More Bullfighting

Go check out some more of my bullfighting pics here.

Lemme Finish

This may be old news but it's new to me. Yesterday Dubya got interviewed for Irish television by Carole Coleman. She stuck it to him good. She'd ask a hard question and he'd start to answer it with what seemed like pre-written responses that were off topic. So she'd interrupt to get him back to the issue and Bush would get mad and scowl. "Lemme finish, may I finish. You ask the questions and I'll answer them if you don't mind." I do mind asshole. Don't run around the questions. And if you didn't pause so much when you spoke people wouldn't think you were done with your response. Good job Carole.

"What they should be angry about is the fact that there was a brutal dictator that had destroyed lives, put them in mass graves and had torture rooms." -- George W. Bush

So the brutal dictator has been replaced by an occupying force who happens to use individual graves while destroying lives and still using torture rooms.

Watch Interview (real audio unfortunately.) Article

Whore or Artist?

If you put yourself into your artwork, then sell it, are you a prostitute? Was Donatello's patron, de'Medici, a pimp? Was Michelangelo a Vatican whore? I guess metaphorically you can say yes. But with Andrea Frasor you can also say literally.

Untitled,, 2003 was initiated in 2002 when Andrea Fraser approached Friedrich Petzel Gallery to arrange a commission with a private collector on her behalf. The requirements for the commission were to include a sexual encounter between Fraser and a collector, which would be recorded on videotape, with the first exemplar of the edition going to the participating collector. The resulting videotape is a silent, unedited, sixty-minute document shot in a hotel room with a stationary camera and existing lighting.

Definitely prostitution, but is it art as well? I guess you can call it that. But then you would have to call silent, unedited, sixty-minute shot of a woman being raped art. Or a murder. Interesting.

My first thought was, If I'm going to have to sell it, I might as well sell it,'' the artist Andrea Fraser said last week, speaking from a downtown studio. Fraser was referring in a starkly literal sense to her work's medium: a fit 38-year-old brunette in a sexy red V-necked dress, who is in fact herself.

Gallery Link NY Times Article

Beasties and Killers and Others

I downloaded the new Beastie Boy album To The 5 Boroughs yesterday. I've heard a lot of good reviews on it but finally got it because of Mike's recommendation. I've never been a huge fan of the Beasties but I respect their music. I find it a little whiny when it comes to their voices but they usually have good beats. So I've been listening to it all day and I actually like it. It's very refreshing in this scene of Lil' John, 50 Cent and Bling Bling. It's got that old school feel with modern beats. Their voices are still high pitched but overall I liked it.

I also downloaded The Killers Hot Fuss after Josh Ellis mentioned them. I guess they started out in Vegas but I'd never heard of them. I like them so far. They have an eighties synth-pop feel to them which I enjoy but with a name like The Killers, I expected it to be a lot harder. I definetley enjoy them more than the Shins or Granddaddy.

Also, in the last month I've downloaded the following: Usher, Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, Kill Bill Soundtrack, Barry White, and Smashing Pumpkins among a few others. I've updated my DL list for the year. Check it out.

House Party

MoveOn.org is organizing house parties all over the country based around Fahrenheit 9/11. The following is the only one in Las Vegas so far, and while not in a 'house' technically, it still sounds like fun. I'll be there if work allows. Go register for the event.

Fahrenheit 911 City-Wide Town Hall Meeting (21 registered participants)
UNLV Boyd School of Law Building, Room 102
Las Vegas, NV
We will gather to discuss Fahrenheit 911 and Bush's failed policies in the War on Terror and Iraq. We'll also join a national teleconference with Michael Moore to talk about the movie and how to get involved in the 2004 election campaign.
The Boyd School of Law Building is at the Maryland Parkway and Harmon St. entrance to UNLV. Walk west into the campus. The meeting is in room 102.
Monday, June 28, 07:00 PM

Fahrenheit 9/11

According to the website f911tix, Fahrenheit 9/11 will be opening in Las Vegas. Opening day is set for 06/25/04 and it will be playing at Century 18 Sam's Town, Century Orleans 18, Century Rancho Santa Fe 16, and Crown Neonopolis 14. So barring any more surprises this info shouldn't change.

gmailswap and filthy monkies

Today I received a couple things in the mail. A DVD boxed set which includes The Matrix and Matrix Revisited. Not scratched, which I'll admit is what I expected. I also received a cool little zine called Wishbone #10, from Angela. I haven't had a chance to go through it but it looks cool. All this for giving out gmail invites. This is so cool. I really didn't expect them to actually send what they said they would. Yay to honest people and gmail.

Hello to all you people cruising through here by way of DPH. For those who don't know I sent Warren a fansign and he posted it up. I feel so 13-year-old-cam-whorish right now.

Dial Up Hell

I'm hanging out at Neon's house, which seems to be stuck in the mid 90's: no digital cable, and god forbid no cable modem. Aaaahhhhh!!! How do people live like this. 12 minutes to download an mp3. I've usually downloaded it and heard enough to delete most of the crap in 30 seconds. This computer has lots of memory (which mine doesn't) and lots of HD space (which mine doesn't) but it's all going to waste with only a modem to fill it up. It's cool though. I feel like I'm roughing it here, like taking a trip to some third world country. Good times.

Haiku Writing Mother Fucker

Go vote, you lazy bastards. To vote just leave a comment under the haikus you appreciate the most(mine). Thanks.

Yahoo Mail

It seems that Yahoo mail is getting worried about the still in beta Gmail. I only check it about once a week to read some comic strips that get delivered there. When I logged into it today I recieved the following message:

Thanks for being a loyal Yahoo! Mail user. To ensure that Yahoo! Mail continues to be the easiest, most enjoyable way for you to stay in touch, we've made several great improvements to your service! In addition to all the features you currently enjoy, we've made these upgrades:

* Streamlined interface
Makes using your mail even easier
* 100MB of email storage
Keep more of the things that are important to you – without worrying about bumping up against your storage limit.
* Message size up to 10MB
Send monster-sized files – photos, presentations, whatever!

So thanks again for choosing Yahoo! Mail to keep in touch, and we hope you enjoy the additional services now at your fingertips. For more information, please visit our Help page.

I don't like their 'streamlined interface', the font bothers me and it doesn't really affect the ease of using the system.

Also 100mb isn't much compared to 1000mb. It's much better than the 6mb they used to offer. And allowing message sizes of 10mb is a good move too. But none of this really makes it compete with Gmail. A good try but not enough. Expect Hotmail to make some moves soon.

5 More Gmail Invites

I just received 5 more invites that I can hand out to Gmail. One of them is already gone leaving me with 4. Now the last 3 I had I gave them away on a first come first serve basis but the thing is that besides Dowingba, I have no idea who I gave them to. So this time around if you want one, post a comment about yourself. Tell me where you're from, what you do there, what brought you to my blog, what you're goals are, your mother's maiden name, your cat's eye color, I don't care, anything/whatever you want to talk about. I just want to be able to say, 'I'm giving this invite to so-and-so because _____.'

I wonder how Gmail decides when and how many invites I am allowed. For awhile there I had none after my original 3. Then suddenly I'm getting more every other day. It's cool though. If I don't get any takers I'll just hit up gmailswap again.

Gmail Invites

I have three more invites to give out for Gmail. If any of you who read this would like one just let me know, first come first serve. I gave out three already on gmailswap and got a couple mixed cds, a zine and some stickers. Not bad if you think about it. But you lucky souls will get it for nothing. Of course if I get no requests in the next few days then I'll just use gmailswap again.

If you haven't tried it, Gmail is great. The best by far. It catches most spam, has a great search feature, tons of room (I'm barely at 1mb, but the best thing has to be the conversations feature. It groups all the replys to and from a person in the same window so you don't have to go all over the place to see what they said before. I have about 150 emails but have no problem keeping them organized with labels instead of folders. It's wonderful. So hit me up if you want an invite.

Free Comic Book Day

I love comic books. I wish I had the money to buy all my favorites, but I have a shitty job and have had to stop for the foreseeable future. So I live for days like this one. Free, as in no money needed, comic books. Damn right I'll be there. This is the third year they've had this promotion and I enjoyed it very much last year. I drove all over town to try and get all the comics that were being offered. Infact, I probably spent more on gas than the books were worth. Oh well, it was fun. Here are some of my favorite shops in Las Vegas:

Velvet Underground Comics
4241 West Charleston Blvd. Suite H
702-258-2689

The owner, Steve, is a great guy. He sells his books with no tax and 10% off if you join the club, so that alone makes it the best deal in town. He has a very cool shop, which he's been expanding recently. He has all the mainstream books, a large adult comic section, tons of back issues, busts and toys. If he doesn't have it he can get it for you. I do wish he had a larger independent section. He gets his books on Friday not Wednesday. Stupid home page.

Alternate Reality Comics
4800 SOUTH MARYLAND PKY Suite D
(702) 736-3673

First comic shop I went to here in Vegas. Ralph, the owner, knows his comics. He gives great recommendations and always has great books spotlighted. He has a large independent (alternative) books section incase your not into the superhero books. He also has a good manga selection. Last year he had Steve Grant (I think) signing books on Free Comic Book Day, so he'll probably have someone this year. His web page is no more unfortunately.

Those are the only two I support. Kool Kollectables (on Charleston) is another shop with an ok selection but the owner is a bastard. Don't you dare touch his books cuz he'll bite you. There's one small shop near the Latino Cinema over on E. Trop which was nice but it's very small. There's also a new 'Mega' store behind the Borders at the corner of Sahara and Decatur. I haven't had a chance to visit it but I've seen the ads. For more stores look in the yellow pages and call before you go because they seem to move a lot, bastards.

Phoebe

Link

Smooth

I'm just sitting here at the moment, listening to music. A little bit of everything, but mostly 60s and 70s Soul. The Chi-Lites, The Stylistics, O'Jays and The Spinners. It's really soothing music. I have no idea how I got into this kind of music since it wasn't listened to around my household, but somehow I did and it's one of my favorites styles.

These guys make everything seem so perfect, from falling in love to breaking up, it was always good. Just sing a song and make everything ok.

Have You Seen Her
by The Chi-Lites

Oh, I see her face everywhere I go
On the street and even at the picture show
Have you seen her
Tell me have you seen her

Oh, I hear her voice as the cold winds blow
In the sweet music on my radio
Have you seen her
Tell me have you seen her

Kiss and Say Goodbye
by The Manhattans

I had to meet you here today
There's just so many things to say
Please don't stop me 'til I'm through
This is something I hate to do
We've been meeting here so long
I guess what we done, oh was wrong
Please darlin', don't you cry
Let's just kiss and say goodbye (Goodbye)

She Used To Be My Girl
by O'Jays

I respect her
When she was mine
I used to make love to her (oh)
She wanted more than I could give
But as long as I live
She'll be my girl

Offensive Haikus

Vegas Puppies are having an offensive haiku contest. I'm not a poet, I don't even pretend to be, but I submitted a haiku to see how it does. Go vote for it or others.

La Muerte de un Toro

This was one of the most terrible things I've been witness to. Bullfighting is a big tradition in Mexican and Spanish culture. This was my first time seeing one live. I expected a fight between a man and a bull. A fight between man and beast. Instead, what I got was the slaughtering of a bull. He never had a chance. I knew the the outcome was in the man's favor, but I expected the bull to have a shot at it. But after about five minutes of the matador, and his three assistants, running from the bull a heavily armored horse came out. The rider carried a spear. The bull charged the horse and the rider drove the spear into the bull's back. The blood poured from the wound. The crowd, mostly American, had been cheering and yelling ole. When they saw the blood a silence set in and lasted to the last second. The bull started having trouble breathing and moving. The next 15 minutes were the matador putting on a show. And when it came down to driving the sword into the bulls spine, it took the idiot four tries. The crowd watched in silence as the bull fell and twitched on the ground, blood oozing out his nose. Nobody clapped.
 

The Beach

Beach outside the hotel.
 

Chichen Itza

A view from El Castillo at Chichen Itza in the middle of the Yucatan Penninsula.
 

Cancun #2

Tan: noticable, several more shades required
Blood Alcohol Level: mid level, family impeding consumption
Nudity: None, yet
Sex: See nudity
Hotel Room: Smells from siblings vomit*, bed hard
Beach: Excellent, white powder, perfect
Ocean: Shitty salty flavor, cool, not much surf
Pool: Warm, not deep enough
Sun: Hot
Family Interaction: No deaths as of yet


*note to self: never take sister drinking again