Hey, who do you think is the killer in Boston Legal?
My bet's on the mother.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
sold soul lacks opportunity
Earlier this week on the way out of work I audibly remarked to myself "I'd sell my soul for a donut." I said this, of course, because I was hungry and my thoughts turn to famous Homer lines from Simpsons Halloween episodes at this time of year. Another reason is that this season's Halloween cd installment that J.R. and I do every year seems to have thematically taken a turn directly toward something out of Dante's Inferno. Perhaps I shouldn't have watched Hellraiser last week. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.
Anyway, after I arrived home 45 minuts later, I discovered a box of Krispy Kreme donuts on the kitchen table. I gobbled one down that had black and orange frosting. The next day I went to Institute partially to save my soul, but mostly to check it out and see if they had anything to eat. After a short wander around, I found my refreshments in the northeast chapel. Donuts. Lots of them. All alone. I had a chocolate donut, and could have eaten several more, but decided against it. Attending class I discovered that the food was meant to be eaten after the session I was attending, so it's a good thing I didn't take any more (since it seemed like the class was heavily overbooked) The next day, I came across no donuts at all.
Halloween has grown in popularity exponentially over the past few years. For the most part I love the fact that people are more heavily embracing my favorite holiday. It means I at least have people to hang out with while the dark festivities happen. This year I'm sort of annoyed.
Last week was Friday the 13th of October, which only happens every few years. It's a wonderful wonderful dual-dark holiday. Unfortunately, I'm not used to making my mid-month dark holiday plans in advance. Anyway, next time you attempt to rent a scary movie on Friday the 13th of October, think ahead. I went to three or four Hollywood videos looking for the aforementioned Hellraiser, but had no luck finding it on DVD (I did finally find it on VHS at the Hollywood on 7th North and Redwood Road). I was actually amazed to see that 90% of ALL horror movies were checked out. I thought it very unusual to see that much bare shelf in the video store. It's as if they were completely renovating. And good luck finding Friday the 13th at all(although I strangely found Friday the 13th Part III (maybe I should have picked it up while I could -- surely I could use some of its lines for this year's Halloween cd considering the timeliness of the date)).
Although I'm way behind in my Halloween duties I figured I could at least paint my phone. Lately, I've gotten into the practice of using nail polish to paint my phone according to the season (WATCH! By next year it'll be huge. Just you wait). Of course I use nail polish because it isn't chalky like acrylic paints so the phone retains its smoothness. Last night I stopped into what I assumed was the best possible place to pick up nail polish -- Rite Aid. I guess not so bizarrely, all the black nail polish of every brand was completely sold out of the store. Instead of getting plain old black I got "Starry Night." Looking at my phone at this very moment I'm realizing that it's a lot closer to purple than black. Unfortunately I went to the store alone and didn't have a set of non-colorblind eyes. I blame Halloween.
I can hardly believe I just said that. Once upon a time I was complaining that people just didn't get into it enough. Now I long for the days when there weren't so many of us.
Last week I had a colonoscopy done. I'm not afraid to admit it. Just like nail polishing phones, colonoscopies are going to be all the rage in the near future. However, they might be more like what they are in this link that Abel sent me here. A week ago this information would have been very useful.
Anyway, after I arrived home 45 minuts later, I discovered a box of Krispy Kreme donuts on the kitchen table. I gobbled one down that had black and orange frosting. The next day I went to Institute partially to save my soul, but mostly to check it out and see if they had anything to eat. After a short wander around, I found my refreshments in the northeast chapel. Donuts. Lots of them. All alone. I had a chocolate donut, and could have eaten several more, but decided against it. Attending class I discovered that the food was meant to be eaten after the session I was attending, so it's a good thing I didn't take any more (since it seemed like the class was heavily overbooked) The next day, I came across no donuts at all.
Halloween has grown in popularity exponentially over the past few years. For the most part I love the fact that people are more heavily embracing my favorite holiday. It means I at least have people to hang out with while the dark festivities happen. This year I'm sort of annoyed.
Last week was Friday the 13th of October, which only happens every few years. It's a wonderful wonderful dual-dark holiday. Unfortunately, I'm not used to making my mid-month dark holiday plans in advance. Anyway, next time you attempt to rent a scary movie on Friday the 13th of October, think ahead. I went to three or four Hollywood videos looking for the aforementioned Hellraiser, but had no luck finding it on DVD (I did finally find it on VHS at the Hollywood on 7th North and Redwood Road). I was actually amazed to see that 90% of ALL horror movies were checked out. I thought it very unusual to see that much bare shelf in the video store. It's as if they were completely renovating. And good luck finding Friday the 13th at all(although I strangely found Friday the 13th Part III (maybe I should have picked it up while I could -- surely I could use some of its lines for this year's Halloween cd considering the timeliness of the date)).
Although I'm way behind in my Halloween duties I figured I could at least paint my phone. Lately, I've gotten into the practice of using nail polish to paint my phone according to the season (WATCH! By next year it'll be huge. Just you wait). Of course I use nail polish because it isn't chalky like acrylic paints so the phone retains its smoothness. Last night I stopped into what I assumed was the best possible place to pick up nail polish -- Rite Aid. I guess not so bizarrely, all the black nail polish of every brand was completely sold out of the store. Instead of getting plain old black I got "Starry Night." Looking at my phone at this very moment I'm realizing that it's a lot closer to purple than black. Unfortunately I went to the store alone and didn't have a set of non-colorblind eyes. I blame Halloween.
I can hardly believe I just said that. Once upon a time I was complaining that people just didn't get into it enough. Now I long for the days when there weren't so many of us.
Last week I had a colonoscopy done. I'm not afraid to admit it. Just like nail polishing phones, colonoscopies are going to be all the rage in the near future. However, they might be more like what they are in this link that Abel sent me here. A week ago this information would have been very useful.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
lost in pair of guise
So obviously Lost went back on tv last night. Since I haven't written anything in here lately, I may as well post up the rough draft of the review I wrote for FreeCapitalist.com.
Ready and begin.
The best thing Lost has going for it is its potential for misdirection. In other words, the best thing is its ability to keep us in the dark perceptually. In other words, it wants to keep us lost.
The surprises come right at the beginning of the season premiere. We’re treated to witnessing an everyday book club event complete with suburban housing furniture, tea and obnoxious suburban book club friends. Very normal. Then the plane crashes. Suddenly these aren’t normal people. We realize in this misdirecting flashback that these are The Others – the people who kidnapped our three heroes at the end of last season. Of course just because we call them “our heroes,” it doesn’t mean that all three of them aren’t actually ex-felons.
The Others (or “our villains”), now, are in the forefront. They have faces. They have a thriving community. Although we don’t understand why they do the things they do, we can tell by their reaction of the plane crashing in their backyard that what they are doing (at least to themselves) is urgent rather than sinister. Strangely, I’m inclined to believe Ben (the weird leader of The Others) when he said to Michael (the guy who betrayed his friends in order to find his son) at the end of last season, “We’re the good guys.”
The good guys? That’s a hard pill to swallow especially since we know that these people have kidnapped several of the doomed flight passengers and purposefully manipulated many of the rest. Of course a matter of perspective is in order. While the two groups have been busy miscommunicating with each other, several more of The Others lay dead at the hands of the doomed passengers than the other way around. Do these stats make Ben and The Others the good guys after all? Are our heroes really the bad guys, but we side with them because we know them better?
The only certainty is that every single individual on this island believes they are in the right. People may do unprincipled things, but nobody actively proclaims that they’re evil. They don’t even know they are, especially when they’re only acting in their self-interest. Circumstance may give us an opportunity to impose torture, deceive those around us and take what isn’t ours. The survivors are learning that doing such things may serve interests as well as provide for the common good, but such things are unprincipled. As a result, they need to deal with the “other unprincipled good guys.”
Everybody on that dang island is lost in just about every sense of the word. They all have so much potential to lose their way even more. In the meantime, we’re not given the perspective we need to prevent ourselves from getting lost. It’s fun to watch and no doubt it will be enlightening for all of us when we’re allowed to see the whole picture along with everyone else.
The truly great thing about the show is its presentation that the proper perspective isn’t always a certainty. Despite how good we say we are, a failure to abide to the proper principles truly gets us lost.
Ready and begin.
The best thing Lost has going for it is its potential for misdirection. In other words, the best thing is its ability to keep us in the dark perceptually. In other words, it wants to keep us lost.
The surprises come right at the beginning of the season premiere. We’re treated to witnessing an everyday book club event complete with suburban housing furniture, tea and obnoxious suburban book club friends. Very normal. Then the plane crashes. Suddenly these aren’t normal people. We realize in this misdirecting flashback that these are The Others – the people who kidnapped our three heroes at the end of last season. Of course just because we call them “our heroes,” it doesn’t mean that all three of them aren’t actually ex-felons.
The Others (or “our villains”), now, are in the forefront. They have faces. They have a thriving community. Although we don’t understand why they do the things they do, we can tell by their reaction of the plane crashing in their backyard that what they are doing (at least to themselves) is urgent rather than sinister. Strangely, I’m inclined to believe Ben (the weird leader of The Others) when he said to Michael (the guy who betrayed his friends in order to find his son) at the end of last season, “We’re the good guys.”
The good guys? That’s a hard pill to swallow especially since we know that these people have kidnapped several of the doomed flight passengers and purposefully manipulated many of the rest. Of course a matter of perspective is in order. While the two groups have been busy miscommunicating with each other, several more of The Others lay dead at the hands of the doomed passengers than the other way around. Do these stats make Ben and The Others the good guys after all? Are our heroes really the bad guys, but we side with them because we know them better?
The only certainty is that every single individual on this island believes they are in the right. People may do unprincipled things, but nobody actively proclaims that they’re evil. They don’t even know they are, especially when they’re only acting in their self-interest. Circumstance may give us an opportunity to impose torture, deceive those around us and take what isn’t ours. The survivors are learning that doing such things may serve interests as well as provide for the common good, but such things are unprincipled. As a result, they need to deal with the “other unprincipled good guys.”
Everybody on that dang island is lost in just about every sense of the word. They all have so much potential to lose their way even more. In the meantime, we’re not given the perspective we need to prevent ourselves from getting lost. It’s fun to watch and no doubt it will be enlightening for all of us when we’re allowed to see the whole picture along with everyone else.
The truly great thing about the show is its presentation that the proper perspective isn’t always a certainty. Despite how good we say we are, a failure to abide to the proper principles truly gets us lost.
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