The 505

"Mother shitter son of an ass!"
I just had a post that got erased.
Long story short: This band of freaky weirdos played in my living room Sunday. They're called the Mathematicians (no links here, that's what killed the post) and play new wave dancy grooves meshed with Beastie Boys team-style shout rapping.
It was incredible.

E-STRIP

I find myself doing more messege boards every day. I like getting in debates with people. Not violent or hateful, just good intellectual debates. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in my group of friends that can debate. There's one or two, but they need to be drunk or I have to stretch my opinnion so we can actually talk.

So I go to these messege boards and I type my opinion and maybe a few hours later I'll get a response. By this time, I care so little about the topic. But I answer back, just for the debate.

But it's never as good as with a friend... or even an enemy. It's just an avatar that means nothing to me and everything to them. And it's never anything great, just bumper sticker opinions.

I want a bumper sticker that says, "My opinion fits on a two by six inch piece of paper." I know, It's no "shit happens, " but what can I say?

So here I am on my computer, constantly checking to see if I get a response to a post. It's no way to live. Maybe I should go hiking, or actually finish my home work. Or maybe I should write that script that will break all the rules and change media for ever.

Or maybe I should just post this and wait for someone to respond.

Weather Freak-Out

I live in an area with no real seasons. It’s either hot during the day and hot at night or it’s warm at day and cold at night. There’s a tree outside my apartment, but I don’t think the leaves have ever fallen.

But I think this is a good thing for me. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been pretty weird when the seasons change. I don’t know why. My emotions just get off.

But it hit me last week. I was talking to a chick in class about drugs. I started talking about hallucinogenics, and she asked what it was like when I peaked. I told her that’s not the craziest part. It’s the transitions that mess you up. First everything is fine, then Yoda starts yelling at you. But at the end, you’ve had this long trip, but then the walls start to solidify.

I thinks that’s how I am with the weather. I get used to the heat, but then the air starts to cool. Or I’m used to cold nights, then I have to toss aside my jacket.

It’s the transitions that mess with me. The peak is fine. I can handle the highs and lows, but I don’t know what to do when things change.

Maybe that’s my bigger problem.

for tsloungers in the bay area

I have a sketch playing in Berkeley April 21 to May 28 at Impact Theatre. It's part of a comedy show called "The How-To Show". My sketch is called "How to Order a Fun Dinner in a Fun Restaurant".

http://www.impacttheatre.com/season/

http://www.theatrebayarea.org/tba/dtl_production.jsp?id=3379

Adult-onset attention defecit disorder

There's this movie that came out about 10 years ago about these five liberals who dine regularly together and talk about what's wrong with the world. Then they decide to start inviting ultra-conservatives over and poisoning their wine. It's called "The Last Supper," and it's been playing over and over again on FX over the last few days. Not a great movie. The gist is basically "judge not," but what I like about it is the assault on everything that everyone hates about liberals. I'm one of those self-loathing leftists, and the best way I can think to describe it is that if you oppose dogma heavily enough, you become a dogmatist, as a columnist I used to work with said. The downfall of liberalism, is that when taken far enough, it boils down to 'I know what's best for everyone, and they're too stupid to realise it.' I know there are some serious West Wing fans around here, but watch five minutes of that show and it's blatantly obvious why Democrats leave a bad taste in Americans' mouths. The politics and philosophy are sound, but the delivery is nauseating.

But what's really important here, is whatever happened to the Cameron Diaz from 1995? She was about the most beautiful creature around from head to toe when she appeared in this movie and The Mask around the same time. Now she's anorexic, leathery, ghetto trashy, and on the brink of marrying that creepy Michael Jackson impersonator. Oh Cameron plus 15 pounds, how we miss you so.

###

The new Beck album is taking some abuse for being a rehash of his previous work. This is kind of unfair. In his six (?) previous albums, he lifted from just about every genre our generation is exposed to and made instant classics that completely redefined the sound. He's a veteran innovator, and having one album that doesn't completely rewrite the rules is hardly a failure. Guero is solid and fun, and if Beck wants to recycle some of his own sounds, I can look the other way.

###

I had some serious preoccupations about Sin City's approach of making a big screen carbon copy of the comic. The trailers were interesting, but clips of dialogue made me cringe. But if you can sit through some akward spots the movie as a whole is an amazing feat to watch.

The bad stuff: Miller's text doesn't do well coming out of actual human mouths. You may be able to write something like, "I done killed em real good for you Goldie," but you just can't say it. Many of the performances are akward, because it takes a creative actor to be able to say some of this stuff.

The good news: Many of the actors do it amazingly well. Mickey Rourke is genius. So are Benicio del Toro, Clive Owen, and even that Gilmour Girl. They make you forget about Jessica Alba and Brittany Murphy.

Also, the visuals are so good, that after the initial shock of the green screen technique (horrible in Sky Captain), you forget the separation between the real objects and the CGI background. The action is amazing, and takes on its own life separate from the comics. Miller's two-tone stills are stunning and Rodriguez's grey recreations are different, but as impressive.

It can be argued that 100 percent fidelity to the source material was overboard (the prosthetics are unsettling and Dick Tracy-like). But Sin City is true to the nasty spirit of crime comics and the innovative storytelling of the graphic novel; more than a shot-by-shot emulation. It pulls no punches and is shocking and upsetting in the way that comics fans know and love. Some people will walk out (my mom did), but they are a fair trade for a movie that makes no compromises. You don't get those anymore (anybody unfortunate enough to see the PG13 Alien vs. Predator knows what I'm talking about). It's full of bizarre and jarring visuals, graphic violence, cursing, sex and nudity (oh, the nudity! oh Carla Gugino!) and still managed to rule the box office. For that alone, I call Sin City a masterpiece.

Crews

Last night a few folks came over - part of what is emerging as the New Crew. They're mostly related to the roommates' jobs, but there's no escaping the fact that there's a sea change in the social scene surrounding me. It's not just an isolated person or few either. There's easily a good dozen people who are now part of the New Crew of friends. I'm slow to coming around to it, largely because they're folks brought into the circle by the General and DJJ rather than myself. But there's some level at which I'm dismissive of these new folks simply because I'm not sure I'm ready or I want them. Who are these people, and how well do they stack up to all my other friends?
In a way I'm more or less forced into this New Crew. Nearly everyone I've hung out with over the past eight years has moved, and some of the few who remain are on road soon enough.
I've had several other crews evolve over the past few years. There's the coffee shop, the news crew, the funny people, the barflies among others. But this one is stranger. It's the unasked for friends of roommates crew. For the most part it's alright; they're fairly good peeps and in most cases not half as insane as the General and DJJ. And maybe one or more of them will prove at some day to be an actual good friend. We'll see.
How's it work for y'all, former Catfish Crew members, now out and about in the world, having to search out new social circles? Probably about the same.

I've found it!

Dr. Chung.

(Sorry to have beaten Mr. Chair Investigations Inc. to the punch on that one.)

damn it's quiet here

*cricket* *cricket*