall because it was so cold, it would be snow, and we can't have that. Sometimes I feel like this country was engineered to be as depressing a place to live in while still being livable. A hell of stubbed toes. Like everything from the weather to how they build the goddamn roads (plan it all out first, pick the cheap option that causes the most annoyance, come along later, rip up the whole mess and start again). I know those generic Eastern Europe shitholes have it pretty bad, too, but they're not stuck on a damn island. Because, believe me, if I weren't on one, I would have started walking ages ago. Alcatraz has nothing on this place.
This feeling will pass, but I might as well indulge the maudlin mood, because it makes me sound like Bogart could be narrating this post. I get torn sometimes between wanting to belong to something and being just fine as a solo act. Not talking about relationships here, but we can if you like. I'm bad boyfriend material. And that's not me being down on myself, that's a simple fact. And it's not some sorta commitaphobia or bullshit like that. I know how a relationship works the same way I know how a car works. The observant among you will recall that I don't drive, either. I'm perfectly capable of doing the whole boyfriend schtick. I'd just rather not because I don't like doing things I'm not good at. When kids are playing football and the ball lands near me walking past, I pick it up and toss it back instead of kicking, because I don't want to remind myself what a lousy kick I have. I don't play sports because I suck at them. Similar situation. Last time I was at Sabrina's place, she played Crisis Core and I read one of her books (The Lies Of Locke Lamora, which was pretty good, would like to finish) and recently I realized I enjoyed that a hell of a lot better than any of the dates I'd gone on in, oh, let's just say, years. And that's the kind of guy I am. I like games and reading and all the quiet, selfish stuff a lot more than I like nights out on the town or stuff like that. It sounds like I'm retreating away from society, but the truth is, just about any pub, club, blind date, party or social event ran distant second to a good book, a fun game or even an early night in bed with a 1930/40's radio play on the mp3 player. A part of me feels like I've betrayed myself, screaming "You were bitterly lonely for YEARS, you ass, now all of a sudden you're 'fine' with being alone?! You hypocrite!". That's not really it, though. I learned through people like Sabrina that alone does not automatically mean lonely, just like privacy doesn't automatically mean avoiding society. I learned to like my privacy, and that killed the feeling of being alone. That's pretty damn important.
Besides, my love life has often felt like being a vegetarian in a steak house. People have told me "you're not bad-looking, and you're not a bad person to be with". That's as good as maybe, but another factor is that there's never really been much on the menu here that appealed to me. "Beggars can't be choosers", it's said, but begging should only ever be a part of love if there's some kinky rope-play and leather involved. You can't force yourself to be attracted to someone you're not, and the number of girls here that I've been genuinely attracted to, I can count on the fingers of one hand. I don't mean physically, here. I'm attracted to nice girls, and I can't believe how politically incorrect it feels to even say that, but that's the crazy world for you. Niceness is a quality possessed by a LOT less people than it should be, men and women. I'm not attracted to women who act like men, which is like nine out of ten, here. And when I say "act like", I mean "have the personalities of", and when I say "have the personalities of", I mean "are pricks". Now comes the part where I get accused of being some chauvinist asshole who only wants some girly 1950's housewife to control, abuse and impregnate. Wrong. I've heard that before, the whole "you just can't handle a 'real' woman". Well, if your definition of a "real woman" is ironically enough one who displays very little femininity and instead quite a lot of masculinity, then yeah, you got it in one. I'm not attracted to men. Why on Earth would I be attracted to someone who pretty much is one in all but penis?
Let's just accept that this subject is impossible for me to talk about without being a sexist bastard, and we'll find a compromise. You'll say I'm a sexist and I'll say I'm a bastard, deal? I'll be asleep over there. If you need me, just use the voodoo doll again.
Account Structure Update Back by popular demand, Basic Accounts will be available to all users again by the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer. More information on the decision-making process and proposals relating to the future of Basic Accounts are in lj_2008.
New Themes Two attractive and all-new Flexible Squares themes, "Circular" and "Circular Brown" are now available.
L to R: Circular and Brown
New V-Gifts Give someone you care about the gift of enticement. With the new Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi v-gifts, all the significant people in your life will be able to share in the longing for the tasty edibles below. Plus, it reminds loved ones you think they're really sweet, really savory or just plain satisfying.
L to R: Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi
Ж-Men...but not the ones you might expect! This week LJ Russia launched Ж-Men, a new comedy series about superheroes, inspired by the LJ communities dedicated to superheros, comics and cartoons. The title's "Ж" comes from ЖЖ, the nickname for LiveJournal in Russia.
Ж-Men's script is written by a group of LJ enthusiasts who also happen to be television professionals. Who knew? Following the premiere, five more episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks. We hope you find the series fresh and enjoyable.
This is, of course, an experiment for LiveJournal. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!
There was plenty of this on the radio this morning;
Long story short, once upon a time, Ireland was the Arkansas of Europe. ...Okay, Ireland is still the Arkansas of Europe, but that's a whole other rant. Anyway, we were dirt poor. In fact, we were so poor, destitution was the only thing we had in abundance, and began exporting it overseas. Around about the same time America renounced slavery, boatloads of potato-starved Catholics showed up looking for work, a place to stay, and hopefully someone other than their sister to marry. And because they were so hungry, motivated and well, thick, the Irish would work for less than everyone else. And so the American employers faced a choice - they could either start paying the newly-emancipated slaves for the work they'd previously gotten for free, or they could pay the "white niggers" almost nothing and keep the African American set back by, oh, a century, give or take a decade. And that's why a lot of businesses put signs up out front that said "No Irish", because if any place took even one of us on, every other job would be undercut and gone by the weekend. Anyway, as Jack Nicholson put it in The Departed, "Twenty years after an Irishman couldn't get a fucking job, we had the presidency".
Meanwhile, back in the motherland (and "mother" being the operative word, in a Joe Pesci sense) poverty continued all the way up through the 1980's and into the 1990's. Then in the late period in that decade, we got rich off a bunch of companies outsourcing to Third World shitholes like this one. One week, you're wiping your ass with tree bark, next week you're using €50 notes. And so we all figured "No point in saving for a rainy day when the sun is shining, right? Let the good times roll!". We had a huge influx of immigrants, as any country with a blooming economy does. And with any country with a blooming economy, the natives started to reckon most jobs were below them, i.e., anything involving lifting, pushing, pulling, walking, running, delivering, receiving, serving, cleaning, cooking, washing, fixing or, in one word, "sweat". Not more than a decade after Irish guys were breaking their bollocks laying down strips of motorway across England, suddenly we too good for the likes of McDonalds, oh no. "I don't have to work hard or even study, I'm going to be a WAG!" "I don't have to work hard or even study, I'm going to be a professional blogger." "I don't have to work hard or even study, I'm going to be a lifestyle consultant." "I don't have to work hard or even study, I'm going to be a socialite!"
And so on. Then the bubble burst, as bubbles are inclined to. Suddenly, everyone who planned on retiring by 25 and living off their billion-quid effortless empire had to readjust their plans, and figured that maybe they might just have to suck it up and start asking people if they want fries with that to pay the bills. And then discovered, with no small amount of horror, that the jobs they had no intention whatsoever of applying for were filled! By foreigners! Who aren't even from this country! How DARE they put me out of a job by taking one I thought I was too good for! These damn foreigners, coming over here! They took our jobs! Yeah, they dook are jabs! Dey dooker derb! Durka durrr!
Dammit, I'm exhausted. I woke this morning from a nightmare of having to go to school. Not college, school. And if I learned anything there, it was that I've missed my calling - I could been have one of sport's greatest goalies. See, I was one of those kids who always gets picked last. Not always completely last, but bottom three, anyway. But I was great to have in goal as opposed to on the field, because the other kids would kick the ball at me, not to me. Even passing up perfectly good goals, just to get me between the eyes. And here this morning, in that confusion of nightmares, I was wondering "How can I still be going to school? I'm 26! Is this never going to end?!".
I guess it was because I had gone to bed on a bad feeling - realizing I'd accidentally let the washing machine utterly devour Sabrina's ticket to see Muse next month. S'alright, bought her another one (that's one good thing about people having gotten so damn greedy in this country, concerts aren't being completely sold out anymore) but I did feel bad for ruining something I was trusted with looking after. ...Okay, not as bad as killing a neighbor's pet, but still not exactly a double-dose of feelgood.
Then I went to work and got assaulted by a renault. Grr. I didn't even make any cracks about the French this Bastille Day (for you non history buffs, that's the day France decided it would be a great idea to let the inmates run the asylum) and I get a tyre in the back of my head. I keep asking if we can ever get those overalls that are just pants, instead of the damn jumpsuit. Which is like wearing your own personal sauna, by the way.
I got thinking this morning about charity, by the way. Not any in particular, mind. I just see things like ads for hiking Tibet for the homeless. I'd do that in a second, but I can't raise that kind of money. I know about three or four people in this whole town, counting family members. And every time I mention I'd like to do something for charity, it's always the same damn suggestion - "Shave your head!". Grr, I don't want to shave my head. Looked at my dad and my older brother lately? Life is going to shave my head for me in it's own time. And if you know me in three dimensions, it's clearly obvious that I have a giant fucking head. My head is roughly about the shape and size of a basketball, and just as hollow. It's bad enough I notice it, the hair is about the only one keeping everyone else from it, too.
But yeah, I do wanna do something grand. I wanna say I did something good, but I can't think of anything. Well, not true, I can think of loads of things I'd love to do, but doubtful anything people would pay me to. For instance, the Southern pole of inaccessibility is considered the single most remote place on the face of the Earth. The only thing there is an old Soviet research station, almost completely buried in snow. On the roof is a bust of Lenin facing towards Moscow. I think one of the greatest things I could do would be to hike all the way there and paint a Groucho moustache and glasses on him. Hmm, I'd also love to take part in the Iditarod. I asked Sabrina to google and see if anyone had ever swam the Atlantic apart from that jammy bastard in the Guinness ad. Then she asked the million-dollar question; "Well, what are you good at?". Oh, that's a heck of a long list. Includes... - annoying people. - sarcasm. - provoking the murderous wrath of fangirls. - not saving money. - Bono's accent. - pretending to be more dumb/cowardly/depressed/sexually insecure than I actually am. - armchair philosophy. - masturbation. - reading Encyclopedia Dramatica instead of the news. - getting metaquotes'd when I'm not trying to be. - making people think I'm a Scientologist. - Youtube silliness.
None of which any sane person would ever pay me to do. ...But then again, how often do people make sane choices with their money? After all, heroin is a billions-of-cash-a-year industry, and I like to think I'm a slightly less insane choice than heroin, don't you?
Is it just me or is it that trying to free/rescue flies and spiders from the house is a lot more frustrating than actually trying to swat one? Why do I get the feeling they're more likely to hold still if I were trying to kill them than set them free? We've all had that moment where a fly is buzzing against the window, trying in vain to figure out why it can't fly through it and how the air got unusually hard and invisible all of a sudden. So you courteously open the window for the bastard and try to wave him out, and he goes in every direction but. Grr, I'm not doing it for them, you know, I'm doing it in the hopes of reaping the karmic benefits, that someday some divine entity is going to help shoo me out through the invisible wall I've been bashing myself against my whole life.
Nope, this update does not feature any actual content. Although I did (finally) get to watch "Alive", today. It's true what they said, it's not quite "Versus". In fact, it's the anti-"Versus" but Ryuhei Kitamura is one of the few directors that I'll automatically watch regardless of what the film is. The others are Cameron Crowe and JJ Abrams. No coincidence that all three are also writers. Kitamura is kinda like what Michael Bay could be like if Michael Bay didn't have only one good film in him ("The Rock"). The action is so over-the-top but his style and panache tend to save it from looking stupid. One thing Bay can never be faulted on is that he does great action sequences - he just sucks at absolutely everything else. With Kitamura, you don't have this problem. And now he's coming to America. I will see "Midnight Meat Train" when it comes out, though it's been a long time since I read the book. Which reminds me, "Alive". Unlike "Versus", it's not an original story and instead based on a manga, which I'd read ages ago and not known that this film was based on until it came up in the opening credits. It's a great manga, by the way, one I would definitely recommend reading, but what's interesting is that while being an intensely loyal adaptation (even splitting the film up into named chapters), it's also a beautiful film to watch. The thing about making comics into movies, you either end up with something that is too different or too similar. "Alien versus Predator" is a case of too different. "Sin City" is a case of being too similar. In fact, "Sin City" is so frame-for-frame exactly like the comics, it's pretty much pointless that the film was ever made. Either way, what usually happens when comics become movies is that one always tends to outshine the other, one is either better or worse. "Alive" is something unique. A movie adapted from a comic that keeps strong to the story but isn't afraid to have it's own look and feel. The hero, the setting and the props don't have to look like they do on page when they look so good on the screen. For example, there's a great scene where the "good" guy, a bad guy and the girl (who quickly turns out to be the villain) are separated by a glass wall, and she's saying "I'm in here because I'm a witch" and starts making suggestive (but also intimidating) remarks. In the comic, she's naked, dark haired, showering and kept tasteful by strategically-placed wafts of steam. In the movie, she's blonde, fully clothed and just as threatening. The scene plays out the same, but looks completely different, yet manages to stand as just an engaging scene. ...Although the less said about Tak Sakaguchi's latex chest and Gackt make-up in the final scene, the better. That's my only qualms with the whole movie. It's very hard to take anyone seriously in a fight when they insist on stealing from Peter Gabriel's stage wardrobe.
And speaking of manga. The new volume of the Vampire Hunter D one arrived today. This one is an adaptation of "Raiser Of Gales", which I've been more than eager to see since it was the first VHD tale that I (and most others, I'm guessing) read without any pre-existing visuals of the story. I even held off on reading it, so I could do so in bed. Think I'm gonna do that now. Evenin' all.
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