today was a day for a journey into the wikipedia. i would like it if the xkcd dude would make a map of just the wikipedia like the online communities one ("here be anthropomorphic dragons" kills me every time) or the internet one (or at least start making funny comics again, like at least once a week). i don't know how big of a chunk i would have covered today, obviously it couldn't be that big; i did it all today. but it is certainly a prime chunk of territory of wikipedia land. this is because it could fit into the syntax of [somewhat pejorative prefix] + [academic discipline]. i learned from my cryptozoology shenanigans last semester that the wikipedia is prime for these sorts of things.
the order of the day could be described as pseudoarchaeology. specifically, out-of-place artifacts, or OOPArts, as those in the know apparently call them. this was actually inspired by today's dinosaur comics edition, which mentioned the coso artifact. it was all downhill from there. i am now up to speed on all what was fit to wiki. the strange thing it that the ones that seem like the most bullshit have the most information. odd. but i have several friends that are all about these sorts of things. i don't really care how silly they are or aren't, i am mostly just glad that such tings exist. i do believe that every side has some sort of vested interest going, but it is pretty tricky to try and come to an independent somewhat objective opinion. clearly, most people these days try and follow contemporary scientific standards, and there is some merit in that. but on the other hand, think about how those people were probably written off as loonies at one time. pendulums always swing, and not necessarily in predictable ways. if the early going science types could be super right about some things, i don't see why contemporary mystics can't be super right about others. tomorrow: ancient astronaut theories.
if i were a musician, i would have a gold mine for names of everything via these inquiries. out of place artifact and ancient astronaut theory and pseudoarchaeology are just the beginning. saqqara bird and kingoodie hammer are sure hits. have you heard the antikythera mechanism e.p.? it is almost as good as the old stuff on baghdad battery.
actually, the antikythera mechanism is where it all came together in one of those sort of predictable but sort of bizarre internet synchronicities earlier. as you may have surmised, this was kind of an internet-heavy day. at any rate, i was keeping an eye on my feeds including the pre-loaded bbc news one. halfway down the list was something about a 2100 year old computer and the olympics. sure enough, that ancienct computer was none other than the antikythera mechanism, and it turns out some of its gears helped to keep tracks of the olympic games. go figure.
but back to music for a moment. i was compelled to put on sgt. pepper's earlier with a keen desire to hear the tale of lovely rita, meter maid. good news, folks: it remains as fine a tune as ever. i did notice some things however. i find it very odd that the album flip comes between for the benefit of mr. kite and within you without you. these are both super awkward side endings and beginnings. however, they do fit squarely into the middle of the record. i don't know what to do. send me your amended track listings, and i will call paul and we will talk. maybe we can work this out or something. also, someone asked me about beatles' little help from my friends vs. joe cocker's. for most things, joe cocker can kind of kiss my ass. he is the qdoba of soulful music: promising more than he delivers, workin' off other people's shit. but he does do a damn fine version of that cut. however, i think paul's bass actually comes through for the win on that one. it is remarkable and plays a rather forward role here. very emotive. so it turns out joe cocker can pretty much stick it.
i am now listening to steely dan. i only mention that to annoy dekkinga. also, steely dan is excellent.
this is why i can't post so much these days: no law school to complain about and very little else going on to mention. i haven't even made it to atlantic city yet. other updates include that i burned my stomach the other night trying to fry bacon at a point where it was not advisable to do so. the burn is parallel to the scar i have from the time i more or less impaled myself on that post on the dune. at least this is an injury with a definite and plausible explanation, for what it's worth.
a couple weeks ago i received a letter from my landlord. he informed me that he was going to raise the rent. i was not surprised, as my downstairs neighbor had told me that this happens like every year. i was also not bothered, as i planned on moving anyway. but it is the time of the month for paying rent, and so i dropped it off with a note stating that i intended to move out. the landlord called back in a couple of hours. i have trouble understanding him, especially on the phone, so it was a little odd, but communication more or less occurred. first, he wanted to make sure i was serious. i was. then he asked me about the price increase, which was only ten dollars a month. i told him i understood why he would have to, but he sort of wanted to negotiate. i informed him that it wasn't really a big deal, but i was going to go and he could probably find someone else. he then offered to not raise the rent at all if i would stay. this wasn't really going to sway me, but it was kind of a strange offer. it is nice to be wanted. i feel like a good tenant. mostly, i think he would just like to hold onto tenants who don't really ask him for much and he doesn't really have to concern himself with, just keep cashing the checks. oh well.
that is all folks. well, pretty much. maybe a little altered steely dan lyrics? no? oh yeah, anyone who thinks that shit is funny has heard it already. well then...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
cooked food eaters anonymous
i was trying to hold out until somebody solved the foot mystery, but it just doesn't seem like that is gonna happen. i'm not gonna lie; i'm a little disappointed in y'all. a little summer sleuthing, maybe an opportunity to visit british columbia. i would have done it myself, but, you know, duty calls. or at least not doing a whole lot calls.
i went to go see that phish band again last friday. i can't remember if i have mentioned them before. they are called simple and they play at my bar sometimes. they do a pretty darn good job, really. much better than, say, the band that plays a couple phish songs every show but is not exclusively a phish band, i.e. cover tops or super happy fun time american jam band or whatever they are or mr. blotto. in any event, it is a great occasion to go and have some drinks and a good time. they did not disappoint.
we haggled the cover charge, which is something i had not done previously, but it was kind of funny. the same door guy is always there, but i don't know if he recognizes me or not. it was supposed to be seven bucks each (the door guy also said there were three bands; thankfully it was just the one), and i was going in with two other people. so i'm kind of giving him a hard time, all like c'mon man. cut us a break, let us in three for fifteen. and he just laughs long and deep, and he is naturally large, being a door-man, and so it is quite a bellow. he comes off as pretty incredulous about my offer. he's all nah, nah, man, we can't do that. he says it has to be sixteen for the three of us.
me sister, as some of you may know, is going to live in london for like nine months or something coming up pretty soon. she recently confirmed her housing plans, which will be in a university dorm. she will have no kitchen, but rather catered british dorm food. this prospect should appeal to no one, and rightly so she has considered alternatives, including raw food. so we were walking around and went into a bookstore to check out some raw food cookbooks. all i have to say is fuck those people. one book was alright, gave the green light to for real cheese and prosciutto and stuff. apparently the cutoff is 115 degrees fahrenheit. most of the books were pretty lame, mostly just half directions on how to make substitutes for things people actually eat and then recipes utilizing those substitutes.
one book really pissed me off, by some fuckhead vegan new york assholes with a bullshit restaurant. that one was subtitled "how to get the glow". apparently these people think that those on a raw food diet acquire some sort of glow after a month or so. the whole thing was super sexualized, which was kind of bizarre. the layout of the whole book reminded me of cosmo. every sentence i read made me want to punch those responsible in the face. snobby shit about the importance of using the filtration process that japanese hospitals do and so forth. what the fuck? whatever water you drink probably wasn't cooked, i don't think, but i guess i don't really know. i'm probably preaching to the choir, that is, the six people i already know who might read this, but seriously people, just let folks eat what they want and don't be a dick about it. my sister made a great joke when i read a line aloud from the book: "you can spot a raw foodie (NOT MARKED!?!? FOODIE IS NOT A WORD!!! god dammit, spell check) in a crowded room instantly." "yeah, they'll be the person who isn't eating anything."
after that, my sister bought me a delicious beer at tria, which i mentioned like 8 months ago. it is a place with dank beer, cheese, and wine. i had a heavy seas hang ten, which is like an imperial dunkelweizen. this beer should not be, but it is. and it is pretty delicious. she had a dogfish head festina pesche, which is a fucking amazing summer beer with wide distribution. wherever you are, you can probably find it, and you should probably drink as much as you can the next time you are so hot as to be unhappy. it fixes that problem rather well.
i am currently drinking ten high. it is an alleged bourbon, sour mash and such. it is pretty fucking vile as far as i can tell. i am not sure if this is because i haven't been drinking much in the way of liquor in a long time, or if it is just that bad. seven a fifth, and that is pretty dirt cheap here. i probably shouldn't have bought it, but whatever. it was just a day where i didn't feel like doing much. the thing that sounded the best was to drink liquor and watch a comedic film, which i will do after i am done typing this.
as everybody probably knows, i was home for a while between the last post and this one too. not much to say about that, since everybody is pretty much up to speed. but thanks to everyone for being there and having a good time with me and making it a worthwhile excursion. i saw just about everybody i wanted to see save one or two. i did run into one major Issue, but i actually feel like i handled it really well. in fact, it may be my best handling of a Thing in like three years or something. my reactions throughout recent history haven't been renown for their efficacy or prudence exactly. so that felt alright. all in all, a successful journey, other than being too poor to go to rothbury, although my time during that tenure was top notch to be sure.
my visit to gun rue was followed by a visit of my brothers and father to the city of brotherly love. this also went alright in my opinion. it was kind of strange, because i had seen all those people for a couple weeks running up to the visit and wasn't bound to spend time with them the whole while, as they were fully capable of wandering about the city on their own or under the guidance of my sister. the significant outcome was that i acquired some delicious meals i did not pay for, along with some groceries and case of stone i.p.a.. all in all, a good time. an additional visit to tria occurred, much to my delight. they are currently offering the dankest of all potato chips. say what you want about chips, but if you say you do not like them you are probably lying. these are herbed or whatever and the dip features truffle oil. fucking dank. but the cheese of course was the real star, my personal highlight was a boerenkaas i had not seen the likes of since the fatherland. also a great cheddar and a somewhat funky brie, which was good but not really as much my thing.
in other news of good fortune, we made a good quizzo showing the other night, but not high enough to place for a gift certificate. however, we did win free beer as a team, and i was personally redeemed in the shout-out round. what causes a butterfly rash on the face centered around the nose and is an autoimmune disorder? attention house (the show not the electronic music genre) fans: it was totally lupus. i guessed, but it worked. not only is it funny because it was lupus, it is funny because i won a box of fruit snacks and a slightly misshapen decorative fruit, a "lemon". when i got back to my place, my buddy was all like, man, those fruit snacks are old. i disagreed. but they are monsters, inc. fruit snacks. that movie has been out some time. so long, in fact, that marketing tie-ins are also somewhat dated. these fruit snacks were like two months from expiration. although they were not expired, what kind of shelf life do fruit snacks have? pretty long, i'm thinking. so yeah, they were pretty old. i have eaten most of them. they are much better than my last quizzo food win, which was macaroon cookies.
this saturday i am making my first foray into the notorious state of new jersey. i will be going to atlantic city. i will hopefully not gamble. or stay at a casino, or anywhere. no, i will go to the house fo blues, aka the house of westernized eastern religions. i will see the mighty clutch. it has been a while, and i am excited. unfortunately, it is a very large bill, in terms of bands and ticket plus silly charges. originally bad brains was going to play and that excited me but they are not listed anymore. i am also concerned over the fate of the hammond b3 player as he has not been on the last two tours without any announcement from the band. well, whatever, at least clutch will headline, and that's more than they have done in this a longstanding stronghold of the band since i have moved to it. i will probably tell you all more than you want to know about it later.
my current internet obsession is the brick testament. if you have not availed yourself of this business yet, it comes highly recommended. it is a good portion of the bible which is illustrated. but see, the illustrations are all pictures of impeccably designed lego scenes. it is an impressive obsession that this person has shared with us all via the internet. i have a friend who has not read the bible, but i showed it to him and he got hooked. i do not think that this makes me an evangelist, but i really believe that people should read the bible. it is compelling on many levels, and at the least some selections make for intriguing reading. if you have dealt with the bible for a couple decades like many people i know, this presentation is simple amusing to the max.
i continue to listen to an awful lot of the avett brothers. i cannot say enough good things about this band. they make simple music, but they do what they do so well. i really consider it to be something that would appeal to more people than a lot of what i listen to. if you have not heard this band and cannot be bothered to somehow make it happen on your own but would like to listen to them, let me know. i will gladly facilitate expanded appreciation of these people and their music, because it is absolutely amazing and surprisingly unique.
that most of what i have to say i think. it is now time to watch a funny movie, which is what i have wanted to do all day. i think i will watch best in show because i have not seen it in quite a while and it is one of the few movies i have. also, i got into an argument defending it the other night and realized i wasn't as familiar with it as i wanted to be. and so cheap liquor and mockumentary laffs it is. good day.
i went to go see that phish band again last friday. i can't remember if i have mentioned them before. they are called simple and they play at my bar sometimes. they do a pretty darn good job, really. much better than, say, the band that plays a couple phish songs every show but is not exclusively a phish band, i.e. cover tops or super happy fun time american jam band or whatever they are or mr. blotto. in any event, it is a great occasion to go and have some drinks and a good time. they did not disappoint.
we haggled the cover charge, which is something i had not done previously, but it was kind of funny. the same door guy is always there, but i don't know if he recognizes me or not. it was supposed to be seven bucks each (the door guy also said there were three bands; thankfully it was just the one), and i was going in with two other people. so i'm kind of giving him a hard time, all like c'mon man. cut us a break, let us in three for fifteen. and he just laughs long and deep, and he is naturally large, being a door-man, and so it is quite a bellow. he comes off as pretty incredulous about my offer. he's all nah, nah, man, we can't do that. he says it has to be sixteen for the three of us.
me sister, as some of you may know, is going to live in london for like nine months or something coming up pretty soon. she recently confirmed her housing plans, which will be in a university dorm. she will have no kitchen, but rather catered british dorm food. this prospect should appeal to no one, and rightly so she has considered alternatives, including raw food. so we were walking around and went into a bookstore to check out some raw food cookbooks. all i have to say is fuck those people. one book was alright, gave the green light to for real cheese and prosciutto and stuff. apparently the cutoff is 115 degrees fahrenheit. most of the books were pretty lame, mostly just half directions on how to make substitutes for things people actually eat and then recipes utilizing those substitutes.
one book really pissed me off, by some fuckhead vegan new york assholes with a bullshit restaurant. that one was subtitled "how to get the glow". apparently these people think that those on a raw food diet acquire some sort of glow after a month or so. the whole thing was super sexualized, which was kind of bizarre. the layout of the whole book reminded me of cosmo. every sentence i read made me want to punch those responsible in the face. snobby shit about the importance of using the filtration process that japanese hospitals do and so forth. what the fuck? whatever water you drink probably wasn't cooked, i don't think, but i guess i don't really know. i'm probably preaching to the choir, that is, the six people i already know who might read this, but seriously people, just let folks eat what they want and don't be a dick about it. my sister made a great joke when i read a line aloud from the book: "you can spot a raw foodie (NOT MARKED!?!? FOODIE IS NOT A WORD!!! god dammit, spell check) in a crowded room instantly." "yeah, they'll be the person who isn't eating anything."
after that, my sister bought me a delicious beer at tria, which i mentioned like 8 months ago. it is a place with dank beer, cheese, and wine. i had a heavy seas hang ten, which is like an imperial dunkelweizen. this beer should not be, but it is. and it is pretty delicious. she had a dogfish head festina pesche, which is a fucking amazing summer beer with wide distribution. wherever you are, you can probably find it, and you should probably drink as much as you can the next time you are so hot as to be unhappy. it fixes that problem rather well.
i am currently drinking ten high. it is an alleged bourbon, sour mash and such. it is pretty fucking vile as far as i can tell. i am not sure if this is because i haven't been drinking much in the way of liquor in a long time, or if it is just that bad. seven a fifth, and that is pretty dirt cheap here. i probably shouldn't have bought it, but whatever. it was just a day where i didn't feel like doing much. the thing that sounded the best was to drink liquor and watch a comedic film, which i will do after i am done typing this.
as everybody probably knows, i was home for a while between the last post and this one too. not much to say about that, since everybody is pretty much up to speed. but thanks to everyone for being there and having a good time with me and making it a worthwhile excursion. i saw just about everybody i wanted to see save one or two. i did run into one major Issue, but i actually feel like i handled it really well. in fact, it may be my best handling of a Thing in like three years or something. my reactions throughout recent history haven't been renown for their efficacy or prudence exactly. so that felt alright. all in all, a successful journey, other than being too poor to go to rothbury, although my time during that tenure was top notch to be sure.
my visit to gun rue was followed by a visit of my brothers and father to the city of brotherly love. this also went alright in my opinion. it was kind of strange, because i had seen all those people for a couple weeks running up to the visit and wasn't bound to spend time with them the whole while, as they were fully capable of wandering about the city on their own or under the guidance of my sister. the significant outcome was that i acquired some delicious meals i did not pay for, along with some groceries and case of stone i.p.a.. all in all, a good time. an additional visit to tria occurred, much to my delight. they are currently offering the dankest of all potato chips. say what you want about chips, but if you say you do not like them you are probably lying. these are herbed or whatever and the dip features truffle oil. fucking dank. but the cheese of course was the real star, my personal highlight was a boerenkaas i had not seen the likes of since the fatherland. also a great cheddar and a somewhat funky brie, which was good but not really as much my thing.
in other news of good fortune, we made a good quizzo showing the other night, but not high enough to place for a gift certificate. however, we did win free beer as a team, and i was personally redeemed in the shout-out round. what causes a butterfly rash on the face centered around the nose and is an autoimmune disorder? attention house (the show not the electronic music genre) fans: it was totally lupus. i guessed, but it worked. not only is it funny because it was lupus, it is funny because i won a box of fruit snacks and a slightly misshapen decorative fruit, a "lemon". when i got back to my place, my buddy was all like, man, those fruit snacks are old. i disagreed. but they are monsters, inc. fruit snacks. that movie has been out some time. so long, in fact, that marketing tie-ins are also somewhat dated. these fruit snacks were like two months from expiration. although they were not expired, what kind of shelf life do fruit snacks have? pretty long, i'm thinking. so yeah, they were pretty old. i have eaten most of them. they are much better than my last quizzo food win, which was macaroon cookies.
this saturday i am making my first foray into the notorious state of new jersey. i will be going to atlantic city. i will hopefully not gamble. or stay at a casino, or anywhere. no, i will go to the house fo blues, aka the house of westernized eastern religions. i will see the mighty clutch. it has been a while, and i am excited. unfortunately, it is a very large bill, in terms of bands and ticket plus silly charges. originally bad brains was going to play and that excited me but they are not listed anymore. i am also concerned over the fate of the hammond b3 player as he has not been on the last two tours without any announcement from the band. well, whatever, at least clutch will headline, and that's more than they have done in this a longstanding stronghold of the band since i have moved to it. i will probably tell you all more than you want to know about it later.
my current internet obsession is the brick testament. if you have not availed yourself of this business yet, it comes highly recommended. it is a good portion of the bible which is illustrated. but see, the illustrations are all pictures of impeccably designed lego scenes. it is an impressive obsession that this person has shared with us all via the internet. i have a friend who has not read the bible, but i showed it to him and he got hooked. i do not think that this makes me an evangelist, but i really believe that people should read the bible. it is compelling on many levels, and at the least some selections make for intriguing reading. if you have dealt with the bible for a couple decades like many people i know, this presentation is simple amusing to the max.
i continue to listen to an awful lot of the avett brothers. i cannot say enough good things about this band. they make simple music, but they do what they do so well. i really consider it to be something that would appeal to more people than a lot of what i listen to. if you have not heard this band and cannot be bothered to somehow make it happen on your own but would like to listen to them, let me know. i will gladly facilitate expanded appreciation of these people and their music, because it is absolutely amazing and surprisingly unique.
that most of what i have to say i think. it is now time to watch a funny movie, which is what i have wanted to do all day. i think i will watch best in show because i have not seen it in quite a while and it is one of the few movies i have. also, i got into an argument defending it the other night and realized i wasn't as familiar with it as i wanted to be. and so cheap liquor and mockumentary laffs it is. good day.
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