dimarts, de juliol 24, 2007

I am big, it's the pictures that got small



I just watched Sunset Boulevard. I was watching a video of David Lynch talking about what movies he loved and he mentioned the work of Billy Wilder, specifically SB, so i rented it. I liked it a lot. I love being familiar only with an actor's later work and then seeing them as a young man in an earlier role; I had heretofore only seen William Holden in Network (one of my all time faves) and The Towering Inferno.
I raised over $2,000 at work last night, my best shift so far. Last night I also started No Country For Old Men, which I finished today. I really liked it, and I am anxious to see the movie, as the book did not have what I would consider to be a "thriller" ending.
The Crying Of Lot 49 was also pretty good, I think Pynchon has a thing (a penchant?) for global conspiracies that go back years and years. Next I will read Steinbeck's The Pastures Of Heaven. I think I've read 10 of his novels already, so I'm sort of scraping the bottom of the barrel, not that I doubt I will like the book.
Over the weekend Amy and I visited The Station as well as the Contemporary Arts Museum, both of which had some really cool new stuff on show. We also went to an open house for a new little block of townhouses, and it was very nice. I especially liked the 4th floor balcony with a downtown view.

dijous, de juliol 19, 2007


I was one of the weirdos in my jr. english class that actually enjoyed The Scarlet Letter, so I endeavored to read another one of Hawthorne's novels, and finished The House Of The Seven Gables just this evening at work. After a short break from reading whence I doodled on my pad, I began to read Pynchon's The Crying Of Lot 49, which some say is his most accessible novel. Though I did not plan this at all, the Pyncheons depicted in THOTSG are based on the ancestors of the real life Thomas Pynchon, whom I just mentioned.

dimarts, de juliol 17, 2007





I was already excited about the upcoming Coen brothers' movie No Country For Old Men, when I discovered it is based on a novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. I got the book, and I'm looking forward to reading it.
The Road looks very good, too. Oprah sticker be damned.

dilluns, de juliol 16, 2007

lost in a Roman wilderness of pain


I watched Harsh Times last night, and it was definitely one of the more crazy/fucked up movies I've seen. Afterward I listened to The End in the car and it seemed appropriate.


Of all presidential candidates, none are supported more by people in the military than Ron Paul.
I guess because he's the only republican who wants to bring them home.

dijous, de juliol 12, 2007

Russians may have specific genes that allow them to drink more vodka
Michael Moore is a fat disgusting pig and socialized medicine is way too expensive and does not work

Sure it's great if you're a laborer who suffers a small injury, but if you get any kind of serious disease? Good luck getting appropriate care this century. What so many on the left seem to forget when they compare our health care system to other systems in the west is that people in Europe and in Canada pay FAR higher taxes than we do. Rather than subject the entire population to higher taxes to pay the exorbitant costs of universal health care, why not let people go out and get their own cheap health insurance plans with that money, its really not all that expensive, people.

Dumpsterati




I finished Texas, and now I love my state more than ever. Also, though I am still fairly liberal on certain social issues (gay rights, abortion, etc.), I have become quite the little blue blood conservative. I favor a more laissez-faire free market, no taxes, absolutely minimal central government, etc, etc. I'm not particularly into the whole religious morality thing, though I do favor an emphasis on family/community values (as opposed to letting the government be the arbiter of morality through censorship, etc.). I think the role of any government should be the protection of it's citizens, and by extension, their interests. The government should only play defense and right now in Iraq mine is playing offense with great zeal and it makes me sick. I am NOT a neocon; they are dangerous and are bound to destroy America with their hawkish ways.
The title of the post is a word I came up with that is meant to refer to all homeless people in general.
You like?

dimarts, de juliol 10, 2007

I wanna go back to Barcelona:



he had a duty of confidentiality to her other personalities



I went down to La Grange today to see the courthouse there. The pics aren't that interesting, but it was a nice diversion. Really all I could think about the whole time was that ZZ Top song.
15 minutes into my shift at work tonight I got a $1,000 pledge on credit card from an architect in Mississippi that I have been trying to get a hold of for six months. That made my day, and I told him so.
I love analogies, and I came up with one today that encapsulates how I see the tired old "I don't want my tax dollars spent on this or that" complaint:
It's like if someone breaks into your house and steals all of your money, and then goes and spends all of it on drugs, and you, instead of getting upset about the theft, get upset about what the money was spent on. I have come to the very conservative conclusion that my income is mine, I worked for it, and I think it is criminal for the government to take even one cent.
However, I realize that the government does require some source of income, which is why I don't really have a problem with the taxation of consumption, i.e. sales taxes.

dilluns, de juliol 09, 2007




If Iran Were America (And We Were Iran): A Timeline
We ignore the consequences of US foreign policy at our own peril.

Work has been really slow lately; I'm calling records that myself and other callers have been through dozens of times, which means that the great majority of the people don't even answer. It's all good, though: I've gotten through a hefty portion of Texas, which I like a lot. Michener's historical fiction novels can be a tad heavy on the fiction side, like how he throws in made up towns and counties, etc. But over all I would say that it paints a decent picture of the history of this here great state. It's also one hell of an epic novel.
Naturally, reading the book has made me think a lot about the state and it's history, and I would love to see Texas secede from the union, taking with it eastern New Mexico, and all other lands originally claimed by Texas (parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming) when it won it's independence from Mexico. That would be basically all lands north of the Rio Grande in what was then Mexico. Yee haw. I also want my son to be a Texas Ranger, and I don't mean the baseball team.
I think I'm going to venture out into Texas in the next few days to see some of James Riely Gordon's architectural achievements.

dimecres, de juliol 04, 2007

dilluns, de juliol 02, 2007