"Hey Whitey, where's your hat?!"

Geez...just when you start rooting for the old school humanistic Bono again who seems to have returned to low orbit with the whole Live 8 thing, this kind of crap makes one actually wanna side with Henry Rollins and his "I-wanna-bitchslap-Bono-AND-his-ego"...

Bono suing former U2 stylist for cowboy hat, earrings, and other 'icons' of the band from the Joshua Tree era.

Have another cucumber slices and lowfat ranch sandwich Bono, trot a flag along the front of the stage, sing your ass off, and stop this stuff. Have the mansions gotten THAT boring? I'm tellin ya Paul, it's seeing this kind of crap that makes the Nobel committee nudge your application toward the 'round' file.

Interesting how a certain sentence from Gilmour's press release at www.pinkfloyd.com about Live 8 was omitted when it was ran on the cnn's, yahoo's, or other US news sites when news of Floyd reuniting erupted. But its here on the floyd site:

David Gilmour made the following statement:
“Like most people I want to do everything I can to persuade the G8 leaders to make huge commitments to the relief of poverty and increased aid to the third world. It’s crazy that America gives such a paltry percentage of its GNP to the starving nations. Any squabbles Roger and the band have had in the past are so petty in this context, and if re-forming for this concert will help focus attention then it’s got to be worthwhile.”

And also by the way, Iraq's going just fine. Planet's not getting warmer either. Anyway Mr. Consumer, your life is incomplete unless you have the new Coldplay, ya mutt. And isn't Lindsay Lohan so incredibly interesting??

Meh...

"Bat Recall Armed Alfred..."

Ok, I'm calling it;

I think as another homage to the original Batman movies, I think they got the same gossip columnist socialite to be in 'Batman Begins' that was in the others. I was able to find online a character named 'Gossip Gerty' real name Elizabeth Sanders. But she's not credited in Batman Begins yet. She was in the 92, 95, and 97 Batmans.

(The other homage I speak of is when Bale grabbed Falconi and did the classic 'grab'em-by-the-lapels and give an in-the-face "I'M BATMAN!" Or is that a comic thing and I'm only an average geek?)

Remember how at every Wayne manor party or society function there'd be that annoying woman who grab Bruce Wayn'es arms and exclaim how "he MUST meet so&so", (usually the villain not in villain-dress). Kind of funny if you think of it in a cultural impact sense...it's gossip columnists at society functions who hook the bad guys up with the good guys.

When the woman who introduced Wayne back to Liam Neeson did that, her voice sounded the same and she looks like an older version of the 90's Batman woman now.

I'm calling it. I think it's the same chick.

Here we go

Here comes Big Brother.
(Public surveillance cams to catch bad guys.) But ONLY bad guys. Really. Seriously. Just ask the police.

It's this bit that scares me:
"The crime rates in Chicago are the lowest in 40 years. The price of keeping the community safe far outweighs civil liberty issues," Bond said.

Ah...more security vs. freedom stuff.

If you ever wanna read a great book about society and privacy going by-bye, read this one:
The Light Of Other Days.

These guys invent a device that can open up a wormhole window anywhere, anytime. Plug in the coordinates and you can essentially open up the equivalent of a Quicktime VR panaromama view anywhere. So as this device gets used (and controlled by the government of course), the truth can be found out about anything. So as privacy becomes exinct as anyone can be seen doing anything anywhere, the book's description on how people and society start living their lives is really fascinating. Like how would your life really change if you knew that at any given moment, people are watching you? How that impacts your life and mental state. Discretion goes away as there's no need. Will you actually stop having sex, going to the toilet, getting undressed, picking your nose, talking about anything important or secretive?

And the other cool part is that the device gets tweeked to be able to look back in time. And they keep going farther and farther, seeing what REALLY happened in history, not what the writers said, but seeing what went down. So that impacts the world huge and upsets deeply ingrained cultural belief systems and such. Seeing how Jesus looked and really died. And farther to when man was evolving. And to when Earth was cooling. Begs the question of how much people would want to know. It's safer psychologically to stay in your comfort zone.

The book's a trip.

While driving the other night STILL hauling things back and from from the old house to the new, I suddenly recalled this quote by the author Ayn Rand for some reason:

"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed."

She used to use this in regards to her writings on Environmentalism and such. But it wasn't till this day that I thought of it as applied to human nature too.

If you think about it, it's the foundation of psychology and self-help as well as landscape and architecture. (And yet again, my keen fascination and constant epiphanies with how (IMO) literal physics is the same as psycho-emotional physics is refreshed.) Sorry folks...some poeple see colors when they hear sounds, some people feel the energies of people and locales, some people smoke dope and go with their afghan and they're just part of the gang... I keep seeing these 'physics relationships' between tangible materials and human nature.

If you're gonna build on something, you must make sure the foundation is solid and you have to work with the laws of the land's nature, or, you're own inner landscape and it's strengths or weaknesses befoe you build on it. Whether a piece of land, or some life goal.

If you wanna change your attitude, or stop smoking for example, to command your own intrinsic nature, you must first obey it - by understanding how and why it does what it does. Only then can you learn to refine, repair, or upgrade it.

Meh... anyway.
I gotta get this house unpacked.

(10 fake referred-to-only-in-text dollars for anyone who can name the movie the afghan quote is from.)

Sorry for lack of updates for those who check this. I moved last weekend and its been a crazy cluttered, chaotic mess of a time.

I'll use my good fallback Carlin desk calendar for some quick comedy:

"If free trade can really turn all these Third World countries into thriving economies full of entrepreneurs and investors, who's gonna clean the toilets around here?"
Ouch.

"One of the more embarassing strains of American thought is the liberal-humanist, touchy-feely, warm and fuzzy, New Age, environmental-friendly pseudo-wisdom that appears on bumper stickers: "Think Globally, Act Locally," and most embarassing, "Practice Random Kindess and Senseless Acts of Beauty." You know, if kindness and beauty require public reminders, maybe it's time we just throw in the jock."

Now that's what I call Old School Grumpy.

Some crazy artwork done in Microsoft's Paint program by Ryan.
Ah to be 10 again.

Hell my name is your name here and I have a special offer for you.

I'm laughing at myself (as well as my coworker) because these words violently broke the office's silence as they came out of my mouth quite angrily and idignantly as I read about new cd releases today:

"What the hell is this 'Essential Hall & Oates??!, I just f%ckin' bought the 'Ultimate Hall & Oates!..."

Essential
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:cyx8b5z4xsq0~T00

Ultimate
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:qyf6zfs3eh3k~T00

Super Ultimate
Yeah, I'm a little mad right now.


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My god this is funny.

Coolest Monday in a awhile

"Awright, o-right, o-right!"
-McConaughey from 'Dazed & Confused'.

(This is the kind of stuff I'd do/host if I was a celebrity with time on my hands.)

"Absolute Evel: The Evel Knievel Story" (8 p.m., History Channel). Motorcycle madman. Matthew McConaughey hosts this documentary portrait of famed daredevil Evel Knievel, a colorful, cantankerous maverick who offers comments on his various crazy stunts and motorcycle jumps. And that includes Knievel's infamously botched 1974 attempt to leap the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. Oops

*******************

Pink Floyd reunite for Live 8.
Yes, all four.

*******************

Wow.
Madonna finally figured out that there's more to life than exploring her sexuality in front of the world.

This calls for a great rapid-fire montage of every time she scolded Kurt Loder in MTV interviews over the years with come-hither eyes as she would verbally bitch-slap him for even considering questioning her sexual personae and it's role in her publicity strategies. While dressed in whatever slut motif that tied into the new album design-wise.

But what do I know, I just watched MTV and believed it all like a good 80s boy. As long as Prince and Madonna's tunes were making my girlfriend frisky, I was a happy boy-toy.

AARRGH! She's brainwashing me again!!!.."

******************

I wrote this about the Pink Floyd reunion thing today:

Nick Mason's cool new book about the Floyd has a postscript in it that said it's probably not possible they'd reunite. Key members of the PF team like manager Steve O Rourke has died, and Storm Thorgeson the art director is ailing. So even though the 4 main guys are ok, in their world the PF machine is not what it was.

But...then Geldof comes and saves the day.

I think PF will get it together. Extremely slowly. A few one-off shows, maybe writing together as a lark to see what happens. I think they'll have to convince themselves tangibly that what they already know ("we're too old to be stupid and petty anymore") can be applied to working together. I think their concience and whatnot would only allow them to do something very real and worthy. Especially with Roger. So maybe in 3-4 years I'd expect a tour. A real tour behind a real album. It would have to be legit in Roger's mind. As much as I think he's grown and mellowed and wisened, his integrity has always been there.

And to be honest, I think the other guys would be fine with getting in the studio and letting the old dynamic (sans fighting) take hold - which means following Roger's lead and supporting a bold vision he gets excited about.

In other words, I think Dave, Nick, and Rick could give a shit about "supporting" Roger, or being thought of as his sidemen. I would hope age, death, family, (and being huge millionaries) would comfortably allow them to be cool with the fact that letting Roger's vision (delivered with the abilities and understanding of the other guys) is what makes PF special and unique. And I would hope Roger understands that in a compasionate, un-arrogant way too. It's a synergy and symbiosis that simply works well. His message delivers in no better way than with those 3 guys providing the bricks and mortar to his blueprints. (it seems to me).

And those 3 guys "get it" more than they have the burn to create it themselves. Its obvious by their output. (And being filthy rich). So let the beauty exist. Let go of the ego and competition. The world already knows their geniuses, they've only read it about themselves for 40 years now. What's left to accomplish except putting good music and message to the world?

Maybe O' Rourke's spirit is subversively engineering his mates into resolvving such a feud.? If anyone would really know the scoop of that inner PF dynamic and know the good it would bring, it's that guy. Managing this from the grave.

Maybe they call it "from the grave" because it's so gravely serious, a dead person has to dip back into this plane to make it happen? Obviously us silly humans couldn't get our heads out da butts.

Organic food versus Factory Farms set in a Star Wars animated theme.
Like Hardware Wars.

Very fun.

http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

I'm gonna be a DJ in the clubs.

Everyone's doing it seems, and the names are so clever, original, and easy to differentiate. But you know what? I thought of the best one of all.

My handle will be:

"DJ [violently indifferent fart sound]"

I think that will look great in print on the gig listings page.

[Wick Wick Whirrrt, Wick WikWik Whirrrt.]
Can't ya hear me scratchin'?

European newswoman farts on air, can't stop laughing.

I love how the bumper music to transition out of it just drives the hilarity home even more. Her silhouette giggling.

Comin' Alive

WORK HARD, ROCK HARD.

Priming and painting our new house in Ypsi has been a wonderful and fatiguing exercise. And part of that exercise is in learnign first hand what kind of music works well in such situations. Last weekend when Paul the carpenter was putting arches in the living room thruways (arching otherwise standard rectangle doorways), we had the boombox jamming 94.7, classic rock here in Detroit.

If you're gonna spend your Memorial Day Weekend covered in drywall mud, dust, paint primer, shocking your hands into spasm from using power tools to mix that mud for 10 hours straight - Steve Miller, the Eagles, Sabbath, Zeppelin, and Joe Walsh goes down reeeeeal well. It's a great lesson in understanding why classic rock is classic.

Enough rock and metal riffs to mirror the intensity of the hard work you're doing, mixed with the groove of great rhythm sections that were guys who grew up on the rhythm sections who came before them, who were the 40s/50s/60s big bands and early rock-n-roll drummers. So they actually swung. Only hard rock metal band I can think of that swung in the 90s was the Pumpkins. What's that you say? The drummer Jimmy Chamberlin learned drumset playing jazz? Weeeeelll, call me Blondie, I guess I'm right. [ get it? Blondie? Call Me? That song she ha..., oh forget it.]

Anyway, when you're busting your ass on major home renovation and need to get dirty and do stuff that makes you sore by end of day, good classic rock and roll really makes sense as the day's soundtrack. (This is not Major Earth News Epiphany here I know...) The band(s) sound like they're working as hard as you, but also trying to make it feel good. Just like what you're doing with your home.

Painted ceilings ALL DAY today. 'All day' being 2pm to 10pm. Holding the roller on the broomstick for hours because you have to do it right, slow, and with a pattern system to get even coats. Where one side of your neck gets dang tight holding a broom with a pound of weight on the end far out from your center of mass and you have to control the stroke. THAT painting ceilings all day.

And now I'm off to 'visit the Rev. Al Green' and watch a Frampton concert.

Cuz that's what you do after a day of bustin' your ass.

Thank God for Peter Frampton.

I'm about to feel like he do'd when this pic was taken.

More Star Wars

Bill Murray on a radio show where they got him to sing his Star Wars lounge version on the air.

Two great ones from my George Carlin desk calendar:

"Think of how strange we'd look if all the cuts, burns, scrapes, bruises, scratches, bumps, gashes, and scabs we ever had suddenly reappeared on our bodies at the same time."

"A crazy person doesn't really lose his mind. It just becomes something more entertaining."

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IF YOU HAVENT SEEN STAR WARS EPISODE 3/REVENGE OF THE SITH YET, DON'T READ THIS NEXT PART TO AVOID SPOILING IT FOR YOURSELF.

+++++++++++

So tonight before bed Joy and I watched Return of the Jedi from when Vader brings Luke to the Emperor on Death Star 2 to the end (with ep3 still fresh in our minds.)
What a treat.

And YET ANOTHER fantastic cyclical technique with Anakin watching the Emperor frying someone (Mace in ep3, Luke in ep4), trying to decide what to do, yet THIS time he chooses to stop the Emperor. I never thought of that similarity to ep6 when I was watching ep3 in the theater. The actual duration of time that the frying is happening and now two times in his life anakin just wacthes Palpatine doing it and being frozen in confusion.

Sounds easy and simple on paper here, but when you watch it, man does it resonate so much deeper now.

And best of all...after seeing ep3, seeing Anakin in young form at the end of Jedi as a ghost makes TOTAL comfortable sense now. Any weirdness I had was quelled. Because the Anakin ghost has the same essence and facial looks as he did so much of the time in ep3.

How frickin awesome.

But Joy did say that just that bit of Jedi she watched was better "because it was real people and characters. Its more fun." The stormtroopers and Ewoks, etc, the Emperor's throne room set, etc. I.e. Everything's not CG.
Sweeeeeeet.