McCain piece:

I had a hard time writing this one, mostly because I needed perspective and because I promised not just to do a bunch of easy jokes.  (though there are easy jokes in here.) 

I wasn't supposed to do a hatchet job.  At least that's what I told myself when I was asked to attend the John McCain rally on August 29^th and contribute an article on the subject.  My only real instructions were "don't look like a protestor" which left my initial decision to wear my black beret out of the question.  "You're going to make fun of it aren't you?" my girlfriend, a libertarian who plans to vote for McCain, asked. 

            Well, no, I wasn't planning on it.  I know this may be a little hard to believe.  

            I was leaning toward voting for Obama in November but this was merely a symbolic protest to the current U. S. foreign policy.  I actually voted for McCain in the 2000 primary and even though he has been spouting some terrifying far right viewpoints I don't think any of this crap would make it into actually presidential policy.  In short, it's just patter for the rubes.  Obama is likely to infuriate me and please me in equal measure to McCain and both men will be stuck playing clean up in the mess that Bush has made.  I have become so detached form the election at this point that I regard it like I would regard a hard fought World Series contest where it's a real shame that one of these guys has to go home a loser.  

            So I promised her I would not do a "hatchet job" and set out to write something that at least tried to be fair.  

            I got my first real test at trying not to make easy Republican jokes before I even got to the rally.  When somebody from the website brought me the tickets he angrily informed me that a man in front of him in line had said, "If the other guy wins I think it's time for another assassination."  I had known this wasn't going to be easy but I had only the vaguest idea how hard it was really going to be.

 ..

            In 1996 I attended a Bob Dole rally.  Then even diehard Republican knew that Dole had no chance of winning so that event was like a wake in which all the mourners agreed to pretend that the departed was still alive.  The McCain rally would prove to be a totally different animal.  A wounded one, who was willing to claw and fight with all he had for the slightest chance of survival.  

            I walked from the main campus of Wright State University toward The Nutter Center and a student on a bicycle glided past me on the road and came to a sudden stop.  "What's going on at The Nutter Center?"

            "McCain rally," I said it nonchalantly as if I wasn't on my way there.

            The kid made a disgusted face.  "Fuck that!" he growled and immediately biked away at what appeared to be twice his previous velocity.  I took the notebook out of my back pocket and took my first note.  

            If I was inclined to make jokes the vendors selling McCain hats in colors that included camouflage would have been too easy.  A sign I passed read: Reserve America!  No Hope!  No Change!  Nobama!  My unintentional irony meter was going through the roof.  I grit my teeth as a man in an NRA hat and a greasy looking guy in a Mitt Romney t-shirt began to argue over a "fair tax" flyer they had both received.  "This is more of a Democrat thing," one was saying.  "It isn't affiliated with McCain."  Why would people this stupid even be motivated to vote in the first place?

            In desperation, I called over a young 16 year old McCain volunteer named Nelson who was passing by.   He had volunteered his time because McCain would, "curb the big spending ways of both the Bush administration and the Democrats had indulged in."  Finally I had found somebody who wasn't a cartoon character.  

            "What do you plan to do after college?" I asked him.  

            "I want to go into business."

            "What kind?"

            He shrugged his shoulders.  "It doesn't matter as long as there is a lot of money in it.  I just want to be in the business of making money."  I arched an eyebrow as he began to launch into a speech on the virtues of greed that were equal parts Ayn Rand and Gordon Gecko.  

            I flipped my notebook closed.  "Thanks," I said and forced a smile.  

            All I needed was to be able to talk to one person who wasn't crazy.  The problem is that most of the Republican base is completely dominated by "the three Is" of ignorance, intolerance and indifference.    These three traits account for ninety percent of the people who identify themselves strongly with the party.  

            A pretty 18 year old girl named Jessica, dressed in what looked like her church Sunday best, was practically in tears while she explained to me that McCain could stop abortion in this country.  A middle aged black woman named Lucinda seemed reasonable until she informed me that Islam is a religion of violence and that Obama was a "muslim sympathizer."  It was at this point that I began to question the value of doing anymore interviews.  

            The program began with a ridiculous pump up in which every prominent Ohio Republican was paraded out to praise McCain.  Obama bashing was also prominent.  When Al Gore, John Kerry and the DNC got mentions there were boos from the crowd.  It was like being at a pep rally when the rival team was mentioned.  I was most disgusted by the elaborate sports metaphors that explained how we were "The Republican Team" and an opening prayer which made three mentions of "our lord" which showed these guys weren't even going to pretend that they didn't represent both a Christian and Protestant agenda.  If you don't fall into that category what are you doing here anyway?

            McCain was late making this pump up even worse.  This meant we had to listen to a horrible post-grunge band plug their CD and be entertained by the McCain cheerleaders.  As I sat there I turned to my left and saw an older man in a suit and tie reading the Wall Street Journal and then to my right a woman wearing camo pants and hogging all of three teeth to herself was dancing to the bland rock music.  I chuckled at the thought that the Democratic Party has always prided themselves on diversity but they apparently had nothing on "The Republican Team."  

            If I were John McCain I'd begin every speech with "George W. Bush can suck my cock!"   That was practically the speech McCain gave at the RNC where he told the Republican faithful that the party had lost its way.  People seem to forget, on both sides of the aisles, that McCain was one of Bush's harshest critics between 2000 and 2004.  Ask any Democrat and they'll tell you that John McCain is simply four more years of George W. Bush, forgetting that in 2004 there was talk of trying to get McCain as John Kerry's running mate.

            This is why I really hate the Obama supporters on equal measure to the crazy Republican base.  A lone protestor chanted "McCain equals war!" when he finally came out to speak that night in The Nutter Center.  Only a partisan nutcase can deny that McCain has helped stabilize Iraq making it possible for us to leave by our 2011 deadline.  The war in Iraq is irrelevant at this point.  If we must think about foreign policy at all we should focus on Iran, Russia and China all countries we could find ourselves in military conflict with in the next four years if we don't put the right person in office.  Harping on our failures in Iraq both unfairly saddles McCain with the mistakes perpetrated by Bush and is as simplistic a mindset as the one Americans who supported the war in Iraq had. 

            McCain didn't give a speech that day but he did introduce his running mate.  When he said he was proud to announce "on the anniversary of women's suffrage" the crowd exploded.     Months ago somebody had asked me who I thought Obama should pick as a running mate and if you switched the politics from right to left Sarah Palin was my exact description.  Most of the best lines from her speech then were reused at the RNC but after spending a couple hours listening to mind numbing conservative bullshit I was totally captivated by the woman.  McCain had managed to find a woman who had all the qualities that Obama had as a politician, a much harder task than Obama picking Joe Biden a senate veteran with McCain level experience.

            As people shuffled out after Palin's speech I heard an elderly couple murmur, "after what they did to Hillary."  When Obama picked Joe Biden I already had thought his choice was a mistake.  Biden is a pompous ass most of the time and no matter what his virtues are voters hate this quality, especially in Democrats.  I immediately called Fish and Chips News editor Lee Jacobs.

            "Have you heard?"

            "Yeah, I'm glad I sent you."  He then told me a humorous story about how the national news had broken in while he watched television and in the middle the local news broke in interrupting the national news break.  "What do you think of her?"

            The whole time she had been speaking I'd only been thinking one thing.  "Obama's fucked!" I said. 

            When I did my research on Sarah Palin I found a lot to criticize.  While mayor and Governor she had tried to ban books from public libraries, wanted to teach creationism in schools and opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest.  Socially, like many Republicans, she is my worst nightmare but economically like few Republicans these days, she's my dream come true.   She has all the qualities that has made McCain a media darling while having the charisma and charm that have made Obama beloved by the press.  I expected the press to love her.  I was completely shocked with the kind of hateful torrent of bashing she has received.  I looked in disbelief at a lefty who said "she can't even control a teenager" at the news that her seventeen year old daughter was pregnant.

            Excuse me?  Control a teenager?  Anybody who has been around teenagers let alone raised one or say been one (that should be most of you) knows that controlling a teenager is like bull riding.  I'd rather deal with the Iraqi insurgence any day.  If the press or the Democrats wants to criticize Palin maybe they should focus on things that are actually true (there are a bunch of them), aren't extremely petty (anything about her as a mother is vicious, stupid and often sexist)  or can also be directed at Obama (in experience, having "iffy friends") .  No wonder McCain is closing the gap and will probably be taking the lead here shortly on his way to the White House.  This is yet another case of Democrats snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. 

            I watched the fourth day of the RNC with a friend who has heavy socialist leaning and even he said McCain's speech was so good it was going to put him over the top.  While pundits like Rush Limbaugh wonder "who's side he's on" McCain was up there grabbing back every independent, right leaning moderate and libertarian he had lost by pandering to the base during the primaries.  Who cares if he pisses off the base because after rubbing shoulders with these people I know they won't vote for Obama for any reason.  Meanwhile Palin is pounding Obama on his experience ("being a mayor is like being a city planner except you have actual responsibilities") with the same viciousness as Hillary Clinton but twice the finesse.

 Do something you fucking pussy!  You're running for president!

            To tell the truth I still don't know who I'm voting for.  I've thought about saying fuck it and voting for Bob Barr.  I think an Obama presidency will have at least as many missteps as the first Clinton term did the first few years and a McCain presidency will almost be a stamp of approval on Bush's disastrous foreign policy.    I'm leaning toward Obama while my girlfriend is voting for McCain which makes our votes cancel each other out. 

            "Why don't we just stay home?"

            "No, you'll sneak out and vote anyway."

            "I wouldn't do that." 

             (She gives me a long, penetrating stare.)  "How about we switch votes?  You vote for McCain and I'll vote for Obama."

            "I'm not falling for that one."  (thinks for a minute)  "I'm really on the fence about it though.  You could probably convince me to vote McCain.  I'm sure there are things you could do."

            (smiles coyly)  "I'm sure there are."

             YES!!!

            "But I wouldn't want to influence your vote that way." 

            DAMMIT!!!

            So I still remain on the fence but slightly leaning Obama's way.  Unless of course my girlfriend decides to compromise her integrity; then Obama you're on your own.            

2:58 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

The Sarah Palin article.....

   Will be posted on fishandchipnews.com tomorrow.   I decided to wait until the Republican convention and the shitstorm of bashing she has taken from the media to really process it.  I also realized that there was no satisfactory ending for my article until my girlfriend, who is voting for Mccain,  gave me one in our conversation last night.  (thanks Hannah!) 

   The Chadstract article is already up.  Me No Voto.   There are also three bits on the DNC on the front page by Chadstract. 

    I know I've promised this before but I'll also try to get a story up by Monday or Tuesday.  I'm back in school then and spend many ideal hours in campus computer labs between classes so there is really no excuse not to type stories that first week when I don't have anything due. 

9:18 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

So.....

  These could have just as easily have been bullitins but I deactivated my Facebook today.  That era is officially over.  So you'll only have one social networking site to bug me on. 

   Second and most important I was at the McCain rally where he announced is running mate Sarah Palin today.  I was asked to write an article for that and it should be up by Monday on the fish and chips news site.  I also might put it on here. 

    Chadstract was at the Democratic National conventrion hanging with the protestors and he should have something for the site also. 

7:58 PM - 4 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

A Lost Blog you’ve never seen.

While we have been overhauling the fishandchipnews.com site it came to my attention that there was one article I wrote for the site that never even got published.  I swear I sent it to our distinguished editor and he swears it never arrived.  (He's wrong but maybe something happened that neither of us is aware of.) 

Anyway this is a movie review that was written in late March or early April.  I find it amusing that in both this blog and my most recent one I take the opportunity to blast Juno, a film I despise with every fiber of my being.  It  makes sense in this review but in the recent blog it's a complete throwaway.

This is the movie I think is the best released in the US so far this year.  Yes, better than The Dark Knight.  I do love The Dark Knight though.  It is one of only a handful of Superhero movies that actually shows any ambition beyound special effects and action sequences.  But this movie is still better so if one or two people are tempted to see it then posting this will be worth it. 

The film's title is as straight forward as anything else about it.  4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is a Romanian film that captured the Palme D'or at Cannes in 2007, failed to get an academy award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film and then quietly slipped into theaters in February where it captured less than a million dollars in box office despite mostly rave reviews from American critics.  I find the films lack of success somewhat ironic since around the same time it was acquiring accolades American audiences were falling in love with movies like Knocked Up and Juno which dealt with the same subject in a completely different way, that subject being an unexpected pregnancy. 

        "Four Months", written and directed by Cristian Mungiu is about an illegal abortion being obtained in 1987 when such a procedure was punishable by imprisonment in communist Romania.  The fact that the word is barely even uttered in the two American films, both of which present situations that could be argued abortion would be a logical choice, shows how far American cinema will go to repress even the existence of abortion from the multiplex and the relationship of our films to the realities of our lives.

       Some brave filmmakers have dealt with it.  Alexander Payne and Todd Solondz turn the abortion debate into black farce in Citizen Ruth and Palindromes and Tony Kaye delivers the full debate in blistering unnerving intensity in his documentary Lake of Fire but all three of those films rely on manipulation and a provocateur's spirit.  Mungiu is having none of that in his film.  As such he has probably created the only film that really cuts to the heart of the matter and shows how illegal abortions force women into positions that make them ripe for exploitation. 

       While the character of Gabita is the young woman in need of an abortion it is her roommate Otilia who serves as our point of view into the film.  In fact, Gabita seems incredibly unlikable.  She at times comes off lazy, selfish and outright dense.  This makes her much too clueless for motherhood but as the film continues and the abortionist Mr. Bebe unveils his scheme to exploit these young women in their time of need we wonder why Otilia would help her friend at all, let alone go to the lengths she does to help secure an abortion, an act that could net her three years in prison.

       The answer comes in her relationship with her boyfriend and a painful dinner party at his parents house that she is forced to attend about halfway through the movie.  My favorite shot in the movie and perhaps one of my favorite in cinema comes when Otilia is seated at the table with her boyfriend's pushy relatives and we are treated to a single shot of her attempting to weather their backhanded comments and her feelings of being completely out of place.

      This brilliant scene is followed by a second, in which Otilia confesses that she has been helping with an abortion.  When her boyfriend reacts with disapproval Otilia asks what he would do if they were in the same situation.  It's here that we are given the most forgotten of consequences when women are denied options.  He suggests that they marry and we've already seen substantial evidence that this relationship might not last another week let alone a lifetime.  With a child in the mix it is almost certain that three lives would be ruined.

      The style of the film is neo-realism and American audiences have rejected this unless there is also a giant monster attacking New York City in the plot.  This is too bad since this movie essentially does all the things those detractors of Juno claim it did not do.  When it comes out on video a double feature of the two films would be interesting though few fans of Juno would likely have the stomach to handle Mungui's sad and brilliant masterpiece

6:29 PM - 6 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

Going Full Retard

This will probably go on the website but I decided to put it up here first.  It is yet another cautionary tale on how I overanalyze everything.    nd i have no idea why the font changes sizes.  it won't let me fix it. 

Just about a month ago people were debating that New Yorker Obama cover and whether it was in bad taste.   Debates like this are fascinating because satire by definition is almost always in bad taste.  In fact, most people don't understand the difference between satire and parody.  It's more involved than this simple explanation but one way you can tell the difference between a satire and a parody is that parody is genuinely good natured ribbing and satire is mean, vicious and often cruel.  In fact, satire doesn't have to be funny.  There is nothing in the definition of satire that includes humor.  In our modern culture we associate the two but satire is a work that is specifically designed to ridicule a subject.  You can't ridicule something and be tasteful about it.  It just isn't possible. 

            When we debate the Obama cover what we are really debating is something else entirely, which is if people are stupid enough to think the cover is a satire of Obama rather than the misconceptions about Obama is the New Yorker responsible for that?   In short, if you create a work of art and somebody takes it the wrong way are you responsible that people take it the wrong way?  Do we have to weigh everything we say against the potential of how stupid people might be and if so how will we ever say anything of substance? 

            Let me give you another example.  In the 1970's country singer David Allan Coe recorded a song called Nigger Fucker.   The song is sung in character as a racist redneck whose wife has just left him for a black man.  To me the song is obviously satire, and apparently the rap group NWA agreed because in the 90's they covered it, but it is incredibly subtle satire and can be easily mistaken for being genuinely exactly what it is making fun of if looked at out of context.   The album it comes from, The Underground Album, includes other songs where the satire is more obvious.  One of them, Fuck You, Anita Bryant, includes the chorus, "Fuck you, Anita Bryant.  You leave them faggots alone."   To me nobody could listen to these songs and take what they state with anything but irony. 

But one day I was looking for this album on Amazon which includes other items that people who purchased what you're looking at have ordered.  Right next to a list of other Coe CDs was one by Johnny Rebel a white supremacist recording artist.  I was completely shocked by the fact that anybody could listen to both of these and not see that one is mockery and the other is genuine.  Coe has had to defend himself against allegations of racism for thirty years for recording the song but while I don't believe Coe is a racist that question now seems irrelevant to me.  Now the question is if Coe's song is used to justify racism in some who listen to it how much culpability does he deserve for that?     

The thing that brought me to reanalyze this is the controversy over the new movie Tropic Thunder.  I expected this film to get some shit for Robert Downey Jr. being in basically "blackface" but that isn't what it's about.  The controversy is about the film's use of the word retard which advocate groups for the developmentally disabled find offensive.  I would have normally just dismissed this outright and I even read another satire of the protests which had actors boycotting and protesting the movie.  I'm also baffled by the fact that these groups don't get that a boycott is going to make the filmmakers more money by raising awareness for the movie.   It's also not much of a threat since the kind of people who would be offended aren't going to see an R rated movie that has so much more potentially offensive material in it.  This seems outright, dare I say it, retarded. 

 But I got curious and googled the controversy and many blogs about the whole thing written by the parents of a developmentally disabled child.  Now to be truthful I have sympathy for these people.  I have a member of my family who had Down Syndrome but this isn't the same as having a child who is disabled.  In fact, I don't even have to see this family member if I don't feel like it.  I do know that I don't treat him any  differently than I would a nondisabled person.  If he pisses me off I let him know it.  I don't treat him "special".   What I can't stand is how some people almost seem to have a fetish for disability of victimhood.  It is the most disgusting thing about American culture where, let's face it, we have a charmed existence so we have to actually look for things to get pissed about.   

I hate that word. It makes me mad when I hear it thrown around like a joke. I hadn't heard about this movie, thanks for the heads up. I usually don't do "R" movies anyway and don't let the kids see them either. Why do they have to make fun of people to get a laugh?

I am also a little sensitive about people joking about drowning each other. Like when they say they are going to drown someone or something. It's just not funny.

            I've missed the stream of drowning jokes that have apparently permeated pop culture but I would point out to this person, if we lived on the same planet, that this is an example of "gallows humor" which is totally different than satire but can be defended on its own terms.  Also asking why you have to make fun of people to get a laugh is like asking why you have to have sex to get pregnant. 

This is very sad, indeed.

I watched "Radio" last night. Amazing. Loved the movie and it's (sic) message. Couldn't there be more films like it? Couldn't there be more people like Coach Jones out there?

            This may go a long way to explaining why people are offended by Tropic Thunder.  The film within a film Simple Jack is a vicious satire of movies like Radio that romanticize the disabled and treat them as equal parts "cute" and freakish.  I'm actually offended when people say patronizing things like they think disabled people are cute.  To me Radio is offensive.  I can understand why somebody with a disabled child might like the movie.  It portrays life the way they wish it was and functions as  escapism for them.  The movie Juno recently offended me for treating teen pregnancy the same way.   I guess it's just a difference in our world views. 

            That word is a bad word in our house. Hate is also a bad word and I am going to say it. I HATE that word and it makes me sick to hear it and even sicker when they make movies making fun.

They make fun because they think they are the normal ones but to be honest we are the normal ones. We are the ones that are teaching our children to right way, we are teaching our children to accept, love, and be compassionate toward anyone no matter how unique they are.

              I don't have much to say about this one except that it reminds me of the Tom Cruise "we are the authorities" scientology speech.   Interestingly enough Tom Cruise is in Tropic Thunder.  If a retarded person could willingly act in the movie how can they be offended?  (Yeah, that was probably wrong but I did go this long without a joke.)

            Downey tells Stiller "never go full retard".  I imagine what would happen if Stiller told Downey not to go full n*****!

            Now I'm not sure what that word with all the asterisks is supposed to be but I'm sure it must be offensive.  This is a complete misunderstanding of the context of the joke first of all and second it's actually attacking an attitude that parents of disabled children should REALLY be offended by.   Actors exploit the mentally handicapped in movies to win awards but they know they must be as cute and "special" as possible to do it.  They must create a fantasy and be as far away from actual disabled persons as possible.  The reason is actual mentally retarded people repulse the majority of people.  So basically Tropic Thunder is bringing to light an attitude that is commonly accepted in society but should be ridiculed.  And to bring up the point the word nigger is spoken in Tropic Thunder.  I will concede that they didn't go as far as to have Downey say it or another white person but that word was used in the same context retard is used in Tropic Thunder in Blazing Saddles.

            I have seen movies that I think have portrayed the developmentally disabled positively in my opinion.  I've even seen comedies that have.  The cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky often uses disabled people as characters in his films (both mentally and physically) though I doubt most of the people who are boycotting Tropic Thunder will ever see one of his films.  I actually doubt most of the people seeing Tropic Thunder or reading this blog for that matter will.  My point is most of the movies that actually treat the disabled as people are way outside the mainstream.  There is one point that one angry parent makes that I think is somewhat chilling.

                The use of the word retard is setting how society views those with intellectual disabilities back a generation. Recently the announcement of a new early method of pre-natal testing for fetal Down syndrome was made. This announcement was made with great fanfare and excitement. Because the earlier parents know their child may be born with an intellectual disability, the earlier and easier it becomes to terminate that pregnancy. I believe the connotations that go along with the word retard play no small part in this kind of thinking.

            When I first read this I thought it was totally out of left field and grasping at straws but when I started to think of it in context of the Obama cover (which some think will hurt his campaign) and the Coe song (which is embraced by actual racists) maybe movies like Tropic Thunder  do have that effect.  Maybe people seeing it will feel that their negative views are enforced by the film. 

            Years ago comedian Sarah Silverman got in trouble for saying the word "chink" in a joke on television.  In her concert film Jesus is Magic she defends the joke intellectually for several minutes before revealing to the audience that originally the joke was different.  She says the joke used to contain the word "nigger" before but she changed it because she was uncomfortable saying it in front of black members of her audiences.  She observes that people only make fun of groups they are not afraid of like, say, midgets.  She then invites the audience to rethink whether they think her joke was racist. 

            This is a telling comment about our society.  Once the rapper Eminem was confronted in an interview about why he defended his use of the word "faggot" satirically but was unwilling to use the word "nigger" in the same context.  He was willing to state that he saw the use of the two words as different but couldn't back up why.  The difference is that one would have ruined his career while the other did not.  This means that whether we face it or not we give different groups different rules and right now the rule is that we are free to say the word retard even though as opposed to gays or blacks the developmentally disabled are unable to defend themselves.  They are also a group that many parents would choose to abort if given the opportunity.  They truly are a helpless minority. 

          Silverman points out that though she can intellectually defend her humor she still sees the danger in hiding behind satire.  People often confuse the right to free speech with a complete unaccountability or responsibility for what we say.  This is something that is rarely brought up in a society where anything goes and I fear, it is just as rarely ever thought about.     

1:37 PM - 17 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

What I’ve Been Doing

     Well I haven't posted any stories here lately because I lost a flashdrive with all my stories on it a few weeks ago.  I have hard copies of everything but in order to put any on a blog I of course have to retype them. 

      For those who don't know I recently returned to school full time which has taken up more of my time than I inticipated.  I also came home Monday to find water leaking from the ceiling below the bathroom all over my television set.  I haven't been able to find where it was coming from but there was water all over my house from the second floor all the way to the basement.  I've torn up all the floorboards and have found no busted pipes and have had my water turned off until I have solved this mystery.  As you can imagine it has taken up much of my time. 

       Even after that I might be able to post a story or two here by Friday.  I'll leave them up for a week or two and then remove them.  (if you haven't noticed the first story is gone.) 

        As for the fishandchipnews.com site it is undergoing an overhaul.  I had nothing to do with this.  At the beginning of May or so I told the other people involved that I had to take a hiatus and the whole enterprise fell apart in my absence.  (only one thing has been added since then and a few cosmetic changes have been made last time I was there.)  But my friend Lee Jacobs, who runs the site, has it figured out and there will be a ton of new stuff by the end of the month.  I have also been writing material to include and a new person who is a myspace blogger has agreed to basically move his blog to the site.  I also think my page will start to more resemble my old blog and won't be so formal or limited in scope. 

          Recently a friend of mine has started blogging and I asked him to contribute to the site.  Whether this will happen or not is still up in the air but he did send me this reply:

 I'd be glad to add thoughts on areas of my own expertise... Things like Magnum P.I., Tarzan, Hercules, and other subtlely homoerotic movie/tv heroes and my encyclopedic knowledge of bodybuilders and atheletes turned actors including commentary on why they should have stayed bodybuilders, the various colors of kryptonite and their effects on Superman, the life and times of international martial arts superstar and my choice for president in '08 Barry Prima, and my answer to the question "If God got into a fight with my conception of God, who would win?"

     This all sounds very exciting to me so I hope he turns out to be reliable. 

4:53 PM - 6 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

My preferred list
Category: Blogging

    Because I have nothing else to do with this blog I've decided to put some old short stories on here.  To do this I'm going to make a preferred list.  This is a serious chore and I was going to just put everybody who subscribes to this blog on it but I stopped at seven because I'm lazy.  So to avoid putting one hundred people on my list if you want to be on it let me know either by commenting on this blog or sending me a message. 

    I'll probably put the first one on next week and another one every week or two weeks afterward.  Just something to do for fun.  I'm sending the seven people who are already on the list a message so if you hear from me you're on it and if not then you'll have to ask. 

Currently reading : The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel (P.S.) By Michael Chabon Release date: 2008-04-29

11:33 AM - 6 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

the last myspace blog

    The website that I’ll be writing for from now on is published but there isn’t much there yet.  We decided to update as we go rather than a monthly "online magazine" format that we first wanted.  This is partially due to the fact that most people can’t hit a deadline to save their lives.  There should be more stuff there every week if it goes well.  linkage

1:12 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Election recap (and why I’m leaving myspace.)

This will probably be if not my last myspace blog then at least my last that isn't some piece of shallow self promotion I do from time to time.   I have been working on a website for awhile with six other guys (and one gal) that should be up by April 1st and anything I write for the internet from here on out will go on there.  This blog is a rough draft of something that was going to go on the site.  It'll probably be a different version that actually goes up there but I thought I'd use this rough one as a final blog.  I will post a blog and probably way too many bullitins once the site is published.

The media enjoys reducing every election, no matter how fascinating, to a simple horserace and this is a disservice to the voter.  As a result few people are able to pick up the subtlety and nuances of the political machine in action.  For those people who are unable to think for themselves and need the media to spoon-feed them in order to understand even the simplest of concepts we have this comprehensive recap of how much your ignorance has already screwed up the country.

    This race will end in a bloody slugfest between the Republican nominee who is for the war in Iraq and the Democratic nominee who is best able to pretend to be against the war in Iraq.  We will start with the Democrats who if they really wanted to end the war might have actually done something these past two years in which they had a majority in both the house and the senate.  Since the words Democrat and accomplishment are almost never used in the same sentence perhaps we can forgive them for giving Bush money eveytime he asked nicely but  when we look at the candidates it seems the ones who are least likely to actually stop the war have had the most success. 

     There was a long list of candidates who immediately proved irrelevant,  Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Chris Dowd, Ed Begley Jr., Michael McDonnell despite his list of smooth light rock hits but nobody elevated being irrelevant to an art form quite like Dennis Kucinich.