Bad News Hughes

Here's a really funny blog: Bad News Hughes. I've been reading it off and on and finally added it to my links. Be sure to work your way through his archives, he has some great stuff in there and some excellent advice.

For a supposedly straight guy, I sure have spent a lot of time in gay bars....

...I’ve also hooked up with what I’m reasonably sure were attractive girls at gay bars pretty often, for me anyway. One time, while still in high school, I was drunk and leaning against the dumpster in the parking lot of an infamous bar on the outskirts of town called My Friend’s Place and making out with a totally hot punk-rock college chick. She was super nice, had bought me a bunch of drinks and even kept making out with me after I turned and ralphed into the dumpster a couple of times, causing one patron walking by to clap his hands and gleefully dub us "Gainesville’s version of Sid and Nancy."

Boondocks

Big Pic

Body As Billboard

Link to more shirts.

by way of Jess <-> Mike

Abort Bush

Got this of off mobog.

Gmail Illegal?

If an uppity Californian State Senator gets her way that may be true. Liz Figueroa has introduced a bill into the California Legislature saying e-mail providers may not evaluate the content of incoming e-mail originating from outside the system without the explicit permission of all outside correspondents. She must be crazy.

Why are people so scared of Gmail? If you want a gigabyte of email space then put up with the ads. If you don't want ads then use a free service. Oh wait, I'm sorry. Those free services have ads too. Random, large, banner ads that have nothing to do with you. And you only get 2, 4 , maybe 6 megabytes of space. If you had only put up with little, usually relevant, ads that Google placed. Too bad.

Do you think Google is just going to offer you a gigabyte of space for nothing? Why would they do that? They're a company trying to make money. They offer a service, a great service. If you don't want to use it then don't, but please don't ruin it for the rest of us.

The best solution to this would be for them to offer the service at a cost for people who don't want the ads. But I'm sure people will bitch about that as well. You just can't please people.

Here Kitty Kitty...

I don't know how long these have been online, but check out these, in my opinion very funny, commercials for the Ford SportKa. They SportKa is being billed as the evil twin to the Ka. They don't sell these in the US, as far as I know just in Europe and Mexico.

Kitty

Pigeon

I don't understand why people complain about these commercials. They're not real animals. I don't here these people complain when people get shot on tv shows, or cartoons shoot each other, but a cuddly computer animated cat gets its head chopped off and all hell breaks lose. Whatever.

Philip Larkin

One of the local alt-papers talked about a new Philip Larkin book and had some of his poems in it. I really liked what I read in the column so I looked him up on line. Here are some of my favorites. Definitely someone whose books I'd like to own.

This Be The Verse

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

Why Did I Dream Of You Last Night?

Why did I dream of you last night?
Now morning is pushing back hair with grey light
Memories strike home, like slaps in the face;
Raised on elbow, I stare at the pale fog
beyond the window.

So many things I had thought forgotten
Return to my mind with stranger pain:
- Like letters that arrive addressed to someone
Who left the house so many years ago.

GMail

I've heard good and bad things about Googles Gmail service, but who cares, it's 1 GIGABYTE of space. I had to sign up. And lucky for me, by being a member of Blogger which is owned by Google, I get the opportunity to check it out. So my new email is *email deleted* I don't get a lot of email but still just knowing I have 1gb of space is cool.The only bad thing so far is that I couldn't use freon as my username. What's the difference between 5 and 6 characters for the username? Oh well.

More Albums

Here's some more albums I've downloaded this year. I'm not going to do an entire review on each one just a one liner or two.

Personal Journals - Sage Francis --- More white boy hip hop but not as good as Atmosphere. This is a little too poetic for my taste.

Steal This Double Album - The Coup --- This LP features one of the greatest songs I've ever heard. Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Granada Last Night. It tells an awesome hip hop story with great rhymes, metaphors and delivery.

Lost in Translation OST - Various --- I loved the movie so I had to have the soundtrack. A few songs from the movie are missing but they included the excellent track of Bill Murray doing karaoke.

I've downloaded more just haven't listened to them all.

New Years Project

52 Albums in 52 Weeks

Week	Album	Artist
47	Love Angel Music Baby	Gwen Stefani
46	Has Been	William Shatner
45	Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)	The Wu-Tang Clan
44	72 and Sunny	Uncle Cracker
43	Ocean Avenue	Yellowcard
42	Sublime	Sublime
41	Around the Sun	REM
40	Music by Cavelight	Blockhead
39	Cee-Lo Green Is the Soul Machine	Cee-Lo
38	No Roots	Faithless
37	American Idiot	Green Day
36	Joyful Rebellion	K-Os
35	White People	Handsome Boy Modeling School
34	Rules of Enragement	Lewis Black
33	If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears	The Mamas & the Papas
32	Good News For People Who Love Bad News	Modest Mouse
31	Americana	The Offspring
30	It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back	Public Enemy
29	Blink 182	Blink 182
28	Sing the Sorrow	AFI
27	The Low End Theory	A Tribe Called Quest
26	Greatest Hits 93-03	311
25	To The 5 Boroughs	The Beastie Boys
24	Hot Fuss	The Killers
23	Diva Series	Nina Simone
22	American IV: The Man Comes Around	Johnny Cash
21	Pisces Iscariot	Smashing Pumpkins
20	Confessions	Usher
19	Kill Bill: Vol 1	Various
18	Love Songs	Barry White
17	Billy Breathes	Phish
16	Songs About Jane	Maroon 5
15	Atlas	Kinky
14	Life for Rent	Dido
13	Musicology	Prince
12	Boy In Da Corner	Dizzee Rascal
11	Lost in Translation OST	Various
10	Steal This Double Album	The Coup
9	Personal Journals	Sage Francis
8	Sonador	Adan Sanchez
7	Cartel de Santa	Cartel de Santa
6	The Grey Album	Danger Mouse
5	Lo que te conte mientras te hacias la dormida	La oreja de Van Gogh
4	God Loves Ugly	Atmosphere
3	Sumday	Grandaddy
2	Chutes To Narrow	The Shins
1	The Preacher's Son	Wyclef Jean

Phish Heads Unite

I went to the Phish concert Friday night. Actually I went to the parking lot outside a Phish concert. Corpus invited me. I'd never listened to Phish but I thought I knew what to expect. A bunch of hippies getting high. It was actually a lot cooler than that. Sure there were a lot of hippies getting high, but there was a pattern to the chaos. There were street vendors selling food, clothes, jewelry, crystals, and art. It was a little city. It really made me wonder, how good can this band really be to cause this? To have people travel from city to city following them, not even getting into the actual concert but hanging out in parking lots. I've downloaded some Phish music since then, and I like it, it's something I'll give a listen to every now and then, but I'm not packing my bags and dreading my hair any time soon.

Two scenarios popped into my head:

#1: Dude puts on a CD belonging to some new band he's heard about, Phish. Halfway through the CD he's in love. He decides he has to follow them around the country. They are the greatest thing on Earth. All praise be....

#2: Group of dudes sitting around smoking weed. Someone puts on a Phish CD. As they get high and the music plays in the background, someone mentions that they heard that you can get bomb ass weed at a Phish concert. Really? Well fuck it. Let's go. Ok. Today. Ya, no. Well let's finish this bag first. Ya man. Huhahah. We're going to get good shit. Dude....

I don't mean to totally slam the culture. I found it very interesting from a scientific angle. My point was just that I didn't believe the music was really what all these people were here for. Maybe at the beginning the music was first. But at some point the drugs had to take over. Every person we walked by offered us nuggets, Molly, chocolates, etc. Nobody offered me a rare Phish CD with unreleased material and a cool sticker. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Favortie Phish song to date: (not being facetious, I do like it)
Their cover of Snoop Doggy Dogg's Gin and Juice. They sing it like it was a country song. Their voice is all twangy and tamborines and banjo strumming along. It's fucking cool. One of the best covers I've ever heard. Listen to it here. I'll only keep it up a few days.

Kill Bill 2

Just finished watching this movie. I've only seen one Sergio Leone movie - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - but I can tell Tarantino is a huge fan. I mainly noticed it in the music. A lot of voices and strings with a western feel. It really helps to build up the tension. Tarantino also used the extreme close-ups of the actors eyes like Leone did. He also borrowed a lot from Asian film but nothing that I would recognize. I need to watch a lot more.

Overall I enjoyed the movie. A lot less violent but more of a back story.

Before the movie I noticed a trailer for Hero with Jet Li. That was an excellent movie which I own. The trailer looks great but ruins the movie in my eyes. It gives away too much information. If I had seen that trailer before watching the movie I would not have been surprised. This happens way to much these days. Trailers give you the entire movie instead of just a tease. For example I knew, from watching the Sixth Sense trailer, the Willis was dead. I knew who the bad guy in Taking Lives was, from the trailer. Trailers take all the fun out of movies for me. Oh ya, if you haven't seen The Sixth Sense, too bad, you shouldn't have waited so long.

Album Reviews

I haven't posted any downloaded album reviews in a long time, but I have been downloading this whole time. The following are some of the most recent ones that I first heard about on my trip to Mexico.

Album #7: Cartel de Santa - Cartel de Santa
Track Listing:
1. Intro
2. Todas Mueren Por Mi
3. Asesino de Acesinos
4. Cannabis
6. Rima 1
7. Barreros
8. Perros
9. Quinto Elemento
10. Rima 2
11. NTN
12. Pelotona
13. Rima 3
14. Super MC's
15. Mi Ciudad
16. Para Aqui O Para Llevar
17. Ehinya a los Racistas
18. Rima 4
19. Intenta Rimar

The Cartel doesn't bring anything new to Hip Hop, they do nothing that can be considered new. But what they do do they does extremely well. Every song has the potential to be a hit single. Babo has a strong voice, great delivery,great rhymes, and a large vocabulary, DJ Agustin has tight production, and good beats. They have songs covering the spectrum, from Mi Ciudad where he talks about boys growing up in the streets and becoming criminals, Todas Mueren Por Mi which is about his skills with the opposite sex and Pelotona where he talks to the love he lost:

Cuando estoy contigo cada dia es alegria
Pero lejos de ti me sumerjo en la agonia
Del recuerdo de tus besos y el sabor de tu saliva
Despierto en las madrugadas y abrazo una pinche almohada
Deseando fueras tu la que comparte mi cama

When I'm with you every day is full of joy
But when you're away I'm submerged in agony
The memories of your kisses and the taste of your saliva
Wake me up in the morning and I hug a fucking pillow
Wishing it was you that shared my bed
(translated by Freon)


Album #8: Sonador - Adan Sanchez
Track Listing:
1. Deja Que Salga la Luna
2. Estrella en Tus Ojos
3. Me Canse de Morir Por Tu Amor
4. Arriba Chalino Sanchez
5. Sonador
6. Que Platicaremos los Dos
7. Pero No Se
8. Paloma Negra
9. Y Dicen
10. Corrido de Lucio Vazquez
11. Desde Que Te Perdi
12. Te Necesito Junto a Mi

Adan just passed away recently at the age of 19. He rolled his car in the same Mexican state where his father was executed approximately 12 years ago. I probably wouldn't have listened to him if this hadn't happened. But a cousin of mine was into this kind of music so I gave it a go.
I'm not a fan of banda music but I do love Adan's lyrics. His love ballads are great. Simple but still very effective. Drinking music in my mind. You sit there with a bottle of Tequila and sing and cry. He does a great job of making your heart feel the pain.
The Corrido de Lucio Vazquez is a very old song that's been covered by almost everyone. Adan's version is ok. I preffer the ranchera version or maybe norteno.

Desde Que Te Perdi
Preguntale a la noche si soy de ti
Pues ella me ha visto llorar sin ti
Gritar tu nombre a cielo habierto
Y morir poco a poco
Desde que te perdi

Ask the night if I'm yours
Because she's seen me cry with out you
Yell out your name to the heavens above
And die little by little
Since I lost you.
(translated by Freon)

...

It hurt to say goodbye. It always does. Being alone. In a city like this. Where who you know is so important. I sit in a cafe, with a cup of coffee, a pen, and a napkin. I stare out into the casino and all the lights blur together. I look down at the napkin and stare. The pen poised and ready but I can't make sense of my thoughts. The coffee sits there, cold, with no taste. I look up again. The girl two booths over looks up too. She smiles. I attempt to smile back but she' looked away already. She's writing somthing. She giggles. Thoughts of her and me in bed flash through my mind. Clear. Entire fantasies are made up inside my head, pushing out all the shit that sits there. The waitress walks by. I add her into the mix. Then then I add the cocktail waitress. And the old lady sitting at the penny slots chain smoking. Oh shit. I went to far. Ruined that train of thought. I'm still alone.

The Kiss

The taste of alcohol was strong as I sucked at her lips looking for moisture. My mouth was parched and dry. I remembered the bottle of beer between my legs but the thought of leaving her lips was too much. I pulled her head closer. My tongue reached out. Her lips parted. Her saliva quickly cured my thirst. I grew drunk from the mixture of spit and beer. My tongue ring clicked against her teeth. She grabbed onto my shoulder and opened wider. She moaned. Her tongue wrapped around my ring. My tongue tracing the roof of her mouth......

Couple More

Elisha Cuthbert



Something about seeing a breast from the bottom that is just so damn sexy.

Dude...I Know

I just got back from watching The Girl Next Door and god damn it was fun. I haven't enjoyed a movie like this in awhile. I had a huge (dumbass) grin for most of it. Maybe I'm a hopeless romantic (or a horny bastard) but why don't I have a hot next door neighbor. You can add Elisha Cuthbert to the list of girls I'm in love with. When she comes over to his house after she catches him spying on her through the window and he comes down stairs I was dying. I probably would have jumped out the window at that age in that situation. "I'm all wet, can I come in." That's fucking awesome. Great movie deserves a great pic. Here you go.

Corpus Goes Blog

So Corpus finally got a blog. A window into his head. Kind of a scary thought but a journey worth taking nonetheless. When I first met him I would have said his life had to be a lot like Fear and Loathing...and from the sounds of it, I probably wasn't that far off.

The realization that life as I knew it; smoky rooms, random acts of sex, the risks all of it was contrary to the life that I saw ahead of me. Who I was then was turning into someone I did not want to be. Last summer was preview of that life time. Lots of pot. Lots of speed. Lots of sex. Lots of landscaping. Work hard. Play hard. Fuck That.

Hopefully he'll keep it updated.

freon

Big Brother

I listen to Howard Stern whenever I'm up at that time and driving, which is hardly ever, but I try. I enjoy the show, usually. I laugh out loud, I'm disgusted, I'm informed, I'm insulted, but I listen voluntarily. If I don't want to listen I change the station. Nobody forces me to listen.

I don't understand why people are allowing this administration and the FCC to dictate what we can listen to. What we can enjoy. Who gets hurt by Howard Stern's show? The children? Fuck the children. If you need the government to dictate what your children are allowed to see or listen to, you shouldn't be allowed to have children.

Now Clear Channel has completely pulled Stern from their lineup after the FCC proposed a large fine against them and even the possibility of revoking their license. All because Stern and friends were talking about sexual acts. The same way that a recent Oprah show talked about sexual acts. Yet Oprah faces no fines. Either one for all or none at all.

Feel free to write a letter to the FCC:

Federal Communications Building
445 12th St, SW
Washington, DC 20554

Or file a complaint online.

Check out the Stern and Oprah transcripts here.

Spread this Meme!

I heard about this through Kottke. I love this type of project. I love seeing graphs and charts and things about how information spreads and how it is connected. I can't wait to see the results of this specific project.

Pigeon Roosts

While driving around Chihuahua City I noticed that it has so many statues and Las Vegas does not? Almost every major intersection in Chihuahua has a statue. Not only statues but monuments and sculptures. You can see dozens while traversing the city. In Vegas, I can't even think of one.

Now this isn't just exclusive to Chihuahua, most Mexican cities have plenty of displays of art. Why is it Vegas does not? Some possible reasons:

Age of city - Chihuahua had already been around for 200 years by the time Las Vegas was permanently settled. Give Vegas 200 more years and they'll be about the same.

The people - Could the Mexican people be bigger lovers of art than Las Vegas residents? More reverence for their heroes? Nothing better to do than honor dead people?

The government - One idea posed by my cousin is that the Mexican government does it to brainwash the people into thinking that they are doing something. "What do you mean we didn't do anything, look at all the statues we commissioned!"

Money - Vegas definitely has more money than Chihuahua, but less public art. Maybe people just don't want to supply pigeons with more places to splatter. Maybe statues are a waste of money.

I enjoyed the Mexican statues. They gave the city an aura of permanence that Las Vegas does not have. Our greatest statue, the lion at the MGM, could be taken down in a few years and replaced with something bigger and better. And what's it say when our best art piece is a gimmick for a casino?


Real Pigeon

Pops Back Into Reality

Well I´m still alive incase anyone was wondering. My little trip didn´t go as planned. What was supposed to be a cultural event turned into a spring break alcoholic binge. Well maybe not that bad, but I have consumed frat-party-like amounts of beer. Well my cousin, who was to be my traveling companion, ended up not having the money. I planned on going by myself, but waited around a few days to see if his clients would pay up, but they didn´t, and decided there was a lot about Chihuahua I could learn and see.

We went to some caverns that are right outside the city. It´s about an hours walk and kind of small compared to others but I found the extremely cool. It was my first time seeing anything like this. Here´s a great page with pics of a lot of the things I visited. I´ll post some of my own pics once I get back home, hopefully in a couple days.

I remember the visit to the Cathedral. I´m not a very religous person, I like religion more for it´s stories than it´s beliefs. But walking inside that Cathedral was definitaly and experience. Something about the place put me in awe. People who wouldn´t mix on the outside were praying side by side. Hypocritical in a way but still a sight to see. Almost made me feel like there might be something to those stories. Angels and demons, an angry yet merciful God, resurrections, floods and pillars of salt. Might not be elves and orcs but it´s pretty damn close.

I don´t go out a lot in Vegas, but I like the feeling that if I need to do something at 3am chances are I can. Here everything closes down at 2am. A few eateries are open past that maybe till 4 if your lucky but that´s it. The sale of alcohol in stores is over at 9pm. So in other words you buy your beer early, which means you start drinking early. Well maybe that´s not so bad.

Well that´s it for now, I ´ll think of more to write later.