Progress

During a conversation with my sister yesterday, she used the words

"love him to death"

in reference to my father.


(eyebrows)

More Guffawing at Consumerism

Why does this continue to be excessively funny to me?

Papa Smurf!

For real!

But how did they know what he had

on his hard drive?

I have officially switched to the side of those who'd rather buy digital and burn their own.

Pretty cover and liner notes be damned.

(ahem)

BWAAAAAAHAAHAHAAAA!!!

And I get to keep the stuff; the store don't sell it, so the can't say it's theirs?

Man, please....

(hee, hee)

David Smith's Ghost Bike

at the corner of 6th and 36th.

(explanation of a ghost bike)

I saw the bike while on my way to a print casting. A while back I'd thought of taking pic of all the ghost bikes that I saw in the city, but I didn't make a habit of carrying a camera and my list of unfulfilled intentions is long and broad.

The other night/morning, while doing a (ridiculous 35 degree, not including the wind and light-rain) ride on the West Side Bikeway, I saw a ghost bike near the entrance to the NYPD impound yard. The bikeway itself is the safest bike lane in the city, but the places where there are intersects with traffic - particularly at that intersection - seem to be deadly (<- not hyperbole). While reading about Smith's collision, it occurred to me

1. that I typically ride in traffic
2. how unconsciously nervous I am of doors opening when riding in bike lane

Manhattan is fairly narrow, so I'll generally make my way over to the WSB if there's not another stop I plan to make. Riding in traffic is, for me a challenge thing - it feels good to realize that you're keeping up with or making better progress than traffic.

However, I don't do this that often. And I have definitely felt the places where it feels more scary than thrilling/enjoyable to ride and typically avoid them. I also tend to not ride inside the city during rush hours - so I won't encounter the problem as much as people who are true bicycle commuters.

That said, these are my observations as someone who has been a cyclists, driver and pedestrian in the city:

Pedestrians are oblivious to everything.
Drivers are oblivious to everything but cops.
I find myself the most aware of my surroundings as a cyclist -
but cyclists AIN'T perfect.

It seems like riders tend to be listening to audio devices less,
and talking on cellphones less (though I've seen it happen)
and fumbling with items less.

And for those who are trying to admonish a dead man for not wearing a helmet,
you should just as well be chastising him for not wearing a suit of armor - though it would have done just as well as a helmet to protect him from internal injuries. Remember: pedestrians have sidewalks; cyclists, even where there are painted bike lanes, are in the street.

It just so happens that I noticed the bike the day of the memorial ride - I wish I would've known about it before it happened.

A central non-automobile corridor in this city would be nice. Regardless, as long as people, bikes and cars are allowed to share the same thoroughfares, there has got to be better commuter education.

blessings to the those who orbited in Mr. Smith's universe;
honesty and peace to the mind of the driver & passenger of the car,
and to the driver of the truck.

One person eating a 7 Layer

chocolate cake (that takes 200 eggs to make), should not only be NOT comp'ed. They should be charged extra.


Gluttony should be discouraged.


(eyeroll)

(rouge)

So, I'm looking at this script, and I get to this part where I have to be embarrassed -

I'm thinking I want to try it more innocent, test my ability to bring color to the cheeks,

And I find a place/sensation that I think is what I'm feeling for;

And, of course somebody walks by and my eye shoots over to watch said body,

Catching me genuinely in the moment I just discovered somewhat sense memory-aly.

Preparation is fun. Shame I don't do it more.

I just realized

that the E70 that I'm currently using - that I said I was going to sell - can recognize the contacts spoken to it. My old 6360 and 6560 did voice tags, but you had to speak it and assign your own voice tag to each contact. They matched the sound of your voice to the sound of your recorded voice.

This one recognizes unrecorded speech.

Cool.

Hell, for all I know this is, by now, passe'.

But I like it.

Every time I'm ready to get out, it pulls me back in.

And why is it

still ONLY 10:53.

You know what?

Eff it.

This chile thass serving as today's supervisor?

(yeah, back at that place again)

Yeah...I wanna bite her booty. Iss pritty and says stuff to me when she pass by.

Granted, she was prolly still pushing through elementary while I was giving people the false impression I was earning my scholarship...

(wait, I don't think I fooled anybody then)

-- ok, that was the second time she came over here and I had to switch windows -- I Spy secret *ish. Ha!

Nevertheless, such is the state of life.

Ok. I got that out of my fingers.

God, make me a healer.

Okay.......

last hour.

If they your "friends",

then you can call them and tell them to come to the front and get you. I don't know where their office is. I'm not supposed to let you wander around and, frankly, did you a favor in letting you upstairs without them having called to get you on the visitor list first. I've been calling their office for some time now and nobody's answering. Nobody left word with me that they can be reached in another office. This, to me, indicates that they are either not here OR have no desire to be bothered.

Again, you have their number. Feel free to leave what you have and contact them yourself.

Peace,
A Dude with at Least One college degree that don't mean much who don't mind telling you I put nearly no importance in the self-importance you take from your place in the "fashion" "industry".

**Update**

Irate lawyer complaining about calls going to his house.

Office contact (read: supervisor-of-the-day)

1) apparently doesn't listen to me TELL her that the man is getting calls forwarded to his home phone.

2) Scapegoats me while I'm sitting right next to her as though I didn't tell her that he was getting calls forwarded to his home phone.

(the ability to absorb blame is a temp job skill -
once you figure that out, it keeps you hired)

(when thumbs twiddle)

At a temp job for the day, first time back in an office in 3 months.
First time in 3 years and change working on wall street.
First time in a building with "Trump" on its edifice.
First time using tel. system connected to a PC.
First time wearing this tie.

"I was expecting a woman"

(no *ish)

Four hours of sleep from 8p - 12a last night
(lemme alone, I got distracted)

It's STILL not 10a yet.

I move by the strength of God -
by the grace of God, go i.

{Hey, look 10 o'clock! }

3 hours 'til halftime.

(twiddle)

At this point, I prefer (twiddle) to the alternative.

funny *ish* that's been said about me

From MySpace:

What the hell play are you in?!?! I've never met a professional actor who's a closet actor...how does that work?

Via the grapevine, paraphrased statement made about me and somebody else by a same-sex loving male,:

those are two biggest straight queens I've ever seen.

If you don't have anything useful to say,

take the opportunity to listen.


Is it possible to preach with your ears?

Experiment:

1) Stand

2) turn your head

3) cup your lobe

4) let me know if somebody says "amen".

:#

Just so we're clear:

CRACK killed Applejack.

He jumped in, but he couldn't

(what?)

jump back.

(cuzsee, now)

DEATH

lives in the rock house. ~~~~~~

kcarc.

Theorem: Social Science Edition

I think I think that:

how poor people exist now has changed.

I remember a time when it seemed like the poorest people were the ones who exhibited the most faith in a/the higher power. They had very little that was tangible, so their capital consisted mostly of the intangible and that was typically where they had the most invested.

Now, it seems like the only people who can afford/afford to have time to believe in God are the middle class and up (peepyourlocalneighborhoodmegachurchandtellmeifyouthinksomebodypoorwouldbecomfortablegoingthere).

Simplified,

(g/God) = hope

In the past, po' folks, if nothing else, had God.

Now,
after the foreclosure on their faith by the specter of survival in daily life,

maybe folks can no longer afford to hope.



So, how to you convince somebody to

spend

some

time

praying?


(shrug)

Award Shows

I've been to my first (as a nominant).

I've been to my last ( as a nominant ).

It seems sensless to me to put oneself in a competitive environment, when that which is being graded was not created for the purpose of the competition.

(and of course, it could be, maybe it was - but not by me)

If I can't genuinely clap for yo sh!t, I really would prefer to not burden you with the poison of my presence.

At least not unless I think I deserve a little stomach distress.

{shrug}


*although, it did afford me the opportunity to be hit with a line. Well, when women do it it seems much less like one;

"you look lost"

"I'll give you this...but you have to promise to use it"

(eyebrow)

...

I wonder

how many people born on the continent of Africa,

typically along the central western coast and somewhat central inland,

have asked the questions they weren't supposed to ask
of the people who refused to answer
and searched for a barely-to-non-existant paper trail

in order to find their distant blood relatives on the other side of the water....

who really aren't distant by so long ago.

If there are 360 degrees in a circle, why do there seem to be an infinite amount of perspectives?

hm.

Same-Sex Rape Justice in Dubai

courtesy of the NY Times (who FINALLY made their web content free)

In Rape Case, a French Youth Takes On Dubai

Correction Appended

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 31 — Alexandre Robert, a French 15-year-old, was having a fine summer in this tourist paradise on the Persian Gulf. It was Bastille Day and he and a classmate had escaped the July heat at the beach for an air-conditioned arcade.

Just after sunset, Alex says he was rushing to meet his father for dinner when he bumped into an acquaintance, a 17-year-old, who said he and his cousin could drop Alex off at home.

There were, in fact, three Emirati men in the car, including a pair of former convicts ages 35 and 18, according to Alex. He says they drove him past his house and into a dark patch of desert, between a row of new villas and a power plant, took away his cellphone, threatened him with a knife and a club, and told him they would kill his family if he ever reported them.

Then they stripped off his pants and one by one sodomized him in the back seat of the car. They dumped Alex across from one of Dubai’s luxury hotel towers.

Alex and his family were about to learn that despite Dubai’s status as the Arab world’s paragon of modernity and wealth, and its well-earned reputation for protecting foreign investors, its criminal legal system remains a perilous gantlet when it comes to homosexuality and protection of foreigners.

The authorities not only discouraged Alex from pressing charges, he, his family and French diplomats say; they raised the possibility of charging him with criminal homosexual activity, and neglected for weeks to inform him or his parents that one of his attackers had tested H.I.V. positive while in prison four years earlier.

“They tried to smother this story,” Alex said by phone from Switzerland, where he fled a month into his 10th-grade school year, fearing a jail term in Dubai if charged with homosexual activity. “Dubai, they say we build the highest towers, they have the best hotels. But all the news, they hide it. They don’t want the world to know that Dubai still lives in the Middle Ages.”

Alex and his parents say they chose to go public with his case in the hope that it would press the authorities to prosecute the men.

United Arab Emirates law does not recognize rape of males, only a crime called “forced homosexuality.” The two adult men charged with sexually assaulting Alex have pleaded not guilty, although sperm from all three were found in Alex. The two adults appeared in court on Wednesday and were appointed a lawyer. They face trial before a three-judge panel on Nov. 7. The third, a minor, will be tried in juvenile court. Legal experts here say that men convicted of sexually assaulting other men usually serve sentences ranging from a few months to two years.

Dubai is a bustling financial and tourist center, one of seven states that form the United Arab Emirates. At least 90 percent of the residents of Dubai are not Emirati citizens and many say that Alex’s Kafkaesque legal journey brings into sharp relief questions about unequal treatment of foreigners here that have long been quietly raised among the expatriate majority. The case is getting coverage in the local press.

It also highlights the taboos surrounding H.I.V. and homosexuality that Dubai residents say have allowed rampant harassment of gays and have encouraged the health system to treat H.I.V. virtually in secret. (Under Emirates law, foreigners with H.I.V., or those convicted of homosexual activity, are deported.)

Prosecutors here reject such accusations. “The legal and judicial system in the United Arab Emirates makes no distinction between nationals and non-nationals,” said Khalifa Rashid Bin Demas, head of the Dubai attorney general’s technical office, in an interview. “All residents are treated equally.”

Dubai’s economic miracle — decades of double-digit growth spurred by investors, foreign companies, and workers drawn to the tax-free Emirates — depends on millions of foreigners, working jobs from construction to senior positions in finance. Even many of the criminal court lawyers are foreigners.

Alex’s case has raised diplomatic tensions between the Emirates and France, which has lodged official complaints about the apparent cover-up of one assailant’s H.I.V. status and other irregularities. The tension and growing publicity over the case seem to have prompted the authorities to take action.

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Correction: November 10, 2007

A front-page article on Nov. 2 about the accusation that a French boy was raped in Dubai referred incorrectly, using information from a police report, to the American School in Dubai and a 17-year-old suspect in the case. The suspect is not a student at the American School, and the school says it has no Emiratis enrolled.

Power Lines

Today at a print casting for a mobile phone/technology company:

Lady from the agency seemed hesitant since my hair won't "'fro out".

Photographer says to take it anyway and let "them" decide because "his smile is electric".


If only the Piano Lesson audition had gone as well.

Hell, maybe it did.

(shrug to the past)

Time to read Topdog!

Shirley Chislolm

and her entirely too and therefore perfectly west African nose
and her gapped on the side(?!!) teeth

{there is that part of me that wishes they were still that way,}

With that lisp that's filled with ev-er-y bit and more
of the knowledge necessary to, oh, I don't know

be president?....

was and is...

wow.



Go, Brooklyn.

Electr(on)ic Commerce-zation

One down.

8 to go.

thass they Grammar; let it be...

Somebody just sent me an e-mail containing the following phrase:

"I drug myself out of the bed"

My first instinct was to reply with a humorous correction,

but I thought about it...

and in the milli-moment it took to do so,

the parad'oxymoro/niceness of it felt good like
somebody taking some cocoa butter on their
forefinger and rubbing gently my tragus.

(so i let it be)

Breakfast

greenappl
ehoney&al
mondbutte
ronArnold
sNaturalW
heat&Flax
isthejawn

Sick Sux

n/m

Et'mology

Peep post #184, 3rd word from end of first sentence/stanza.

Click here a definition via example (and to know what that excessively long thread is about, anyway).

On the Way Up the Hill...

Why do we age/deteriorate?

Given human propensity for self-inducing death

• war
• folly
• what-have-you

is it biologically necessary?

We certainly don't need it to thin the herd.

Why does nature need for cells to decrease in function until there is seizure?

Perpetual existence would seem to be a better choice given the amount of energy that goes into procreation/rearing.

.
..

Maybe...

The reason for age, is so we have a reason to try. Because, if you had forever, procrastination is much more a convenience.

So, maybe we need the prospect of an impending end to drive is to reach such that we might attain within the amount of time we have.

The concept of time itself, I would argue, is a result of a society's preoccupation with death (avoiding it).

Without aging(-->death), we are the Eloi,

maybe.

(shrug)

Mikey Simon Quotes of the Day

1. "A script is just a prison made of words."


2. "A boss is just a prison made of skin."

The Sissy Duckling

Currently running on HBO, title character voiced by Harvey Firestein.

If you haven't figured out the plot of this re-visioned fable, well, I sure hope it doesn't get too cool underneath that rock.

Kokujin

One gentleman's experience of being (a) in a (b) world.

Nina Got Something

HeeHee

(she sed "boobie")

I wonder if she knew she was gawjuss

>ay, mis pezóns!<

Kwamé Shows Me His Ass

This morning's recollected dream (I'm not kidding):

Apparently, I'm a music producer in this one.

Big Daddy Kane is doing a new album, it's produced by Kwamé. We're discussing what this new sound will be like. I bring up Kwamé's New Jack sound, whether he's going for that again. His response is incredulously "not". He seems to think "I got jokes". Kwamé, his ego having reared itself, leaves.

There was some reference to ass, so, on his way out Kwamé sets forth to show me his - literally. I avoid having my eyes make contact with it.

Having Mr. Kane's full attention, I set forth to begin a dialogue about current styles and play him "Oh"* from the ARE's Dem Damb Jacksons EP.

Having "won", dream state drifts into awakeness.

-

Though it wasn't a truly lucid dream experience, I did feel in control - it didn't feel as things were happening around me. It was unaware lucidity**.

* the beat for which I find to be quite nearly replete with butterynipplegoodness

** the phrase "subconscious lucidity" tweaks my fancy more, but it feels too similar to "lucid dream". I hate ambiguous terminology.

(raised eyebrow, upturned lower lip)

This past Thursday, while on the S67, I saw an individual with both an iPod le Touche and an iPhone.



amuse us with your feeble attempts to explain how this fails to defeat the purpose.

Martin Short Is That Dude!

The Misadventures of Ed Grimley is on Boomerang!

Ha!!

I should be asleep !

HA!!

I am in love with,

and want to do this.

in other news, I just realized this thing is past 400 posts.

Well.

Look at that.

the 3 r's

rocky is the road of the righteous.

Also

I had the "cutting my hair" dream again this past week, too.

Sex & Semi-Consciousness

• This morning I had a dream that a best male friend in youth tried to set me up for an "encounter" with other male friends we went to high school with. It felt insidious without being specifically threatening; like some sh!t that wouldn't hold up in court, even though you KNOW where it was headed. No idea of the significance.

• Yesterday I had a short dream where a long time female friend kissed me. It weren't no tentative peck neither...straight tongue, B! But there seemed to be something nauseating on her tongue/in her mouth. Right after I was nauseated to vomiting, but it now seems as though the sick/substance came from my mouth, i.e. was my fault. I wonder if this was a warning to not let indulgence ruin a relationship. Or maybe my subconscious meant to inform me if the magnitude of my oral offensiveness during slumber...?

(pensation)

Though stated with a certain degree

of chagrin, I will admit to liking Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

And, independent of the puffy lip crush I have on Angelina Jolie,

she is a remarkable film actor.

aunt 10 Eye

No matter how much I pull, tug,

there's always a lock (currently two)

that point, pretty much, straight up*.


Physics or something else?


*no, i don't characterize this as a problem

damn Devil wearin' Prada

I just dreamt that the I was temping at a clothing designer.

Toward the end of my tenure, thus designer wanted to use a shirt made for me by mom-diggidity, which I simply called my design.

While at home thar night it occurred to me that I should clarify that it was mom-Diesel's mash-up (e'en though she wudna cared).

On returning to work the following day, I was picked up in a limo, wherein I was presented with documents showing I wa being sued for FRAUD.

It ended as I was going into the building...

(sigh)

there's a small rodent sticking out (of) the wall in my room.

Refuse

Today, while walking west along 14th, I saw a homeless man pick up from the street - not the sidewalk, THE STREET - a spoiled piece of fruit. He considered it, then began to eat it.

As usual, I missed an opportunity to act. The grand irony being that there was fruit stand at the end of the block we were on.

"Not my fight"

Vince Young in response to Donovan McNabb's most recent comments on the Black Quarterback said,

"That's not my fight to fight. Right now over here the Tennessee Titans, we're trying to go to the playoffs. I can't worry about all the other stuff going on,"

Context, is a factor...

And there are those who'll say he was wise to distance himself...

HBO had a bio-doc about Jim Brown on this past morning. I'd already heard how important the image he presented as a Black man was to him while playing. This was not an insignificant public view of life in the thick of the American Civil Rights Movement. Perhaps the most notable side effect being his and other Black athletes' public support of Muhammed Ali's refusal to report for the draft...

Well, to put it succintly:

I'm afraid Vince is living up to his surname.

(Not that I'm any braver)

Limbo

Think I'm going to go hang out at the Equity Center today, maybe check out portfolios @ Reproductions...

Pretend to be an actor and such.

Sigh

September is trying its DAMNDEST to suck.

There's too much to like about the transition to fall for it to be trying this hard to get on my nerves.

I find the first half of that sentence to be corny.

(shrug)

F.

Not even a callback.

(sigh)

The general policy of 'next' would've been far more immediately accessible had I done the work I prepared to do, knowing that in that work, they would've seen whatever they needed for the additional consideration.

And I knew that.

And was told that.

And still didn't just do what I should have, which was the work I'd already prepared.

In what I did do - too much incidental, not enough extra.

And that is why I was so affected.

I am now disappointed, but not depressively so.

angerwithselfisuseful(only?)whenitservesasacalltoarms,

therefore: a call to arms
____

I decided yester/today should be significant somehow, so I decided to fast for the first time in nearly 13 years. It was strange that, as soon as I decided to fast, the thought of food immediately began to dominate me secondary thoughts. I was fine when I thought about not eating, but as soon as my thoughts went elsewhere, the notion to get up and eat was nearly involuntary. I was actually catching myself in the motion to get something to eat. I don't remember that sensation impacting me that way the last time...
I got to the point where I was having to convince myself to not consider any of the deals my habit/urge was trying to make with my conscious decision - and found out that my habit/urge can be pretty dern persuasive. Explains some weakensses displayed in the past....
A few hours in, I decided this wouldn't be the 3 day, complete starvation attempt from back yonder - the attempt that led to me sneaking a small handful of my then roommate's Cheerios™ in the wee hours of the second day. This is just to mark today. I started with some seltzer water, then threw back some filtered tap, followed by a flagon of the current roomie's laichee black with honey. There've been a couple of influential pangs since, but it's now settled into fairly benign sensation.
Since then, it's been mostly the plaintive consideration of the beneficialities of the practice of dicipline, when the spirit should follow the mind vs. following the body, how different it is to TALK about benefit of the fast (for over a decade) versus the action. I'm gonna go do some stretchin' and invertin' once I finish tappin' this out.

We'll see how things go when I venture out into the city later on.

Other things done for self to mark the occasion of this particular .274 percent of the Julian calendar:

• tossed nearly $50 bucks into the wind toward my surprisingly-regular-pretty-much-annual-hey-look-I-actually-got-some-new-music annual music purchase.
• decided to devote real-life (as much as the US $ can be considered "actual") dough toward trying life with Skype. I believe I may have found a solution to the dearth of choice involved with HotSpot@Home. At least until there's a Curve with Wi-Fi that'll convince eschew my current two device policy.
  

/just to be clear->HB,G\

Glamour "Employee": Natural Hair Wrong for Boardroom...

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1188161099761


There was a time when I was little that I thought all girls' hair was naturally straight(er).


(eyebrow)

And here's an apology from the mag's ed., issued to askthisblackwoman.com:


I read your post about a Glamour editor's comments on hairstyles for work, and
I'd like to share with you our thoughts. First, we regret the comments were
made. The employee (not a beauty editor) spoke to a small group of lawyers at a
private luncheon without her supervisor's knowledge or approval, and her
comment — that Afros are not work appropriate — does not represent Glamour's
point of view.

Secondly, immediately upon learning of it, we sought to rectify the situation.
The editor has been dealt with in a very serious manner, and the entire staff
has been reminded of the magazine's policies and procedures for making public
appearances.

Glamour is proud of its diverse readership and celebrates the beauty of ALL
women. We have responded directly and openly with readers to assure them of this
fact. We have also apologized to the law firm, and we extend the same apology
to you.

Cindi Leive,
Editor-in-Chief of Glamour

As long as we're on the subject,

old, but good.

Daddy is SO good to us,

isn't he?

(btw, kinfolks, ya'll still got beat fuh a cee-note...you cheap 4GB bastards is still up DooDoo Crik w/o a paddle...or a one-button mouse)


{mellorate on that fo' uh spell}


[and the $2K eBay geniuses look ever-the-more genius-er]

I know I'D be pissed...

So, we now see, CLEARLY, that Apple intentionally took advantage of the fervor of it's own fanboys/girls and other electro-lemmings. I wonder if they'll notice.

Most companies would start out with a low price, then go up. Yeah, Apple definitely "thinks different".

Okay, okay, maybe it wasn't intentional. Maybe it was just the result of lower than anticipated demand...

btw, Samsung had already announced a touchscreen music player. Some might like that design better.

Samsung appears to bet on blootooth (take calls through the player), recordable FM radio, built-in mic & speaker;

Whilst Apple plans to bank on Wi-Fi with the also announced iPod Le Toosh'.

If Samsung allows for Wi-Fi passthough via the BT 2.0 connection (vive le firmware upgrade), the Yepp could make an alternative for those who desire to avoid the Apple tax....

Which is newly reduced!! Che' GOP!

Wait. I'm confused. I thought the bitten fruit brand was the bloodmark of the raving liberal?

Oh, wait, no. I'm thinking of the hipster/fashionista.

Though toosh'-less, and therefore utterly uncomparable to anything toosh'ed by Prophet Jobs, I find the SD Slot (SDHC, let us hope) and Outlook sync-ing of the newest Zen quite, quite attractive.

The battle over the eyes, ears, nose & thoat of babylon continues...

New Play Excerpt

a line from a play that I'm currenly reading. The character speaking is a Western Idealized Female version of Uncle Sam:

"Oh. These Ni$$ers, umm, Coloreds, no Negroes, hell African American black fools think they got a right to love?! These idiots truly believe that they have that freedom?! Well, it seems that the United States is approaching a repetitive crisis in race relations due to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which followed the good ol’ days of Jimmy Crow, regrettably. They now believe that they actually are human and get to eat from the same pie as me! I will not allow it. (Jumping up and down, throwing a tantrum). There will be NO NIGGER LOVE here, unless, of course that love will serve me. (Sinister laughter and rubbing hands together) But Negroes are weak. They are unskilled and poorly educated. So, it won’t be difficult to strip them of their hearts. They’ll just sing about how hard it is and make up a new dance to go along with it. Hah! Love? Ni$$er love?! I have something for that! (sardonic laughter; exits with the SOUND of a thunder storm, lightening flashes)"

Foam Rubber vs. Silicon

reaffirmation of the GRANDLY obvious:

Puppet Yoda is vastly (superior) to CG Yoda.


Well....the Dooku fight is probably an exception.


Any other time, rods and gears win.

Actual & factual.

Wow...(Movement Studies Division)

Follow this link, skip to 4 min, 58 sec. in.

At some point in the past eon or so,
I figured out that artists are amazed by
other artists.

You witness somebody do something
inspiring, some greatness,

And you're moved -

and say:

I wish I could do THAT with my ______ (<-insert what YOU do here).

So artist initiates art.

So sight begets
sound begets
taste begets
touch begets
movement begets... (∞)

So goes the cycle.

At least that's one of the ways is happens.

hb,g.

Forced Abortion in China

Chronicle page at this link



Chinese victims of forced late-term abortion fight back

QIAN'AN, China — Yang Zhongchen, a small-town businessman, wined and dined three government officials for permission to become a father.

But the Peking duck and liquor weren't enough. One night, a couple of weeks before her date for giving birth, Yang's wife was dragged from her bed in a north China town and taken to a clinic, where, she says, her baby was killed by injection while still inside her.

"Several people held me down, they ripped my clothes aside and the doctor pushed a large syringe into my stomach," says Jin Yani, a shy, petite woman with a long ponytail. "It was very painful. ... It was all very rough."

Some 30 years after China decreed a general limit of one child per family, resentment still brews over the state's regular and sometimes brutal intrusion into intimate family matters. Not only are many second pregnancies aborted, but even to have one's first child requires a license.

Seven years after the dead baby was pulled from her body with forceps, Jin remains traumatized and, the couple and a doctor say, unable to bear children. Yang and Jin have made the rounds of government offices pleading for restitution — to no avail.

This year, they took the unusual step of suing the family planning agency. The judges ruled against them, saying Yang and Jin conceived out of wedlock. Local family planning officials said Jin consented to the abortion. The couple's appeal to a higher court is pending.

The one-child policy applies to most families in this nation of 1.3 billion people, and communist officials, often under pressure to meet birth quotas set by the government, can be coldly intolerant of violators.

But in the new China, economically powerful and more open to outside influences, ordinary citizens such as Yang and Jin increasingly are speaking out. Aiding them are social campaigners and lawyers who have documented cases of forced abortions in the seventh, eighth or ninth month.

Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer, prepared a lawsuit cataloguing 20 cases of forced abortions and sterilizations in rural parts of Shandong province in 2005, allegedly carried out because local officials had failed to reach population control targets.

Chen, who is blind, is serving a prison sentence of three years and four months which his supporters say was meted out in retaliation for his activism.

Many countries ban abortion after 12 or sometimes 24 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother's life is at risk. While China outlaws forced abortions, its laws do not expressly prohibit or even define late-term termination.

A family unplanned

Jin, an 18-year-old high school dropout from a broken home, met 30-year-old Yang, a building materials supplier, in September 1998. They moved in together. A year and a half later, in January or February 2000, they discovered Jin was pregnant but couldn't get married right away because she had not reached 20, the marriage age.

After her birthday in April, Jin bought porcelain cups for the wedding and posed for studio photos. On May 5, they were married.

Now all that was missing was the piece of paper allowing them to have a child. So about a month before Jin's due date, her husband Yang set out to curry favor with Di Wenjun, head of the neighborhood family planning office in Anshan, the couple's home town about 190 miles east of Beijing.

He faced a fine of $660 to $1,330 for not having gotten a family planning permit in advance, so he treated Di to the Peking duck lunch on Aug. 15, 2000, hoping to escape with a lower fine since this was his first child.

The next day he paid for another meal with Di and the village's Communist Party secretary and accountant.

He said the mood was cordial and that the officials toasted him for finding a young wife and starting a family.

"They told me 'We'll talk to our superiors. We'll do our best. Wait for our news.' So I was put at ease," Yang said.

But three weeks later, on Sept. 7, when Yang was away opening a new building supplies store, Jin was taken from her mother-in-law's home and forced into having the abortion.

Why had the officials failed to make good on their assurances? One of Yang's two lawyers, Wang Chen, says he believes it was because no bribe was paid.

"Dinner is not enough," Wang said. "Nothing gets done without a bribe. This is the situation in China. Yang was too naive."

Di, who has since been promoted to head of family planning for all of Anshan township, could not be reached. Officials who answered his office phone refused to take a message and gave a cell phone number for him that was out of service.

Late-term procedures decline

Zhai Zhenwu, a sociology professor at the People's University Institute of Demographic Studies in Beijing, said that while forced, late-term abortions do still occur sporadically, they have fallen sharply.

In the late '80s and early '90s, he said, some family planning officials "were really radical and would do very inappropriate things like take your house, levy huge fines, force you into procedures."

Things have improved since a propaganda campaign in 1993 to make enforcement more humane and the enactment of the family planning law in 2001, he said. Controls have been relaxed, allowing couples in many rural areas to have two children under certain conditions.

Still, Radio Free Asia reported this year that dozens of women in Baise, a small city in the southern province of Guangxi, were forced to have abortions because local officials failed to meet their population targets.

In the province's Bobai county, thousands of farmers rioted in May after family planners levied huge fines against people with too many children. Those who didn't pay were told their homes would be demolished and their belongings seized.

Yang and Jin are suing the Family Planning Bureau in their county of Changli for $38,000 in medical expenses and $130,000 for psychological distress.

But it's not about the money, said Yang, a fast-talking chain-smoker. No longer able to afford to run his business, he now works as a day laborer in Qian'an, an iron mining town east of Beijing.

"What I want is my child and I want the court to acknowledge our suffering," he said.

A family planning official in Changli justified Jin's abortion on the grounds she lacked a birth permit. The woman, who would only give her surname, Fu, said no one in the clinic was punished for performing the procedure.

Contradictory evidence

The National Population and Family Planning Commission, the agency overseeing the one-child policy, says it is looking into Jin and Yang's case. Meanwhile, the evidence appears contradictory.

Jin's medical records include a doctor's certificate from 2001, the year after the abortion, confirming she could not have children. Doctors in Changli county say they examined her in 2001 and 2002 and found nothing wrong with her.

The court ruling says Jin agreed to have the operation. Jin says the signature on the consent form is not hers but that of Di, the official her husband courted.

Sun Maohang, another of the Yangs' lawyers, doubts the court will rule for the couple lest it encourage further lawsuits. But he hopes the case will stir debate and lead to clearer guidelines on abortion.

As she waits for the next round in court, Jin says she is too weak to work and has been celibate for years because sex is too painful.

Her husband prods her to tell her story, but during an interview she sits silent for a long time and finally says she doesn't want to talk about the past because it's too sad.

Then she quietly insists the lawsuit is something she has to do for Yang Ying, the baby girl she carried but never got to see or hold.

K's Addendum

And after ALL THAT,

my mother informs me that her birthday is on the 27th, not the 28th.

and that figures.

One can only imagine how perfect this is...

Gwen, I WILL get you back.

:P

(looks around, suspicious. Covers nose pre-emptively.)

btw, K is her middle name. That's not an abbreviation.

K.

Today is my aunt Gwen's birthday. Gwendolyn K. Bennett is the baby of her siblings - the babiest baby sister to my mom (the oldest). She was born late enough in the game that she was only a few years older than my older brother.

They grew up like brother and sister.

Since she was still young when her siblings started having children, she was the default babysitter. I never remember a time when she resented that.

(Not that we never got on her nerves, or that she never "chastised" us).

Growing up, she was the favorite aunt. Mostly because she let us get away with the most stuff and had the most patience for our shenanigans...

Actually, she played a large part in much of said shenanigans - I don't see how there's anybody in my generation of my mother's side who's sense of humor was not greatly influenced by her.

One morning during the second semester of my first year of college, I was awakened by a call from my mother saying that Gwen had died.

Two weeks after her death, my grandmother - a woman who'd made a career of caring for the infirm - had a stroke, became an invalid, and passed away two weeks shy of a year of the anniversary of her youngest child's death.

The death of my aunt Gwen led to a painful, painful time in my family.

My mother's family, which to me was the epitome of togetherness, for whom "too much fun" was an impossibility -

(ask us about Bennettball, and writhe in your jealousy)

- fell apart; fractured by blame, guilt, pride....(sigh)

toppled by the departure of its bookends.

I came to the following conclusion sometime within the past year, I think, but I wanted to wait until this day to declare it in/to the universe:

I love my Aunt Gwen. I miss my K. I laid my head and cried in my sister's lap for the first time since I was a small, small child at her funeral. I cried again days later with guilt over not having had more to say to her the last time we spoke. Perhaps if I'd said something cheerful, encouraging to her, she would have seen fit to stay with us.

In the past this day has reminded some people I love of what they lost.

From now on, I plan to use this day to celebrate what we had, have or may....WILL have. I will invoke it as a means of healing in my family. And I promise the tears I cry as I write this sentence will be last I'll shed in connection with pain from her loss.

And this is not to say that she was or is any more special that anyone in my family or that my family has lost....

Just that I will use her name on this day as a symbol of happiness. Of joy. 'Cuz that's the way I remember her.

And when I invoke this day, I'm invoking the spirits of both of my Grandmother Annies, Bobby, Marie, Garrett, Garrett Jr., Punkin, Angelique....

And I encourage everyone in my family to invoke the names of someone or one's as a symbol for themselves...

And I'm going to spend the day sayin' "happy birthday" to her.

And, after that, I'm going to holler it everytime something exceptionally good happens...for the times since she's been gone and I wanted to share a moment with her.

And I give exactly three quarters of a hot damn about what anybody in earshot thinks of it.


So,


Happy Birthday, Gwen.


I miss your nose, too. I wanna play with my mole.

"Ethnomusicology"

sounds like the title of a neo-soul album circa 2000-2005.

P.S.:

I really do wish I could start back over from 2k.

I am undoubtedly in that part of my existence.

(headache, looming fatigue while stuck in an office bldg today)


........

Poetic Programminng

I wonder if there's any significance to Brokeback showing on Cinemax 5 Star and The Cowboy Way on OUTer Max at the same time....


(in other news, HBO has Willy running at the same time as Charlie)

Soon Cometh the Electronic Crawdad

Team CajunBot's qualified for the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge semi-final.

Though I guess they should consider a team name change since CajunBot itself is actually staying home.

Here's to the little red wagon from Laffy Ett.

do it for the Boot.

April 4, 1968

Tonight I cried when I heard about Dr. King.

And I was only 39 years late.

(First time for everything)

Vick

The inevitable. The most interesting is the story of the reenactment.

Reparations

In the past two weeks:

LCD display of a PDA

Horn on truck

Bicycle brake cable.

Well, replaced more than repaired.

For the most part, we in this society don't really understand repair anymore; only slightly more replacement of pieces.

We do seem to have a close relationship with discard-and-buy-a-new-(x).

(shrug)

Nice

Very nice.

More of the Same

Was sitting across State St. from the ferry while waiting on a response from a txt msg, mp3 in one ear, eyes, hands and frayed nerves trained on Super Off-Road....

when a clamor came a clamoring from the sidewalk before me. This particular child among a group of children of The City was going on about how some individual she was speaking with needed to (bleep)ing go to school at said individual's insistence that a passport wasn't needed to go to the Virgin Islands from the US.


Now, for clarity's sake, let it be known that there are U.S.V.I.s and U.K.V.I.s.

So, in her bluster, it's possible she is correct.

However, that ephemeral imp "likelihood" would suggest she meant the U.S.V.I.s.

I wasn't sure at the time the nature of the non-U.S.V.I.s, so I sat on my inkling to go and correct her.

Regardless, I hope her GRAND conviction one day finds a useful - and well-founded purpose.

God, save the youth.

Brain Candy

is friggin' great, eh?

Evolution of the Anti-Circumcision Movement

I'd recently begun wondering about the fairness of having this done to defenseless male children for much the same reason as I would refuse to inflict ear-piercing upon female children.

But I don't think I'd ever care enough to bother with this.

There are those who might suggest a lack of sensitivity is beneficial.

Or maybe that's the problem -

I do have a certain amount of envy...

Humans are weird.

addendum:
Girl hyenas are weirder? Wow!

Binky Finds Her Karma

Proof barrel rolls solve all problems.

Sugar & Nicotine

Hooda guessed.

Daily Bread

Yo TENGO QUE recuerdar a comer mas durante del dia.

Today's intake:

1 shrimp empanada w/ a small guava juice

1 iced tea (brewed, unsweetened)

1 bowl of ramen (with black eyed peas)

The NYC divas already mad at me for being a skinny bitch.

Everybody Keep Your Hands to Yourself

"A man should never put his hands on a woman."

Well, this sounds right....but what about when I woman puts her hands on a man?

I see no reason why a male should not defend himself against an attacker.

And my personal rule has always been "don't touch me, and I won't have a reason to touch you".

But there seems a fairly general consensus among women, or at least a considerable contingent among them, that it is ok for a woman to strike a man and she should not expect him to respond defensively.

It is deemed un-manly.

I guess this has some merit in situations where there is a great size difference between the two...but you could make the same argument about the size difference between two men.

But why should any person not keep themselves from being struck?

Indeed, defense doesn't require a belly-to-back suplex....

But why is it ok for YOU to hit ME?

Human males and females are actually quite close in size/strength compared to most of the rest of the world's fauna.

The argument and hypothesy could go on for days upon eons...

Simply put:

EVERYBODY KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF.

(don't make me come back there)

Dixie Youth Baseball

I remember classmates being in Dixie Youth Baseball when I was little. I just thought it was the local version of Little League.

What I did not know, was that it was formed as the result of adults refusing to allow their children to play in a league with the 1955 Cannon Street All-Stars.

On DYB's emblem/patch there used to be a Confederate battle flag opposite the U.S. flag.

I hope the game I watched my nephew play (well, stand around in) when he was little was LL, not DYB.

Although it probably doesn't matter -

does it...._

The Good, the Dumb, and the Crampy

The Good:

After investigating a the New Dorp park across from Miller field, my back tire got caught steel path-shaping material. The bike was going down, but instead of going down with it, I kept cool and got both feet clicked out. I just trotted over the bike while it slid over. Even if it didn't look cool, it felt cool.

The Dumb:

While riding next to Hylan on a poorly maintained sidewalk, I bumped into a try limb instead of slowing to a stop with the left brake and catching the limb with my right hand. I didn't brake because I was worried about stopping and not being about to get out of the pedals. As cool as the dismount was, I think made me leery of getting out suddenly. Jammed my thumb a little, knocked the right brake lever slightly askew, mostly felt stupid. I would've been better off just riding in the street, which I was also being a chicken about....

The Crampy:

My legs were noticeable fatigued while riding back along South Beach. I was making my way through the residence section of Fort Wadsworth when my right quadriceps started spasming. I tried to let it relax, but the left started not long after that. It was the first time I've ever cramped while riding. That last time was after 4 hours of dancing. The worst part is that it was on a hill...and there was almost two miles to go until I got to the truck. I geared all the way down and shifted around on the seat, stood up. It finally let up by the time I got out of the Fort. Maybe it had something to do with that Entenmanns (I was thinking quick energy - wanted an oatmeal raisin cookie, should've got a granola bar, thought I was in enemy territory, didn't take time to think, my bad).

About 34 miles in all. Rode around the south (read: "white") end of the island. Sometimes felt a little uncomfortable, mostly fine. I'll prolly be back there. I have a thought that the abundance of mistakes were the residual effect of concern about how I was being perceived.


interesting

Why do I enjoy

watching Transformers episodes on my PDA so much?

Maybe I'm just happy I didn't pay the Apple Tax.


;)

Road Rash

Had my first fall while clicked into the pedals yesterday. No damage to me. I think I caught a tire weight or a rock with my back tire while I was practicing getting my foot to the to 12 o'clock on the leaning side*.

Left foot shot right out of the pedal, right stayed clicked in. So, all the weight went to the left foot which slipped since I don't have any toe or heel protectors. I guess the next time Nashbar or somebody has free shipping I'll get some decent shoes.

I just love the fact that somebody was walking into a house right when it happened, yet there wasn't even a "you okay".

I love how much we love us.

Then again, maybe it was Mr. Universe's way of tapping me on the shoulder for not dismounting to help that woman get that box to the curb**.


(* It feels more natural to do the opposite, but having the foot at the top of the rotation gives more ground clearance.)

(** I get tired of trying to guess whether people will be threatened if I approach)

I wonder how often

the "current administration" watches Saving Private Ryan...

Woooooooooow

(The following is taken from this website)

Whats wrong with thongs?

Sales of thongs have doubled since 1996, according to Dr. Adelaide Nardone, an ob/gyn in Providence, Rhode Island, and a medical advisor for the Vagisil Women’s Health Center. Obviously, this increase in sales signifies that thongs are the underwear of choice for many women.

But wearing these comfortable, panty line-free underwear can come with unhealthy consequences. “Think about it,” says Nardone. “You have a strip of material directly connecting the vagina and the anus.” If the latter isn’t spotlessly clean, fecal content and bacteria like E. Coli and group B strep typically found in the rectal area can be tracked into the vagina. Nardone says 25 to 40 percent of women unknowingly harbor group B strep in the vagina, and the bacteria can cause problems during pregnancy.

Aside from border-crossing bacteria, the constant rubbing of thongs can cause perineal fissures--tiny tears between the rectum and vagina. “Any open cuts in that area are potential sites for infection, including STDs,” says Nardone, who adds that this problem is exacerbated if a woman shaves below the belt. “Pubic hair protects against irritation and infection, and is a barrier to trauma.”

Whether you opt for thongs or looser fitting underwear, Nardone suggests sticking with all-cotton styles or, at the very least, those with a cotton-lined crotch. “Synthetic fabrics such as spandex and acrylic can cause allergic reactions. They also trap moisture in the [vaginal] area, which creates a wonderful environment for the growth of yeast and bacteria,” she says. A dyed cotton crotch can also cause allergic reactions, so stick with reliable white.

Superwoman....

Whose came first - Main Ingredient or Stevie?

Why I hate biopics

Earlier this year when The Last King of Scotland was out, I had this "discussion" with someone regarding biopics.

My thoughts are, in short, thus:

When anything but the truth is told, you do the viewer and those whose lives you are depicting, a disservice. "Re-imagining" events for the sake of effect - even when the result is greatly enjoyed by the audience - is derogatory*.

If the TRUE story is not worth telling -or your WACK a$$ can't tell it and convey the depth of it, just don't tell it.

Example:

Watch Cinderella Man. Or watch the last 20 minutes of the movie Where Jim Braddock fights Max Baer.

Then watch this.

See the difference?

Hollywood blows.

I'm disappointed in Opie.

Disappointment

So, Garcelle Beauvais seems to have decided it would behoove her career to grace the pages of Playboy with her ta-tas.

Guess I'll have to go ahead and yank her off of that boyhood unattainable crush pedestal.

I remember her from the Avon catalogs.

That's dedication, yo.

:/

Hammas Mickey update

Damn, they got 'im.

The J

Time is moving far too slowly today. 4th of July on Wednesday is like having two Mondays.

(iyulkh)

The Spotless Mind Realized

Brain candy anyone?

Thursday, June 28th.

Though I certainly don't want it to last forever, but not having to work on THIS day is a glorious thing. I was going to dedicate an hour-and-half to the unrated version of Grandma's Boy, but I've decided that derserves more attention that I can spare at the moment. I need to go over a contract, decide what ubiquitous questions I'm going to ask the manager involved in said contract, revise a resume for the manager involved in said contract....oh, and decide if I'm going to sign with said manager.
The offer to sign is an interstesting one and fits into my current plan of career evaluation, but discretion is rarely without it's merits.


This morning I had a two act dream:

1) I and my classmates from grad school were at me Grandmother's house. There was a young woman there who stated she was buying a motorcycle. I offered some sort of advice which led to sophomoric joking.

2) Now in the living room I realize that it's one of said classmate's b'day (1st of Jan?). This leads to horseplay which leads into my Grandmother's bedroom which was now occupied by her "sister". I chase them out and begin reminiscing about objects in said room. This somehow led to the knowledge that my "great aunt" was a music promoter of some sort and would be working with the group Maktub* on a local tour stop. I thought it would be good for one of my NY acquaintances who's into live music to be involved in the process and tried wanted to ask if she could meet them.

(end of dream)

* Their lead singer held the door open for me and a friend at a Starbucks in the LES this past Dec.

United 93

I think I was pretty self-resolute about not watching this movie,

yet I left the channel there once I saw it was on.

I guess it was time.

I found this story about Muslim reaction to the film.

My eyes watered for the first time during these three films when I read this quote:

"On 9/11, I was working at a high-tech firm and I wasn't wearing a hijab," Ibrahim said. "Now I'm wearing a hijab and dedicating myself to preventing people from trying to ruin the name of my faith."



I believe in truth

The Hamburg Cell

still a hard watch; interesting.

still, just an approximation on a possible, though imagined truth.


Then Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee comes on.


Earlier, I watched Cry Freedom for the first time.


Wow.


addendum: AND United 93 is on.

damn

remind me I'm supposed to say something important here.

Lebron James quote (and bonus rant)

"I believe we have a team that can win a championship - and I stressed
that from the beginning... We just got beat by a better team".

Now, quick - count the milliseconds it took you to see the crevasse du
logique in that statement.

why do they torture these children by putting microphones in front of them?

Good news basketball lamenters, the 2007 and1 mixtape tour starts this
weekend in Coney Island.

Thank you SA, for doing as expected and ending this ASAP (well, except
for that game clock situation from game 1).

Congratulations to David Stern for successfully bleeding the life out of
the league, yet somehow managing to have the blame fall on the players.

Congrats to the players association for the lockout ten years ago that
gave the league a cliff to throw itself off of.

Is it possible to have NBA transactions without actually having an NBA
season?

Eyes do rollll.

(sigh)

I think I'm a little concerned

with how appreciative I am of Grandma's Boy.

natural suppliment

I purposely avoided all the OTHER potential titles of this post for the sake of journalistic integrity.

With that said,

read

8 /

Wanna get really pissed off?

Sad?

Watch Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Of course, if you don't feel any of that, well - that prolly says something, too.

Remember, Hollywood's job is illusion. In it's most ambitious intent, it's success at truth will always be....arguable.

August Schellenberg has a beautiful voice.

Aliens3

What happened to the well-acted sci-fi horror/suspense films?

Up through #3 the Alien/s line was pretty well done, but think the performances in 1 & 3 stand out. 2 & 4 were more about the effects/action/gore. Plus Aliens had to deal with the acting burden of one William Paxton.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

So, now that I haven't been working for the past week, I finally took time to try and watch some of the movies on the 20-some-odd HBO's and Cinemaxes that came with the switch to digital cable...


Have you ever seen a movie that you wished made you cry?

I mean you're actually sitting there, unconsciously holding you're eyes wide open so something will come out? With that feeling in your chest that reminds you why we speak of "affairs of the heart" even though it all happens in the head?

Because the joint just hit something dead-square-center-on the nail expressing your past experience?

Somehow it seems as though getting older should cause things to fall further from the truth as you finally see what it is,

Instead you see more and more how much of our experience is shared.

Pasty

It's a beautiful first-full-week-of-May day outside and I'm sitting in my darkish room, fooling around with Fedora 6 (now that I finally have the hard drive space, it'd be nice to find a distro that'll start my sound and let me config to 1024x768).

Ok, it's back up to the install portion, so I'm going to try to escape before it gets to a point where it needs my input again...

Anti-Occupation Mouse

wow

(text below cut pasted from above link)

Hamas 'Mickey Mouse' preaches resistance

Posted 6h 52m ago | Comments 88 | Recommend 11

E-mail | Save | Print |

Enlarge AP An image taken from Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas, shows a giant black-and-white Mickey Mouse lookalike rodent named "Farfour," who spreads the message of armed resistance.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas militants have enlisted a figure bearing a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse to broadcast their message of Islamic domination and armed resistance to their most impressionable audience — children.

A giant black-and-white rodent — named "Farfour," or "butterfly," but unmistakably a rip-off of the Disney character — does his high-pitched preaching against the U.S. and Israel on a children's show each Friday on Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas. The militant group, sworn to Israel's destruction, shares power in the Palestinian government.

"You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists," Farfour squeaked on a recent episode of the show, which is calledTomorrow's Pioneers.

"We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness, and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers."

Children call in to the show, many singing Hamas anthems about fighting Israel.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Israel | Israeli | Palestinian | Gaza Strip | Hamas | Gaza City | Palestinian territories | Mickey Mouse | Al-Aqsa

Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli organization that monitors Palestinian media, said the Mickey Mouse lookalike takes "every opportunity to indoctrinate young viewers with teachings of Islamic supremacy, hatred of Israel and the U.S., and support of 'resistance,' the Palestinian euphemism for terror."

Israeli officials denounced the program Tuesday.

David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office, said "there is nothing comic about inciting young generations of Palestinians to hate Israelis."

A spokeswoman from Walt Disney Co.'s headquarters in Burbank, Calif., did not immediately return messages asking for comment about the use of the Disney-like character.

Yehia Moussa, a Hamas leader in the movement's Gaza Strip base, denied inciting children against Jews. "Our problem is not with the Jews. Our problem is with the (Israeli) occupation and the occupiers," he said.

The television station would not comment.

A Gaza-based psychologist said the program proved that the culture of glorifying violence had penetrated mainstream society in the Palestinian territories, where dreams of Islamic dominion and animosity toward the U.S. and Israel are widespread.

"It's the fault of both (Israel and the Palestinians)," said Samir Zakkout, of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program. "There's been a collapse of values. If I can kill my enemy, I can kill my brother."

The program is opposed by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., which is controlled by Hamas' political rival — the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"I don't think it's professional or even humane to use children in such harsh political programs," said Basem Abu Sumaya, head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp. "Children's nationalist spirit must be developed differently."

Hamas loyalists launched the Al Aqsa satellite channel last year. Bearded young men read the news and Islamic music is layered over footage of masked militants firing rockets into Israel. The channel also broadcasts talk shows, programs about the disabled and cartoons.

In addition, Hamas loyalists run at least five news websites, one newspaper — launched just last week — and a radio station.

Top Cat

is, by far, the best of the classic Hanna-Barbera primetime programs. I'm currently leaning toward Herculoids for the best Saturday morning faire.

yarg

Right now I'm Watching an episode of Johnny Quest entitled:

"Pursuit of the Po-Ho"

indeed.

Drug Harm Ranking System

Interesting story here from Britain about ranking the danger level of recreational drugs.

I feel like an ass.....

I'm tired of having to negotiate the complications of the male ego... interpersonal expectations/male-female dynamics.

I met a lesbisan couple tonight who've been together for over 30 years.

They just seem to fit each other. The were merely together...in whatever the sense of the word was before it took on the euphamism of whatever it now euphamizes. They just seemed to be existing.

I wish I could just exist.

Without the physical urges influenced by the emotional need and the emotional urges controlled by the physical need of the emotion compounded by the desire....

I wish I could be this ideal, compassionate, infinitely sympathetic/empathetic->empathic being,

Who fed only off the fruit of new/additional existences.

The juice of the next individual humanity to come along.

The wine of intimate understanding of a mind.

Not some crazy sci-fi/fantasy-essence vamparism *ish.......

But one who is sustained by the sharing, the exchange.

Then maybe i could walk down the damn street without staring at asses,

and appreciate the bounty of each sentience I come across,

and not risk >>>>ing up the experience by >>>>ing them and then >>>>ing up their self-ness

by >>>>ing someone else.


(how does one shrug in Nederlands?)

Slow, Look, Lean

Earlier this month I determined that I would get my "M" endorsement this year. After perusing TX's flexibility toward out of state license holders and having found alternatives to New York state's high class costs, I will be enrolling in an MSF class in April.


Feel free to start planning my surprise graduation party now.

Retail strategy

You should probably be real careful about opening a boutique

if you made your name designing for the

emperor

who wore no clothes.

Losing one's job

does not absolve one of the eventuality of realizing one's potential.

I'm so racial

from a photo shoot I was "apart" this past september...

I'm at this photo shoot for Wal-Mart. All of the photography/hair/makeup crew is black. The wardrobe designer is tawny...perhaps latina. The manager of the studio is black. The reps from the client are black. All talent is black (not a grand surprise).

The irony? The caterers are white.

Or maybe it isn't.

dammit

I have something I need to say and I came home determined to say it but made the mistake of talking to a friend and now I'm blocked.

my fault for not using the pda on the boat.

(shrug)

Lust

I have had a novel's worth of things that I should have said here over the past month or so, yet I choose to take the opportunity to say that I want this.

I've obsessed over this over the past week or two, and I'm very close to making an ill-advised purchase. My problems in this area have been recently covered.

I asked for a bicycle, and took care of that myself. This time it's somebody else's turn.

Although I am determined to take the MSF at some point this year and right it off as training.

Doll Test 2007

Remember hearing about that doll test waaaay back when that main evidence behind the case against segregation in schools during that 15 minutes of Black history you had back in high school? Of course you don't.

Watch this.

It's short.

(edit: link to movie now goes directly to media matters site. thnks, m.)

I wonder if 50 Cent

knows this.

Breath, stretch, and....hate

Given an automotively based example of "hating" that I recently gave:

On an episode of MTV Cribs, the Game lauds one the virtues of his custom Dodge Charger: A/C controls in the glovebox. A smooth panel seemed to replace them in their previous location on the center console.

Now, please, feel free to explain...

What good does it do to have the A/C buttons/knobs in the glovebox while you're in the driver's seat?

(raises eyebrow)

(waits)

(shakes head)

Whatever.

I will recognize that there was a 12 cyl. motor in the car. At least that serves the purpose of go-fast.

I Did VO for

Rockstar Games project today. Yeah THAT Rockstar games.

A couple lines had "n-word" edited out. But the character I was voicing was supposed to be nerdy, so I don't know if it was because of that or the producers thought better. My suggestion of "buppie" was used instead...

(concern)

I know I said something to a hooker; my lines were turning down a proposition. I also delivered some where I was directed that I was talking to a girl in a club. These, of course, could be used as solicitations for a hooker.

I was hoping it was for something out of their usual vein.

...had a couple BS and f-bomb lines.

Can't really say, but I have a not-good feeling about it.

Far from the first mistake this week.

Thus, have I returned.

And with such a burden to bear.

The devil works best when it only needs to sit back and watch.

I want

this.

It's not right how much I want this,
but I'm hoping that admitting how much I want this
will help me get over so very much wanting this.

God don't condone lust (in all it's forms).


(ay, mami....)

Brak

I was just sitting up watching clips at Adult Swim when I came across this, the best Brak episode ever and probably what got me watching AS regularly. I was thinking the shine might have worn off since it's a few years old, but it is still absolute jocular perfection.

And it features a pre-Gnarls Cee-Lo cameo,
and those are always fun.

If I have to explain it, well... Just relax and let it be.

It helps a little to be a hip-hop fan.

You are aware that Nas has declared h-h dead, no?

If so, it has been a long, painful illness and it is better off so.

But we might need to come up with a new name for what the Roots do.

Addenedum: this ep is from '02 or '03 (as in: pre-8 mile) - can deny not it's genius.

Carry on.

Additionalendum: It probably also helps if you've seen the Brak show before...at least enough to appreciate how much better this is than most episodes. Or, well - I mean, um,

just watch it.