Arnast Selezer’s Blorg

PART II

nobody@vox.com(E) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:19:29 -0700

Oh man this just keeps getting better.

Also the Watchmen trailer is just... well it's faithful, and being faithful to one of the best novels I've read is a very very good thing.

http://gizmodo.com/5026434/nerdgasm-watchmen-trailer-hits-web-a-day-early

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Dr. Horrible is awesome.

nobody@vox.com(E) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:57:37 -0700

Everybody needs to click on this, it's only around for a week.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog.

It's so good.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

QotD: Notes to the Future

nobody@vox.com(E) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:06:45 -0700

If you could leave notes for the future, what message would you have left in the past for today?
Submitted by Nameless.

WTF?

So If I knew in the future what was going to happen today, what note would I leave? Someone didn't understand their own question.

Instead of trying to wrap my head around that logic(less) bubble. I'll just wander around my own head.

Last weekend was awesome. Laurna and I had 3 days alone together in an empty house for the first time in ... never, that's never happened. We spent the 4th doing nothing, it was great. On the 5th Dee and Dave came over, and we rebuilt an old piece that I had bought about 6 months ago. It was exhausting, and all of us were so tired afterwards that when we went to go see "Get Lost" I didn't fall asleep, but I don't remember anything about the film.

Except it sucked. It really really sucked. It's bad when it becomes obvious 1/3 of the way through the movie that the writers weren't big fans of the show, didn't understand it's subversiveness ,and opted instead to figure out 4-5 ways of showing us Anne Hathaway's ass.

It's nice, but I don't need to spend 12 bucks to see it.

Sunday was another BBQ at Daves, and that was great, although I don't remember much because I was in a semi-stupor from all the housework.

I think I'm going to start buying a piece of furniture here and there, and then restoring it, and selling it for about $30 more than what I buy it for. It won't make me rich, but it'll subsidize my hobby a little.

I started noticing about 4 months ago that the gas mileage on my car had dropped significantly. Now I had tried everything to figure out why, and had just given up, and assumed I was only going to get 30 miles to the gallon, no matter what I did.

Last week, on a lark, I put the DTE back on my monitor, and turned off the air conditioner. The mileage jumped from 360 miles on a 12 gallon tank to 425 miles. The mini has an automatic air conditioner, and I keep the gauge set at 66 degrees. That was fine in the winter, because it would just run the heater, which doesn't kill the milieage I guess in March that switched over the AC. It might not sound like a lot, but 65 miles is two days extra driving on a tank, which makes it almost a full extra week of driving a month. and over 2 full months of extra driving a year.

Holy shit.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Vox Hunt: Sixth Grade Serenade

nobody@vox.com(E) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:57:52 -0700

Share a song you listened to in 6th grade.

J. Geils Band - Centerfold

This is what everybody in 6th grade listened to. I had the album. it was ok.

Steve Martin - King Tut (Live 1979)

This was my favorite song in 6th grade. I was a severe geek.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, Motherfucker, Tits

nobody@vox.com(E) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:23:25 -0700

RIP, George Carlin :(

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

QotD: Time Changes Things

nobody@vox.com(E) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:18:08 -0700

How have you changed in the past year?
Submitted by littleduckling.

One year ago today I owed $30,000 in credit card debt. I had accumulated it during the divorce, and dealing with that, and other things.

I have never been good with money. Saving it was a joke, and i never really made a budget. I also really had no plan of how to deal with it.

Today, I have a balance of less than $800, and I could pay this off today. What's amazing about it is that I've done it with nobody else's help. I just cut out a few things I was doing.

It's hard to explain how different you feel after doing something like this. One of the things you get is the feeling that no matter what, you aren't trapped anymore.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

QotD: Kindgergarten Rules of Wisdom

nobody@vox.com(E) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:38:48 -0700

What did you learn in kindergarten that you wish you did a better job of applying to the way you live your life today?

Riding a skateboard. I used to be pretty good at it when I was in kindergarten. Not so good at it now.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Vox Hunt: Always on My Mind

nobody@vox.com(E) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:27:40 -0700

Show us something that's been on your mind a lot.
I got an email in my inbox today that is one of those awful chain letters from a "Concerned citizen" showing pictures of Barack Obama's family in Africa today. If you haven't seen one of these, it has pictures like these:
And has veriagated-font-color fear-mongering text around them like the following:

Barack stands behind Kezia (stepmother) in a Kenyan family shot.

(Including brother Abongo ' Roy ' Obama who is a Luo activist and

a 'Militant Muslim' who argues that the black man must 'liberate

himself from the poisoning influences of European culture.' )

'Abongo's new lifestyle has left him lean and clear-eyed, and at

the wedding, he looked so dignified in his black African gown

with white trim and matching cap that some of our guests

mistook him for my father,' Obama wrote in Dreams

From My Father.

and my personal favorite:

SINCE CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, AND THE NEW YORK TIMES

WILL NOT SHOW THESE PICTURES, AND WE WONDER WHY NOT,

WILL YOU FORWARD THESE TO THE (APPROXIMATE NUMBER)

200 MILLION AMERICANS THAT HAVE INTERNET ACCESS?

THANK YOU.

I got it from someone I like a lot, and it makes it that much more painful. Plus, It was the first email I saw this morning, and the second one I have received from this person.

I sent off some gruff email about how we all shouldn't be forwarding boogeyman bullshit, and some other niceness.
What I should have done is addressed the email itself.
I'll do it here. First, I'll post it. It's a bit lengthy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MORE FAMILY PICTURES OF THE NEW FIRST FAMILY??

PLEASE READ THE FINE PRINT

AND FORWARD TO OTHERS.

How come we haven't seen or

known about some of these....?

Barack Obama's grandmother, Sarah Hussein Onyango Obama

U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama's

uncle has been a prisoner in his own home,

trapped by post election violence that has left

more than 600 Kenyans dead. 'If Barack Obama

were elected, he would improve relations between

Africa and America because he had his roots in

Africa', his uncle said.

Malik Obama, older brother to Barack Obama, holds an undated picture of

Barak, left, and himself, middle, and an unidentified friend in his shop in eastern Kenya .

Luo dancers from the Senator

Barack Obama Primary School

Barack has stated his support for Luo Raila Odinga (Opposition Leader in

Kenya who signed a 'Shariah pact' with Muslims and claims to be Obama's

cousin) and is married to Ida Odinga. They have four children - two sons and

two daughters. His oldest son, Fidel, is named after Fidel Castro.

Barack's father, Muslim, hard-drinker, was married three times, attended

Harvard and returned to Kenya . Obama claims he was an atheist,

but he was raised Muslim and was given a Muslim burial at Barack's

family's request.

With mother Stanley Ann Dunham. In his own autobiography Obama writes,

'How and when the marriage occurred remains a bit murky, a bill of particulars

that I have never quite had the courage to explore.'  (His father was still

married to his first wife Kezia in Kenya at the time.)

His father's only visit while Obama was in Hawaii

.

Mother's 2nd husband Lolo Soetoro (Indonesian Muslim),

their daughter Maya, and Obama.

Abandoned by his father and shipped off by his

mother to his white grandparents, Barry Sotero

becomes Barack Hussein Obama. Obama would

describe his grandparents as 'white folk.'

(Yeah, 'white folk' that would NOT abandon

you, their grandchild.  Shame on you Obama.)

Barack stands behind Kezia (stepmother) in a Kenyan family shot.

(Including brother Abongo ' Roy ' Obama who is a Luo activist and

a 'Militant Muslim' who argues that the black man must 'liberate

himself from the poisoning influences of European culture.' )

'Abongo's new lifestyle has left him lean and clear-eyed, and at

the wedding, he looked so dignified in his black African gown

with white trim and matching cap that some of our guests

mistook him for my father,' Obama wrote in Dreams

From My Father.

Obama's visit to Africa '06

(Where are the transcripts of the speeches

he gave here? Campaigning for Odinga?

Wouldn't it be great to be able to read these?

Do the people of the state of Illinois know

about Obama's radical background?)

SINCE CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, AND THE NEW YORK TIMES

WILL NOT SHOW THESE PICTURES, AND WE WONDER WHY NOT,

WILL YOU FORWARD THESE TO THE (APPROXIMATE NUMBER)

200 MILLION AMERICANS THAT HAVE INTERNET ACCESS?

THANK YOU.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still here? I know, it's a lot to get through.
My second reaction from reading this is... So?
I get what I am supposed to feel about this, so let me run through it.
What I am supposed to believe after reading this can best be listed in the following order of importance.
1. I should be afraid of Barack Obama because he is Black.
2. I should be afraid of Barack Obama because he has direct family that are not American Citizens (oh, and they are black also)
3. I should be afraid of Barack Obama because his father's religion was Islam, and he might have been exposed to it.
4. I should have contempt for Barack Obama because he has a complicated family structure.
5. I should believe that somehow Barack Obama has some nebulous pseudo-religious radical agenda for the US because he supported some guy in Africa who has a son who is named after Fidel Castro.
Honestly I am not sure about #5 because the writing is so bad on this email that I am probably doing the writer a favor by giving him a list to hang the poorly made skirt of his arguments on.
I'd like to take these on in reverse order:
#5. Yeah, I didn't get this one at first. I think the general idea is that somehow Barry has some kind of radical adgenda based on his relationship with Odinga in Kenya.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raila_Odinga
So the major fear here is the idea that Odinga somehow might get enough power to declare "Shariah" law in Kenya.   Then somehow this will make Kenya a safe haven for terrorists. This is a theory only fielded on some right wing blogs, and degraded by the fact that Odinga doesn't have the power to do this.
The more I read about this one, the more crazy the people who are writing about it seem. I does, however, feed well into #4.

4. I should have contempt for Barack Obama because he has a complicated family structure
Somehow, the fact that Barack Obama's family life is complicated endears me to him. He had multiple fathers, his family is mixed and complex. He has had exposure to other cultures and ideas, and somehow because of this, he is supposed to be a poor candidate for president.
You know who didn't have a complex family life: George Bush. In fact one branch of his family can trace themselves back to another President: Franklin Pierce.
Both are in the top 10 of Worst Presidents ever.
I'll take the guy who didn't know his dad too well over the guy who took our country to an unneeded war because he wanted to do better than daddy, thank you very much.
3. I should be afraid of Barack Obama because his father's religion was Islam, and he might have been exposed to it.

So? I don't like to talk much about my Step-father because he's been kind of a jerk to my mom lately, but he did something I will thank him for. He exposed me to Islam. I have had an insiders / outsiders view of the religion, and I can tell you that it's not that different from Christianity.

I know there are people who want to scare others with the idea that it's different, it's essentially the same.

What is different is the one condition that makes me laugh every time I hear the conspiracy theorists say that somehow Obama is a "secret Muslim". It has to do with Shahada:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahadah

It's the first Pillar of Islam, and the most important. The recitation of faith means everything, and it's the fundamental reason I have never become a muslim. It's irrevocable: once you have made it, you can't recant. Well you can, but it's not a good idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy_in_Islam#Punishment_for_apostasy

So, there is no way the Muslim world would allow a secret Muslim to go to a Christian church for 20 years.

1. I should be afraid of Barack Obama because he is Black.
2. I should be afraid of Barack Obama because he has direct family that are not American Citizens (oh, and they are black also)

I added these two together because this is the central crux of the email isn't it. Barack Obama is Black. He's the other, a man you should be afraid of because he's not a Pasty white guy in his 50-70's that we have grown to expect in a candidate.

That makes him different. You should be fear.

Bullshit.

I have no fear of this man, I know this. He is just as smart as any of the other candidates that were and are running. He has the ability to attract people who are excited about an election for the first time in 12 years. I have no doubt he'll be able to attract the kind of brain trust needed to deal with a post-Bush world.

He's got the kind of charisma that will make the rest of the world leaders give us a chance again.

He's a leader in whom I won't wince when I hear him speak.

Also, addressing the last paragraph in the email: Fox news tried to smear Barack Obama with all of these claims. They didn't stick because there is nothing there.

That is why they send it out in emails like this. It's garbage, bunk, written diarrhea of the worst kind because it doesn't answer anything. It only exists to plant the seed of fear in your mind.

This was on my mind all day today.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

QotD: Celebrity Vacation

nobody@vox.com(E) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:26:30 -0700

If you had to go on a two-week vacation with any celebrity, who would you pick as your traveling companion and where would you go?

I would love to go to Peru with Lindsey Lohan, or Kim Kardashian, or Paris Hilton. I would take them to the top of Wayna Piccu, then push them off.

No court in the world would convict me.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Watchmen

nobody@vox.com(E) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:36:41 -0700

Last year at Comic-con one of the panels was about the new movie adaptation of the Graphic Novel "Watchmen"

Watchmen

Alan Moore

I was one of the people in the room who sat up and paid a little more attention because I vaguely remembered it from when I initially had read it.

I didn't have a favorable opinion of it. I felt it was pretentious, preachy, and over-reaching. I was 17.

When I was in San Francisco last month, I saw a copy of it on sale in a bookstore. I picked it up to re-read it.

This is one of those books that I think you have to be a little bit older to appreciate. I am having a much better time of it this time around. At one point last night I was talking to Laurna about how much I like it and didn't realize that I had talked so long that she had fallen asleep.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend