I saw Donnie Darko on my friends list twice today - murdermystery said that he'd lose interest in anyone that listed that under "favorite movies" in an online profile, and jessecuster posted about a sequel.

From what I recall Donnie Darko was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I didn't think there was anything good about it. Okay, that whole "Sparkle Motion" thing was pretty funny and sometimes I say that to people who are being obstinate ("I'm beginning to doubt your committment to Sparkle Motion" if someone doesn't want to go out dancing) but seriously, that movie sucked. I wasted over an hour of my life and it's not like the ending was even surprising.

I feel like twitchywrote.

folks are up in arms over at the portland LJ about obama "demeaning" a female reporter by calling her "sweetie."

http://community.livejournal.com/damnportlanders/12108600.html

is this a really big deal?!?? the folks on my friends list have got me started thinking a lot about sexism maybe this is actually sexist and really is that bad and I'm just not used to even thinking about it as sexism?

do you think the term "bitch slap" is offensive/sexist/demeaning?

Who knew your personal paradise was in Seattle?

Last night I had one of those strange half-awake dreams and woke up at 4am convinced that making a zine full of pet penpal letters would be awesome.

I was reading this book about zines and started thinking about anarchy, which I'm not super into, at all, but I thought about how cool letters are as a way to get to know people, and thought about writing to an anarchist, and I thought about bredtomachines and I thought I could probably be penpals with her, then I thought that whole correspondence might be cool to write a zine about (collect letters sent to me by anarchists about their ideas, and also write about it as I read about it myself) but then I was like "MAN THE COOLEST ZINE WOULD BE IF I COULD GET MY CAT TO WRITE TO HER ADORABLE POMERANIAN DEXTER because then it would be cute as well as informative, I mean, they could totally send each other love letters, and isn't the idea of a cute cat being in <3 with a Pomeranian just RIDICULOUSLY CUTE"

um

then I thought about how all my friends are actually interesting and could tell me stuff, just based on how cool you guys are on LJ

soooooo

will you write my cat letters as though they are from your own pet(s)? You can talk about anything in them - I guess we would actually be penpals, except through our animals.

(if you don't have a pet you can make one up)

I think it would be so cute to have them talk about mix CDs they sent each other in the mail and books they've been reading, WHAT DOES YOUR CAT DO WHEN YOU'RE OUT? I bet disorganization's cat Eleanor watches funny commercials on YouTube, glueslabs's cats read his Twitter page and make fun of him behind his back, and in an alternate universe, maria_sputnik had an tiny imaginary companion animal that she carried in her pocket everywhere when she was adventuring in Europe, that has its own ideas about comix and the Balkans.

HELP ME WITH THIS PROJECT PLEASE SO I DON'T HAVE TO MAKE UP FRIENDS

xo,
- squeaky the cat

May 27 @ Wonder Ballroom

will you go with me

There have been a lot of posts on the friends list about this new GTA.

I don't understand what all the fuss is about - couldn't you kill prostitutes for money in the old versions, too?

Also, I worked at Circuit City one summer, which was pretty crappy (I have never been harassed before or since by someone else for saying no to someone who asked me out, but I was systematically harassed by dudes who called me racist for turning down their friend, it was pretty shitty) but the absolute low point, for me, was that I couldn't use my employee discount to buy GTA, they pulled it from their shelves about a week before I started working there. So, I thought the version of the game I played in 2004 was pretty sweet. My mom didn't, for obvious reasons, which I can totally understand, but...

WHAT IS SO MUCH WORSE ABOUT THIS ONE??!?!??!

I'm going to buy Nick Cave tickets in one minute.

September 22, 2008. I guess I'm fucked if I get into college. Oh well!

I feel like the presidential election stopped being fun and started being ugly. I hope it will get awesome when the Democratic candidate is chosen, I mean, I got a huge kick out of the Swift Boat Veterans scandal and the idea of Bush dodging military service. At the same time, those things are kind of a depressing reminder of our political system, but, I still think it's somehow awesomely absurdly hilarious.

Anyway, Portland city politics are much more fun. I went with a friend to the annual "Candidates Gone Wild" event the local weekly puts on. There's a little bit of Q&A about, you know, actual issues, but mostly it's just people making fun of the folks running for office, a lot of jokes, and the most bizarre talent show I've ever seen. Most of it is Portland jokes (jokes about our future mayor being gay, jabs at the local papers, making fun of a candidate's misuse of public funds), but Amanda Fritz, a city council candidate, was just balls-out awesome.



I think there's video of this, which I can't link to because I'm at work, but I thought ( the lyrics were pretty funny. )

The worst dreams are the ones where you actually wake up, in your dream, and think that you just had a dream, but then you're still in the dream. Also, if you actually wake up, realize it was just a dream, then fall back asleep and have the same dream, but you think it's real this time because you remember waking up and realizing that it was a dream.

So, meta dreams are mega freaky.

Like, last night, I had a dream that I got an email from the people I interviewed with yesterday saying "we gave that job to someone else," only they signed it "love, (my interviewer's name), so I was pretty confused in my dream. Then (in my dream) I woke up, was like, "whoa I hate it when I dream about email!" then went to get coffee, checked my email, and found THE SAME MESSAGE. My dream self freaked out about having prophetic dreams, drained her coffee, then ran home and tidied up the bedroom until she found a blank notebook, which she designated her dream journal, and started writing furiously, noting how eerie it was that her dream predicted, ver batim, the rejection waiting in her GMail inbox.

"Does using Google products somehow infect your brain with some code that lets Google dump information directly into your subconscious?" she wrote. "Why don't they just stop being proprietary douchebags and let me use their search engine remotely, like, from my brain?"

What is the word for that, when you realize you've been dreaming, and think you've woken up, but you're still asleep? It's not lucid dreaming, right? Because with lucid dreaming you can control stuff? I'm reminded of Feynman's writings on the subject. Maybe I should start keeping a dream diary, in real life.

I was very excited to receive a comment on one of my old entries where I was talking about how awesome Gary Wilson is, telling me that the man himself will be playing at the University of Oregon in Eugene in May. (Too bad I don't have a car.)

I checked the links that the commenter left, but none of the pages linked to said anything about Gary Wilson.

If Gary Wilson is actually going to be playing in Eugene, do any of you want to drive me down there? I guess it's time for me to start sending him fan emails again begging him to come play in my city. This seems like a good time to post my correspondence with Mr. Wilson, dated sometime in early 2007:

Dear Mr. Wilson,
You Think You Really Know Me is one of my favorite albums. I think your music is really rad. Will you please come play Washington, DC so that I can see you live?
Love,
- Me

His response:
Perhaps Mary and I will make a trip to Washington someday. But right now, I hear Cindy calling. I'd better go see what that's all about.

the world is ending

People have been taking the list of "stuff white people like" and bolding their white interests to figure out how white they are truly, I am so bored at work today you have no idea

#95 Rugby
#94 Free Healthcare yes, I'm broke
#93 Music Piracy
#92 Book Deals
#91 San Francisco
#90 Dinner Parties
#89 St. Patrick’s Day
#88 Having Gay Friends
#87 Outdoor Performance Clothes it counts if it's stuff for your bike probably right
#86 Shorts
#85 The Wire
#84 T-Shirts
#83 Bad Memories of High School I don't like them but I have them and I like Freaks and Geeks so I guess that counts
#82 Hating Corporations
#81 Graduate School
#80 The Idea of Soccer
#79 Modern Furniture
#78 Multilingual Children
#77 Musical Comedy
#76 Bottles of Water
#75 Threatening to Move to Canada
#74 Oscar Parties
#73 Gentrification whether I like this or not is immaterial as I will likely always contribute to it
#72 Study Abroad
#71 Being the only white person around
#70 Difficult Breakups
#69 Mos Def
#68 Michel Gondry
#67 Standing Still at Concerts
#66 Divorce
#65 Co-Ed Sports
#64 Recycling
#63 Expensive Sandwiches
#62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
#61 Bicycles
#60 Toyota Prius
#59 Natural Medicine
#58 Japan
#57 Juno
#56 Lawyers
#55 Apologies
#54 Kitchen Gadgets
#53 Dogs
#52 Sarah Silverman
#51 Living by the Water
#50 Irony
#49 Vintage
#48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops
#47 Arts Degrees
#46 The Sunday New York Times
#45 Asian Fusion Food
#44 Public Radio
#43 Plays
#42 Sushi
#41 Indie Music
#40 Apple Products
#39 Netflix
#38 Arrested Development
#37 Renovations
#36 Breakfast Places
#35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
#34 Architecture
#33 Marijuana
#32 Vegan/Vegetarianism
#31 Snowboarding
#30 Wrigley Field
#29 80s Night
#28 Not having a TV
#27 Marathons
#26 Manhattan
#25 David Sedaris
#24 Wine
#23 Microbreweries
#22 Having Two Last Names
#21 Writers Workshops
#20 Being an expert on YOUR culture
#19 Traveling
#18 Awareness
#17 Hating their Parents
#16 Gifted Children
#15 Yoga
#14 Having Black Friends
#13 Tea
#12 Non-Profit Organizations
#11 Asian Girls
#10 Wes Anderson Movies
#9 Making you feel bad about not going outside
#8 Barack Obama
#7 Diversity
#6 Organic Food
#5 Farmer’s Markets
#4 Assists
#3 Film Festivals
#2 Religions their parents don’t belong to
#1 Coffee

TOTAL: 45? Less because I don't know what cappuccino is, I only like two kinds of tea, I was friends with my gay friends before I knew they were gay, and do wool jerseys actually count as "outdoor performance clothes" in the same way that North Face jackets do?

You may remember my plan to make myself a vegetarian by making myself fall in love with farm animals, specifically, the chickens I will have in my yard as soon as I build a chicken coop.

When I was hatching (HA) this plan, it hit me that the solution to a lot of my lousy dietary habits (by lousy I mean "supporting gross factory farms") would be to have a pet cow. But cows are too big to have as pets! But...what if I could make a miniature cow? One that was small enough to have indoors, maybe slightly smaller than a dog, that could shit in litter boxes and graze in the yard, and make just enough milk for me to put in my cereal every day? Wouldn't that be great? And also unbelievably cute? Everyone would want a miniature cow! Fresh milk daily! No more cows in rape racks on big evil farms, or pollution or resources wasted transporting milk! Plus, cute!

Since this brainwave, friends have been showing me lots of adorable animals that make me wonder why no one has come up with a tiny cow yet. (Scientist friends, GET TO IT, and give me money when you become rich from miniature cows.) SERIOUSLY, check this shit out:

PENNYWELL POCKET PIGS: Bred by a British farmer who believes that palm-sized pigs would make the perfect pets, so that children can "enjoy picking them up and giving them a snuggle." "Dude, it's like your tiny cow fantasy, except they don't make milk, they just make cuteness" - maria_sputnik





MINIATURE HORSES FOR THE BLIND: The best thing about this website is that it has a Braille .jpg. WHY? Okay, anyway, these are unbelievably cute, if being blind didn't mean I wouldn't be able to see how cute these things are, I would totally be blind just to be able to have one as pet, because seriously, omg. The pictures on this site kind of suck, but whatever.




Poll #1169005 Cute miniature animals
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What's cuter:

Rate the potential adorableness of a tiny cow:

I don't talk about Eels a whole lot, even though I really, really like E's stuff. I think it's because I can totally understand exactly why someone would dislike them. This is one of my favorite albums:



I have dozens of favorite albums and none of them is more or less favorite than another, but this one I feel like I can't really talk about or love on all the time because it pales in comparison to almost every other album I consider a favorite. I feel like the regard I give it might not be merited, or might be hyperbolic - like, the result of some emotional attachment or associated experience, kind of like I feel weird saying that "Watusi" is my favorite Wedding Present album?

Anyway, Eels are playing on Sunday at Wonder Ballroom, do any of you want to go with me?

I really want a SCOTCH EGG (hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage then deep-fried YESSSSSS)



Vegetarians, how do you do it? I think I like pigs as much as the next person, but certainly not enough to stop eating stuff like this.

My arteries are crying a little. But my stomach is saying "SCOTCH EGGS ARE THE BEST IDEA EVER"

(littlestink, I reposted to add more questions, please vote again!)

Also, Chesterton and Ibsen are two of my favorite writers, and I am very much enjoying Shaw's Quintessence of Ibsenism (which I have started carrying with me everywhere since it fits in all my purses, although I haven't read all of it because I haven't read all the plays mentioned in it, because I fell in love with HEDDA GABLER and read it at least six times and then I read Hamlet twice to look for parallels, and by then the book I was reading was due back at the library!) prompted me to add it to my interests just now), but the only thing I have read by him (other than this book) is Saint Joan, which I didn't care much for at all, so maybe I should re-read it? It seems like all roads lead to Mr. Shaw, when I went on a Henry James kick awhile back he was popping up even then, so maybe he's awesome and I just wasn't ready for him? I love My Fair Lady, maybe the next thing I read should be Pygmalion.

I think Ibsen is wonderful and I would probably never have been interested in feminism if it weren't for him (although I am still very new at all this stuff THANK YOU LJ FRIENDS FOR POINTING ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION WITH THINGS TO READ NEXT and talking to me etc.). I had so much shit going on last year that I almost forgot that it was also the year that I fell in love with Ibsen.

There is art that has changed your life, right? Do you remember listening to that one album or reading that one book and not being able to get over it, and seeking out things based on it? Did you know the first time you experienced it that it was going to do all the things it wound up doing for you?

Poll #1164794 Rating my favorite authors
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Rate Simone Weil, (5 if you think she's brilliant)

Rate Henrik Ibsen in the same fashion

Henry James?

Mr. Shaw himself

Guy de Maupassant

Oh fuck it, rate Shakespeare too

Hamlet - overrated? (Discuss in comments)

VS mode, pick one

Pick one:

Pick one:

anyone have any thoughts on the motobecane messenger?