Mad Thoughts

Who’s fucking next?

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:53:48 -0400

Who’s fucking next?

30 Day Movie Challenge - Day 15 - A character who you can relate to the most

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:06:58 -0400

I can identify with both:

and

First, fuck off, I love this movie. It’s good. Everyone is good in it. Gus Van Sant’s direction storytelling is tight and that screenplay is amazing.

On the topic of Ben Affleck, I think his direction on Gone Baby Gone more than proves that there is a storyteller inside him. The Good Will Hunting script did not, as some have theorized, fall out of the sky.

Chuckie. I identify with Chuckie because I like to think I’m the kind of friend that would rather lose a friend than see them unhappy. I “get” what he is talking about when he tells Will, in likely the most honest moment in the whole movie, that, “maybe I’ll get up there and I’ll knock on the door and you won’t be there. No goodbye. No see you later. No nothing.” It breaks Chuckie’s heart to watch his friend sell him self short, but fuck, he’s powerless to do anything about it, so all he can do is keep getting him drunk.

Plus, in the past, I’ve been the only asshole with a working car, so I’ve played Chuckie’s role of part-time taxi driver too.

Then, Will. I’m likely going to flash my huge, planet-sized ego (and likely some short-sighted over-privileged whiteness too), but I’ve always identified with Will’s battle to move beyond what the world has given him. I also know what it’s like to feel like there is something special in you, but not know how, or even if, you can let it out. I wear my need for a father-figure on my sleeve too. Will’s smart, but like he’s told in the film, he doesn’t have a clue on what to do with himself. No one understands why he just doesn’t do it: go to Harvard, be rich, be a genius— he’s so tightly wound in being from Southie, for being on the demolition team, for being what he is, he can’t figure out what he can be.

Ever hear me talk about Detroit? You see what I mean?

Good story on how historic preservation kept Midtown Detroit out of the reccession

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:17:31 -0400

Good story on how historic preservation kept Midtown Detroit out of the reccession

"Q: What do you call it when all the knights trade places at the round table?"

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:33:28 -0400

“Q: What do you call it when all the knights trade places at the round table?”

- A: The knight shift!

via the Medieval Times ‘Medieval Joke Contest Fan Favorites’ page

Is it possible to go blind from anger?

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:29:10 -0400

Is it possible to go blind from anger?

According to Terminex,the most bed bug infested cities in the US are...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:05:00 -0400

NYC
Philly
Detroit
Cincinnati
Chicago
Denver
Columbus
Dayton
DC
LA

The Wilderness Downtown

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:12:13 -0400

The Wilderness Downtown:

One of the cooler things you’ll see on the internet this week.

I’m fine. Seriously.

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:47:15 -0400

I’m fine. Seriously.

Still waiting, but I have a valve now.

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:46:34 -0400

Still waiting, but I have a valve now.

30 Day Movie Challenge Catch-up

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:59:17 -0400

Day 09 - A movie with the best soundtrack

Hackers. Hands down. I didn’t even have to think about it. It introduced me to a genre I still love today. It introduced me to many artists I still listen to today, and it has 2-3 songs that could appear in a top 25 favorite jams list.

Day 10 - Favorite classic movie

This is a tough one for me because I, mostly by accident, have not watch many classics. I liked The Birds. I really enjoyed White Christmas. West Side Story is a hoot. I’ll say It’s a Wonderful Life.

Day 11 - A movie that changed your opinion about something

Another tough one. I’ll go with Fog of War. It didn’t change my opinion about the Vietnam War, it created it.

Day 12 - A movie that you hate

I hate Empire Records. I’ve met so many people that love this movie and I just can’t figure out why. Is this what teenagers were supposed to be like in the 90’s? Precocious and half-retarded? And what’s with the cheesy lounge singer, sex subplot? I’ve seen it, more or less, three times and each time I try to figure out the appeal and each time I turn it off in a fit of confusion and rage. Also, what’s with Suburbia? That sucked to.

Day 13 - A movie that is a guilty pleasure

The Rock starring Nick Cage.

Day 14 - A movie that no one would expect you to love

Many people close to me know that I don’t watch horror movies. It’s something I picked up from childhood and it’s always stuck with me. There have been a number of occasions, however, that a scary movie has slipped through the cracks (network TV versions, especially). Knowing how much I dislike horror movies, people might be surprised to know how much respect I have for the original Halloween. When Meyers is following Jamie Lee Curtis, in the daylight, as she walks home from school? Brrrrrr! I still get freaked out.

Tragedy

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:42:08 -0400

I lost a follower and I’ve had Creed music stuck in my head for the past few hours.

My last post— the one with the Glenn Beck joke? Not worth it.

Well I just heard the news today It seems my life is going to...

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:48:37 -0400

Well I just heard the news today
It seems my life is going to change
I closed my eyes, begin to pray
Then tears of joy stream down my face

With arms wide open
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I’ll show you everything
With arms wide open
With arms wide open

Arms Wide Open by Creed

Photo: Nikki Kahn/Washington Post

"A black President. Muslims in America. Gays marrying. Scary times if you’re an asshat. Scarier if..."

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:44:00 -0400

“A black President. Muslims in America. Gays marrying. Scary times if you’re an asshat. Scarier if you’re a racist, uneducated, born-again Christian without decent job prospects.
…
We need to recognize that when we see a growing fringe movement, it is NOT because things are getting worse, but in fact because, in the long run, things are getting better.”

- wad city: Why We Should Interpret the Islamophobic Glenn Beck Juggalo Movement As A Sign of Progress

The above quote from Wadcity and the following quote from Human Dog more than adequately sum up my feelings about Glenn Beck’s ‘Restoring Honor’ Summer Bar-b-que that took place yesterday in Washington DC.

Why not devote this energy to labor movement activities or contemporary urban and suburban land-use debates that directly relate to our national obsession with reckless energy consumption and waste that drive some of the worst abuses of our system from wars to cheap labor exploitation. Subjects that actually affect the existence of millions of people in this country and beyond.

Instead, everyday it’s look what Sarah Palin said while giving a handjob to Glenn Beck, look how crazy their followers are etc etc. These things are self-evident. It’s not news.

Not much more I can add and when it comes to this specific subject (Glenn Beck), I’m increasingly lazy and slow to respond. Let him fantasize about the past. Let him wish and pray for a day when America returns to whatever he thinks we as a nation once were. I’m looking forward.

Emmy's are on tonight

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:26:15 -0400

Her: Do you feel like making ballots.
Me: [smiling] Do you feel liking winning tonight?
Her: I do. I need a win.
Me: Then we will fill out ballots.

I think we’ve just selected the song we will enter our...

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:57:14 -0400

I think we’ve just selected the song we will enter our reception to. Love Gun by Kiss.

In the next iteration of MP3 software, be it iTunes, Zune, Napster, whatever, to have a...

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:22:17 -0400

In the next iteration of MP3 software, be it iTunes, Zune, Napster, whatever, to have a “Mix-Maker Mode” or “DJ Mode”.

Basically, I want to be able to play two songs at the same time— one through my speakers and another through my headphones.

I’m in the process of making playlists for the wedding, and I need to hear the song outloud in order for me to decide if its worthy of the list. I also want to be able to play songs that entertain myself and my lady as we chill on this Sunday afternoon. If I were starting a new track every 30 seconds, we’d both get annoyed.

I’m sure there is a way I could pull this off messing with my speaker settings and using Winamp and Zune at the same time, but that’s annoying and doesn’t make the process any easier.

via reddit

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:53:15 -0400

via reddit

DC’s trending topics on Twitter are making me gag.

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:05:59 -0400

DC’s trending topics on Twitter are making me gag.

getmarried: We’ve been overwhelemed by the compliments and...

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 10:57:17 -0400

The invitation cover

Reply card

Close-up of Jack

Top half of reply card

getmarried:

We’ve been overwhelemed by the compliments and kudos our wedding invites have received. Thank you all for enjoying them so much!

There isn’t much of a story behind the invite. Shannon and I have a geeky bone (or two, or three) in our bodies, but we aren’t planning a very geeky wedding. We decided we should show that side of ourselves in the invite.

Off to the internet! Shannon did some searching, and found a man on Etsy.com that couples like us can commission to produce artwork for us. She realized this was the same person featured in an article sent to her by our friend Lindsay. We loved the sample artwork he provided and his overall style. We reached out to him, sent him some ideas we had about the landscape and what type of peril the invitation version of us would face. We decided to ground ourselves in a post-apocalyptic cityscape (there’s no place like home) and face-off against the greatest threat we could imagine: our cat Jack!

The artist was excited about our project and was ready to flex his artistic muscles. We sent him some headshots of us and Jack, and a few weeks later, got a huge black and white pencil of the artwork, and the digital, color image files that would make the invite.

We were ecstatic. I wanted to send them right away, but the advice of friends convinced me to wait for the proper times. Its been tough to keep the secret and to not blow the surprise coming to people’s mailboxes. The wait, however, was worth it and we’ve been delighted to hear all of the positive feedback.

The artist goes by the name swelser on Etsy and was an absolute pleasure to work with. Responsive and attentive, he met all of his deadlines and produced a piece of artwork that we’ll look back and love for a long, long time. If this is your sort of thing, I can’t recommend the guy enough. Plan way in advance though— swelser was recently featured on the uber-geek blog, i09.

We are likely going to get a little more use out of the artwork. There will liekly be a large print of the cover for show at the wedding and we’ll be reusing the little Jason and Shannon heads in some other places too.

PBR Can Handle

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:57:32 -0400

PBR Can Handle