Secret Wars Reenactments

Some of you will laugh, and some of you will be confused. It is a test and I expect everyone to watch and see into which camp you fall.

First Cousin Marriage

Proof that Tennessee isn't the only state that knows that you have to trust the gene pool around you before you join it. I can't really say why I looked this up other than I read a fact that said it was legal in 21 states and that blew me away, so I did some lookin' about.

Under Wesley Crusher

Ernie put me just under Wesley Crusher. I'm blushing. He posted a list of Blogs he enjoys. Now I feel bad not posting recently.

Wil Wheaton - Yeah…Wesley Crusher.

Fabricationist - I met Greg a little while back at Union Jack’s in Knoxville. Eventually his willingness to share an opinion on most anything allowed me to get to know him better than just seeing him at the bar. I am sure our common love of the hops enriched beverages and Battlestar Gallactica helped out. Interesting individual as well as an interesting site.

[My willingness to talk usually has nothing to do with whom I'm talking to, but how much beer I've had. What can I say, I'm shy.]

Pee Bonner

I went to see John Kricfalusi (Kris•fa•loosee) on Sunday night at the Aero Theatre. It was a presentation of his banned and unbought work. He also did a signing at Every Picture Tells a Story, and was supposed to do a presentation and a bit of playing with his band, but that seemed to have been canceled or overridden by the necessity to continue signing the prints that were for sale. The price for the prints at $25 was a bit steep for me at the moment. I probably could have gotten him to sign something, or draw a picture, but since I don't really have an autograph book, I just didn't try. I got to EPTAS around 4:00 PM, to make sure I got a ticket, and when the festivities beyond the signing didn't occur, I basically had to trundle about on Montana Ave for two hours waiting to get into the theatre. That bit was quite boring.

The show itself was full of both finished cartoons and animatics of concept pitches and cartoons that never got finished. The lead off was "Naked Beach Frenzy" which was one of the later Ren and Stimpy cartoons worked up for Spike TV recently. It was a bit long and the animation was at times uneven, but for the most part it was enjoyable and bawdy, with large amounts of nipples and hair, both of which seem to be the colliding positives and negatives these days. The symbol of male lust and the ugliness of the male. There were also animatics of a pitch called "He Hog", which was pitched to MTV and rejected. The highlights for me were the Yogi Bear cartoon he had done, which I'd not yet seen, called "Boo Boo Runs Wild" and "What Pee Bonners are For". Beyond all of it though, the animatics for the unmade Ren and Stimpy episode, originally developed for the Spike TV episodes, called "Life Sucks". It's basically a clash between Stimpy's Optimism and Ren's Pessimism. Ren recounts for Stimpy the story of the Children's Crusade in all it's bloody useless glory in an effort to prove to Stimpy that Life Sucks. The only real disappointment of the evening was John K's seeming disinterest in actually answering the questions asked him. I don't know if it was because he was uncomfortable to do so, or because he simply wanted to show the cartoons and let them speak for themselves. An example of a good question and a less than interesting response was:
Q: What do you think the future of internet cartoons is?
A: I invented internet cartoons.
Not exactly what anyone was looking for. He seems more comfortable answering questions on his blog, and maybe that's best. All-in-all it was an enjoyable evening and easily worth the $9.00. For everyone that missed it, the lost episodes of Ren and Stimpy will be released in June on DVD. Think of them as Ren and Stimpy with more nipples and sexual innuendo.

It's a Small World

Operators for Disneyland's "It's a Small World" ride have a higher suicide rate than any other profession.

The Ponies

So, I went to my first race track yesterday and lost $26.00. The nice thing was that it wasn't my money. WMA, one of the two fine Irishmen invited me and paid me a comfortable sum to drive him there and back. He even paid my $10.00 entry fee. I learned the intricacies of computer ticket betting and the valuable lesson that once the money goes in and the ponies run, you do not usually get any of your money back. I did win one race at 7:1, so I got $14.40 back on that one. I placed all $2 bets so as to spread my generous gifts out across 8 races. When I decided to hedge my bets and keep one of the $20.00 payments for courier services, WMA threw another $20.00 voucher my way to continue my foolishness. He had greater success than I did, but then again he's been losing at this much longer than I. The majority of my bets were for wins with 2-3 horses per race, with a spread of odds. This, my first "technique" proved a bit unsuccessful. I did place a few Win/Place efforts, but alas these also came up a bit short. Luckliy I did not find myself cathing "The Fever", so I doubt seriously I'll go again unless a similar offer is placed before me. On the way home we stopped off and picked up his laundry which made me feel like I was at least doing something for the money.

Tonight I'm going to try and go see the gallery show of John Kricfalusi and the Spumco Studio folks at Every Picture Tells a Story. After there is a two hour screening of uncut and banned Spumco cartoons at The Aero Theatre for only $9.00, which seems like probably the best $9.00 I shall have spent while here. I'll take my camera and see if I can't get a fan boy picture with at least someone, even if they aren't related to the artists.

Hope everyone is having a fun relaxing Memorial Day Weekend.

Sorry

Haven't posted for a bit because I haven't been at the library. I went to the memorial service for Charlie's wife on Wednesday evening. We thought it was a receiving of friends until we got there. It was a full on Memorial service, an hour in. We stayed for about 30 min, and then left. It seemed like a nice service, but having only slightly known Charlie and having known his wife even less, I felt that I shouldn't stay for the whole thing. It seemed more intimate than I was prepared for.

On other notes, I'm still waiting for the second part of the job to come through. If it doesn't happen soon I will once again head toward the temp agencies. It's a week over due as of now, and the longer I wait for it, the less I feel like doing it.

Probably going to see X-Men III today. I'll write a review if it feels like it either needs one or I have something specific to say about it.

I just finished reading LOCKED ROOMS by Laurie R. King, and have now turned to THE BOOKMAN'S PROMISE by John Dunning. Tried to write a bit at the beach the other day, but with the direct sun, I feel that after two hours, even with 50 spf, that I'm skirting trouble. Basically, It's been amazingly hot for the last few days. Luckily it's overcast for the Memorial Day Weekend.

That's about it for now.

Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other. - Honore de Balzac

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle

(22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930)

WORKS

Motivate

70,000 beer cans

Just think of all the beer he could have bought if he'd just recycled.

[note: It seems he could have made $800.00]

DearNSA: Getting the answers you need from the people who know.

Finished

I finished the 11 sites yesterday. Today I'm catching up on e-mails and things and may go see THE DAVINCI CODE if I feel like walking an hour.
[note: then again, probably not since it has a 17% on rottentomatoes.com
"The most controversial thriller of the year turns out to be about as exciting as watching your parents play Sudoku." - Ann Hornaday, WASHINGTON POST]

Something rather unsettling happened last evening when I found out that one of the bartenders who works at the bar I frequent lost his wife, age 29, to a heart attack while he was at work. He's left with a 2 yr old and a 2 mo old. He was extremely kind to me when I first moved here. He was originally from the Nashville area and made me feel at home here 3000 miles away from TN. Needless to say the atmosphere last evening was somber at best. I had seen him Wednesday night, the night she passed, while coming back in for one more drink and to order a sandwich. We'd talked about how he'd just come back from a two-day roundtrip journey to Nashville to play in a fundraising golf tournament that was connected to his father who'd died years earlier. He was sick and said his wife and girls were sick too. He had jet lag and didn't really want to be working. Even through all of this he was polite as always. I can't even imagine what guilt he will hold or for how long, probably thinking that if he'd been at home, he could have done something. I don't know that he feels this, but I know that I would and so would most people. His name is Charlie, but I do not know his last name. I find myself maudlin at the moment and unsure why I felt so deeply sad for someone I barely know. I guess it comes with having adopted the bar as my home-away-from-home, and having been adopted by it and those who frequent it.

Not really much else going on, just waiting to find out when the next job starts and hoping it does so before the next round of bills.

Be good to your friends. Be good to your bartenders. Be good.

So this is the end

The Death Psychic

Gregory A Bunch - Shall go in this manner
While attempting to remove a slice of burnt toast from your toaster using a metal fork, you're electrocuted.

Greg Bunch - Shall go in this manner
While sitting in the passenger seat of a friend's car, a faulty airbag deploys, crushing your face.

Gregory Alan Bunch - Shall go in this manner (as soon as he gets a garage)
Being depressed with life in general, you commit suicide by sitting in your running car with the garage door closed.

Oh well, at least I won't go while driving all over hell and back in the great L.A. basin. I've finished all but one of the 11 sites. It's taken 800 miles, and around 18 hours. The last one is in downtown L.A. and I think I'll keep it for tomorrow.

Also, thanks to MS who donated a sum for a subscription to my brain gas. Tonight, the drinks are on him.

Know Your Bears

A nice notice that can help you distinguish between a Black bear and a Grizzly Bear.

I also learned last night that you should not, under any circumstances, eat the Philly Cheese steak sandwich from Dagwoods on Main Street.

I'm going to buy maps and get my badge laminated today, and then I think I shall see a movie.

Drunk as a monkey

May 9, 2006—Monkeys drink more alcohol when housed alone, and some like to end a long day in the lab with a boozy cocktail, according to a new analysis of alcohol consumption among members of a rhesus macaque social group.

These and other observed behaviors strongly correspond with human patterns of alcohol use. Researchers attribute a predisposition to alcohol abuse in some monkeys and people to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Out next week

I probably won't post much if at all for part of next week while I do a small Good Faith job for the company back home. It'll lose me a bit of money, but the big one should make up for it. I'll be driving my ass all over SOCAL for 11 sites. The payment will cover gas, but there's no way to make up for the hours. I’m counting on everyone to be good while I’m gone. I’ll post when it’s over or if it pisses me off, which it probably will.

A new course

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. - Arthur Schopenhauer

I'm not going to the library today, but will instead attempt to find a more useful place to write. The library experience just distracts with the power of the interwub, and the smell of homeless. Not sure where I'll go, maybe down to the beach, or I may just sit on my bed and plink away.

Lessons learned

Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats. - Howard Aiken

Not at the library today. Washing Laundry and catching up on BIG LOVE while everyone is out. I started my morning by being unknowingly complicit in the jambing of Layla's finger in the door. I'm still her friend though. She allowed me to turn her shirt right side out so she could wear it. Remember kids, don't stick your fingers in the open hinge section of a door. It will get pinched. Luckily I wasn't closing the door behind me, or I would have taken the little tip off. That would have gone over well. As it sits now though, it was a survived lesson learned, for both of us. Never discount a small child's ability to quickly move their hands from the glass to a place they don't belong. Sigh.

A Bowl Full of...

Left Overs

Left over cabin brain gas from February.

The world here is being reborn as the winter after birth melts in the sun. Like Chinese water torture, the drops plink incessantly down pot marking the earth, creating a cratered surface like an adolescent schoolgirl’s face. The squirrels cling to the trees, where the sun now shines, trying to forget the damp and cold that’s tired their bones for so long. The drops keep staccato time out of synch with the seconds that pass. Spring is still damp, and struggles against the premonitions of fat hole rats. What if the earth got tired of all this? What if the plants and animals just gave up one day and went to sleep instead; the trials of constant renewal and change simply not worth it anymore? Of course if they did, we would scourge them with fire for their insolence and live off each other. We’d be reduced to what we really are, cannibals at heart never able to fill our persistent grumbling bellies. If we were the ones that gave up, the forests would simply cover us with leaves not caring if we ever woke again. The deserts would blow sand upon us trying to smother us and make us go away. Suburbs would be beautiful again, populated with rampant gangs of mammals not accustomed to such finery. Bears would laze away the days on warm concrete driveways and hold fancy pool parties. Raccoons would burrow into the soft down of lazy boy chairs and expensive leather sofas. And the squirrels would run the dormant electrical lines like circus performers. The weeds would claim the cracks again and fracture the roads with their slow determination. Not a single animal would look to the heavens for answers.

OPTIMISED FOR FIREFOX

In case anyone wonders why my site looks like shite in your browser, it's becasue you're using an inferior browser. Use FIREFOX.It will make you happier and make me look better. Plus, it's free.
MAC OS X
MAC Universal
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Or just scroll to the bottom of this blog for links to all the free software you should be using.

[Screen captures provided by an enlightened Matt Stafford]

T-Shirt Shop Open

As you may be able to see, there is now a shirt in the middle column. The T-shirt shop is open. It currently only has two different designs mostly aimed at parents with newborns. More designs will be added later. I won't get rich off of this, but I like the thought of it. Go forth and get the word out. Also, the little T-shirt Icon works now too.

Also, let me know if the price it too high. It's price plus a small commission, but if they're unattainable, then I'd rather make less and sell more. This is a revolution, not an enterprise. Although revolution is a sort of enterprise.

Never mind. Continue going forth.

Morning coffee run

Tired of the smell

I'm getting worn down by the smell of the library in Venice. I have no problem with the homeless using the library, I actually find it gratifying to see them spending their day reading or catching up on news, or using the computers. However, there is an olfactory disconnect that's driving em mad. Everyday my nostrils begin to fill with a melody of bodily odors that move like wind through the stacks. There is one individual in particular that's taken to spending all day in one rack, which just happens to be directly behind where I sit. His skin is dark and splotched with black soot, as though he sleeps in an abandoned fireplace. I know when he's behind me and when he moves away by the quality of the air. Recently the stall door on in the bathroom was bent out and would no longer close. So, they removed it. This allowed me the unnecessary sight of a world worn individual having a sit. I now look down as I enter the bathroom. I'd rather see a dirty tile floor. It’s odd that people complain about smoking, but not so much about BO. I guess more guilt comes into play when you’re complaining about someone who doesn’t have the facilities or wherewithal to care for themselves. Either way, I can just imagine the pages of the books soaking up the odor for years to come. The children of the future will think that all library books smell like unemployment. Then again so do I at the moment.

Meat

They Are Made Out Of Meat

Best way to keep your meat remains. Ok, with cheese and dough and stuff.

Red Meat Club

The Meat Gallery

Fake Meat with illegal GODFATHER theme.

Exotic Meats

FINALLY

The original STAR WARS trilogy will finally be released on DVD sans later tampering and fiddling. I still have the THX VHS release of these from years ago, but it will be nice to finally have them on DVD. I've been holding out so long I'd forgotten I'd been holding out.

Gmail Down

So, G-mail has been down for almost two hours, which is pissing me off. Sure it's a free service, and sure they still call it a beta program, but my God, these are the people that put up encrypted billboards to hire new personnel. You'd think some of the smartest minds in the computer world could fix the problem faster than this. I guess I'm a bit screwed for e-mail for now. Of course it's not like I was receiving a great deal of them anyway today. Poop.

Diabolus in Musica

The Devil is said to have the best tunes, but what do they sound like? A new film about the history of heavy metal highlights the so-called Devil's Interval, a musical phenomenon suppressed by the Church in the Middle Ages.
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey

A huge mechanical elephant weighing 42 tonnes is due to thunder through central London, closing roads and drawing thousands of spectators.

Feds' Watch List Eats Its Own

WORK

Spending today contemplateing whether or not I want to go all over LA and San Diego putting stickers on ATMs. The money isn't bad, I just don't know if the traffic here will prevent me from doing 20 a day, which is what I'll need to do. So, I have yet to take my resume to the temp agency, because they kind of frown on you when you show up and say I'd like to work, but I'll let you know when I'm available. Otherwise, the pitches have traveled to the North and should be in the hands of the right person. They were preliminary anyway and still need much fleshing out if interest is shown. "J" got back to me and has forwarded my stuff to an Agent she knows. Of course now that I've reread my samples, I think they are pretty weak. This is just me though, since I know they aren't that bad. The only problem with the ATM work is that it won't be for two weeks and that could put me very short on cash. However, the amount I could make in 40 days could well make up for that. I know the client though and they do love to delay and move things about. This could give me enough money to go to Iceland for Steve's wedding, but would put me another two months out of working Industry related things. Of course it could all go smoothly and I could do 30 a day and be done in less than a month. I don't really see this happening. The point would be to be able to do the work while spending as little of the money as possible. Expenses should be negligible except maybe a few days in the San Diego area.

There are however a few large issues to contend with. One is that no one makes mapping software for the MAC anymore which would mean getting a few maps from the company and then fine tuning locations with intense physical street maps. There are few times I frown at my MAC, but this is one of them. It really isn't the computer's fault, but the makers of mapping software who refuse to support the MAC. I hope they all go belly-up. The second is being able to navigate the second largest city with regards to population in the US. There is 1 car for every 1.8 people, which can give you an idea about the traffic. I've only been here a month and really only feel comfortable driving in the small area I currently reside in. The third problem, which is related to the second, is parking. It's all meters here, which means I could lose possibly $.50 per site just parking. I've been working on my parallel parking skills, but my tire edges are a dead give away that my lack of depth perception is keeping me from becoming proficient.

Oh well, enough bitching, back to contemplating what to do.

Biscuits

Nothing

In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination.
- Mark Twain

Six Pennies Makes A Dollar

Economics according to my 4 yr old nephew Cooper. From Johnson City Press.com

Six pennies make a dollar. You need just $9 to buy a house, but a kids'
fast-food meal costs $90.49. And where do you get the money to buy such
things? Church. During breakfast.
That's economics according to 4-year-old Cooper Bunch, a pupil at
Princeton Prep, a private preschool in Johnson City.
"Money is what you put in your piggy bank, and you use it," he said. "It
comes from church. It comes when you get some breakfast. It's a lot.
"You buy something good with your money - a Monkey George, Pacman,
Spider-Man, anything you like. They're like $6 or $10 or $9. A house? They
cost like $9. A car - it costs $94."

Venice Boardwalk

Walked to the Venice Boardwalk on Saturday. All of the photos were taken covertly. Everyone out here wants you to pay them to take their picture. Maybe it was the heat, or the crowd, or just me, but I found the place really annoying.

Almost made it

Well, thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes. I almost made it through the day in a nice way. Layla and her mother made me cupcakes for breakfast. Then Layla had too much icing and went into a rampage. But that was OK, because I had cupcakes for breakfast. The rest of the day was comprised of receiving calls of well wishes from family and friends and a few outgoing calls for myself. The evening was spent drinking, in one of my last, until I get a job, binges. Enjoyed the company of two fine Irish gentlemen. I then had some pizza for dinner and watched the Sapranos with the people I'm staying with. It was after this that things went unnecessarily wrong. While changing to go to bed, the zipper on my pants split, so now I'm down to 2 pairs of pants. My laptop then fell off the bed, with my glasses. My laptop is fine; but I now have two 2 1/2 mm diameter scratches in almost identical places on the lenses of my glasses, which happen to be placed in the center of my vision. If I believed in anything divine, I would say someone was trying to send me a message. Since I don't, it was simply a sucky ending to an otherwise good day.

Here is a site where people post the saddest thing they own.

Colbert Speaks Truth to Power at the White House Correspondents Dinner