ChaoSpirals

COM 121 - infographics

2012-01-25T17:45:00.000-05:00

http://www.slideshare.net/valicac/visual-communication-through-infographics-presentation

http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

For ENGLISH 112 - info graphics, etc.

2012-01-07T01:02:00.001-05:00

My first Prezi presentation: http://prezi.com/y2qdyg-a6t3y/writing-matters-chapter-1/
Toby Ng infographics "the world of 100"
When to Use a Semicolon by The Oatmeal
Infographics Showcase
10 Tips to Improve Your Grammar
Literally by The Oatmeal
Oatmeal Grammar Pack
Sitting is Killing You
Daily Infographic
iPhone 3GS vs. iPhone 4

He Didn't JUST Write Conan Stories

2011-09-20T11:45:00.000-04:00

Robert E. Howard's Weird Western Tale - The Horror from the Mound

The Civil War: A Cause for Celebration

2011-08-27T11:35:00.000-04:00

Great points offered in Ta-Nahesi Coates opinion piece on why the Civil War isn't tragic. Among them, excellent ammunition to refute the "States Rights" argument, including these (from Mississippi's secession document):

"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth."

coupled with:

"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition."

In honor of striking the biggest blow to THAT line of thinking... yes, sir. A cause for celebration.

The Difference Between "Wounded" and "Butthurt"

2011-08-12T10:45:00.002-04:00

linked for TRUTH:
http://www.curragh-labs.org/blog/?p=6532

DJ Setlist - Butterfly in Kyoto - April 7

2011-05-08T03:58:00.000-04:00

Messiah - "Temple of Dreams"
Lady Bouncer - "Dirty Mary"
KREVA - "Practice Session feat.SONOMI"
DJ Shadow Feat. Mos Def - "Six Days The Remix"
Pendulum - "Slam"
Whale - "Hobo Humping Slobo Babe"
MIA - "Paper Planes"
MGMT - "Time to Pretend"
Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - "Dance The Way I Feel"
Christina Aguilera - "Not Myself Tonight"
Justin Timberlake feat. Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes "Sexy Back Pt. II"
Placebo - "Pure Morning"
Robyn - "Konichiwa Bitches"
KARA - "Mister"
Cee Lo Green - "Fuck You"
Black Eyed Peas - "I Gotta Feeling"
Lady Gaga - "Born This Way"
LMFAO Feat. Lil Jon - "Shots (Dirty)"
Flo Rida - "Club Can't Handle Me (feat. David Guetta)"
O-Zone - "Dragostea din tei"
THE BLUE HEARTS - "リンダ・リンダ"
Chumbawamba - "Tubthumping"
Naughty By Nature - "OPP"
Far East Movement - "Like A G6"
LMFAO - "Girl Can't Help It"
DJ Mugen - "gaga medley" (Just Dance, Bad Romance, Love Game)

Music Blog?

2011-03-21T23:11:00.000-04:00

Not sure exactly when/how I'm going to do it, but I may be starting/shifting some of my blogging to a greater music focus. My twitter is mostly posts from my Last.fm audioscrobbles and my blip.fm posts. I've seen some tools I can use, and I've started working on some remixes and some DJ tracks/mixtape sorts of things. More info to follow soon.

Higher Education, Pay, and Unions

2011-03-07T22:42:00.000-05:00

Just did a search and discovered:

At University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, full-time English Instructors in 2010-11 made around $28,500. That's a job that requires a Masters Degree (6 years of education with accompanying tuition/debt). I would hazard that the same folks could probably work overtime each term plus teach a class in the summer and make an additional $4000 - $6000, maybe — if the classes are available and the department decides to give them to instructors.

UIUC has no faculty unions.

In 2001, I was hired as an Instructor at Northern Illinois University. At the time, salary was $22,000. A few months after I was hired, the union completed negotiations that brought Instructor salaries up to $27,500 and made it retroactive to the beginning of the year. The collective bargaining agreement also set up a schedule for raises over the next several years.

UIUC's faculty have had merit and other pay raises recently at a level of around 4%.

Unionized universities in Illinois and the surrounding states have had raises at around 16%.

Ultimately, 10 years later, and the un-unionized university instructors (and you should have no doubt - your children are taught by instructors, esp. in the first two years of school, as much or more than they are taught by graduate students [compensated with tuition and a stipend usually somewhere in the ballpark of $10,000 a year for teaching 3-4 classes each year, or about half what an instructor teaches], and particularly more than they are taught by actual professors) are making only $1000 more each year than the unionized teachers were making in 2001.

You do the math, and don't forget to factor in the 6 years (minimum) of university study (undergrad and grad) required to get that job. Don't forget the accompanying debt.

Get rid of the Instructors, and you can double the pay to hire an Assistant Prof (who needed at least 8 years of school, and maybe more like 11, to be qualified for the job). Of course, that Prof will teach less than an instructor (in an ideal situation, which no school currently has in this economic climate) because s/he is expected to be publishing and professionalizing in order to be eligible for tenure and promotion (the accomplishment of which is partly responsible for the school's accreditation). It can take such profs, making $45,000 - $60,000 as long as 5 years to successfully earn tenure and a raise to the $50,000 - $80,000 range, and there's no guarantee unless they go through the process again (5-10 years later?) that they'll get up to the $75,000 - $150,000 range of the Full Professor.

Those figures are for un-unionized professorial faculty. At unionized schools, bump it up some.

That's for English.

A significant portion of my students every year that I taught university-level English 101 could not adequately write nor communicate professionally or academically in English (or any other language), meaning such classes were not merely required for graduation but also necessary for academic success.

This is the value we place on education? No wonder educators at any level seek out union representation.

Finally Doing Something Right

2011-03-03T03:27:00.000-05:00

I'm not a huge fan of Pope Benedict. He's said and done a lot of sketchy stuff in the past, and he's way more conservative than both of his predecessors. But recently he has written and made public his theological exoneration of the Jews for the death of Jesus.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/02/AR2011030202000.html

Non-Catholics, especially atheists, may find the whole thing somewhat comical and meaningless, but it's huge. The number of Catholics in the world, the number of countries that follow Catholicism as de facto state religion... it matters. And Bendict's status as a theologian, steeped in study of Scripture, adds weight to his assertions throughout all of Christianity. Jewish leaders are hailing the statements as incredibly important in combating antisemitism worldwide.

So finally, Benedict comes through. He's got a long way to go to even come close to his predecessor, but he's also got a lot more problems (some of his own design during his tenure as John Paul II's right-hand-man) to deal with. Hopefully, before his term is up, he'll make more positive steps like this one.

video tools

2011-02-23T23:52:00.000-05:00

Motherlode link for DVD ripping, codecs, and related audio/video tools:
http://codecs.necromancers.ru/dvdbackup.html

97X - BANG! - The Future of Rock n' Roll

2011-01-31T10:02:00.000-05:00

So, once again the realities of radio broadcasting in the 21st century are catching up with WOXY, 97X. If they can't find new investment/management (?) by March 23, they're gonna shut down.

This means a lot to me because WOXY was THE college radio station in southwestern Ohio when I was a teenager. I could rarely get it on the stereo at my house, but my friends with cars usually had it tuned in when they weren't listening to tapes, and every time we went to Cincinnati we tuned in.

But why should YOU care? Well... maybe you've seen a film called Rain Man. There's a great scene in which Dustin Hoffman's character repeats the slogan above "97X - BANG!- The Future of Rock n' Roll" over and over and over... it was awesome to see that in a movie when I was a teenager. The film's set in the Cincinnati area (at least part of it is) so it's appropriate, and it sparks nostalgia.

When I was a kid, the first time I ever heard Dream Warriors ("Wash Your Face in My Sink" and "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style") was on 97X. When I was in grad school, the first time I ever heard Smoosh or Vendetta Red was on 97X online. This station matters. To me, and to lots of other freaks and dorks from SW Ohio.

Back in 2002, 97X went offline for a bit, but it made it back. 9 years later, and reality may finally catch up with the station. I hope not... I hope someone out there helps them out. And if you're in the Cinci area or know someone with a truckload of money just waiting to be spent - buy in and keep the music alive.

Plastician (fka Plasticman) on the History of Grime

2011-01-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

Loss

2011-01-02T01:16:00.000-05:00

I just woke up from a sequence of dreams fueled by anxiety.

Firstly, I lost my iPhone Saturday morning. I'm fairly convinced that I sat down on the train, and it was in my back pocket, then when I stood up it stayed on the seat. At any rate, it wasn't among my effects when I arrived home, alas. ><

Secondly, I believe I suffer from sleep apnea. I know that I snore horrendously, and I've been told that I also stop breathing often throughout the night. This sometimes breaks my sleep schedule up into very short patterns, especially if I fall asleep on my back.

So I'm sure it was a sequence of dreams, but it became one big narrative, at least for awhile. I'm sure there's something in my conscious mind that has stitched the various parts together.

Parts of it were... wonderful.

I was about 20 or 21 again. Sean was still a little guy. I had a pink mohawk all in braids. Pink and neon magenta were themes in at least one dream - it was the color of some event on campus.

At first, I was in a combination skate shop and music (instruments/gear) store. I had been looking for my inline skates, and couldn't find them, and Sean couldn't help me. We were in the basement of our old house on Tuttle Ave. A guy from the music store was a cancer survivor and I was visiting him at a special hospital. The hospital was more like a college campus - it was a huge complex, and some of the doctors lived in apartments on one level, while some of the patients and students lived in a dorm nearby. I was a student who was being checked for an injured leg. My family (Mom, Max, and Sean) were all having dinner with a group of people including one of my doctors/professors (I wasn't sure which, really).

That's where the wonderful parts get undermined by anxiety. No one knew what was wrong with my leg. I couldn't get the jeans I was wearing to fit right. I couldn't find the right wing, then the right floor, then the right room to meet the doctor. I didn't know anything about how the campus worked. I couldn't find my skates. I couldn't find the guy I wanted to visit. I was worried that he had a relapse. I couldn't find what I wanted to buy at the store.

But it all served to remind me, when I woke up, that things are just things. It's a colossal hassle that I lost my phone. It's distressing that there's no sign of it, but I can still complete calls to it, but no one answers. At least my privacy is protected because I have a password on it... But it's still out there, and gone but not quite gone. And to replace it won't be cheap. There are some people I may never be able to contact again, because I don't know their email/phone number. I can't even explain it to them easily.

But things are just things. And I'm not dead. My friends and family are relatively healthy (I hope!), and in the end, everything's going to be all right. I need that reminder more and more often.

Very frustrating.

Sleazy

2010-11-25T22:50:00.000-05:00

In about 1991, my dear friend Roo the Reaperboy introduced me to Coil's music by playing the CD Horse Rotorvator repeatedly. I found a used copy on vinyl. It's a masterpiece that challenged everything I thought I understood about music and the "scene" I was desperate to be part of - a sort of pre-Grunge post-punk pseudo-rivethead kind of alt.rock. This wasn't Nine Inch Nails, this wasn't Ministry, this was something beyond angry guitars and drum machines. This was magick and Art.

Coil's singer, John Balance, died just before I moved to Japan. A tragic accident. He fell from a building.

But two days ago, the other half of Coil joined him in death. Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson died in his sleep on 11/24/2010 at the age of 55.

Other people will remember him better than I can:

http://thequietus.com/articles/05354-x-tg-pay-tribute-to-peter-christopherson

http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2010/11/26/peter-christopherson-1955%E2%80%932010/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/nov/25/peter-sleazy-christopherson

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries/browse_thread/thread/6c087f4b858a0cb6?pli=1

http://brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/publications/coil-1995-queer_noises.php?site=coil08

http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=45477_0_2_0_C

WhyNot Party playlist - September 11, 2010 - PURE

2010-11-13T03:28:00.000-05:00

D.J. Shadow & Mos Def - Six Days
Miyavi - Girls, Be Ambitious
The Prodigy - No Good (Start the Dance)
IAMX - Think of England
Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch
Ayaka Ikio - Spin Me Round
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disco
Muse - Uprising
Plumtree - Go!
Reel Big Fish - Beer
Save Ferris - Come On Eileen
The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
Weezer - Beverly Hills
Puffy - No. 5 (Boogie Woogie No. 5)
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way?
The Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love
Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama Out Tonight
Steve Winwood - Valerie
MIA - Paper Planes
Jay-Z & Alicia Keyes - Empire State of Mind
Keri Hilson - Knocks You Down
Aoyama Thelma (with Soujah Boy) - Soba Ni Iru Ne
Sean Kingston - Me Love
Eminem & Rihanna - Love the Way You Lie
Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - Dance the Way I Feel
MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Nite Remix)
David Guetta ft. Akon - Sexy Bitch (Original Club Mix)
Kylie Minogue vs. Ludakris - Can't Lick You Out of My Bed
Lady Gaga (ft. Colby O'Donis) - Just Dance
Nina Sky ft. Vybz Kartel - Move Ya Body (remix)
Dee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart
MIA - 10 Dollar
Mr. Hudson & The Library - Everything is Broken (ft. Kid Cudi)
All Time Low - Umbrella
Weezer - Pork & Beans
Sean Kingston - My Girlfriend
Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back Pt. II
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
Little Boots - Remedy (A1 Bassline)
Andre 3000/Outkast - Hey Ya!
Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (David Guetta mix)
Pitbull - Hotel Room Service
Pink - So What
Blue Hearts - Linda Linda
House of Pain - Jump Around
Chumbawumba - Tubthumping
Black Eyed Peas - Let's Get Retarded
Cee Lo Green - Fuck You
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Lady Gaga - Pokerface
Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
Bon Jovi - Livin' On a Prayer
O-Zone - Dragostea Din Tei
Gunther - Ding Dong Song (You Touch My Tra La La)
Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me

"Scariest" My Ass

2010-10-24T23:59:00.000-04:00

Stumbled onto Boston.com's list of the 50 Scariest Movies last week. Marked the ones I've seen with an X. Commentary and challenges follow the list.

50. Arachnaphobia
49. The Innocents (61)
x48. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
x47. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (71)
46. Wicker Man (73)
x45. The Blob (88)
x44. Rosemary's Baby (68)
x43. The Brood (79)
x42. Event Horizon
x41. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
x40. Eraserhead
x39. Amityville Horror (78)
x38. Pet Sematary
37. Open Water
x36. Nightmare on Elm Street (84)
x35. The Fly (86)
x34. 'Salem's Lot (79 - TV)
33. Gates of Hell (Italy 80)
32. Session 9
x31. In the Mouth of Madness
x30. Altered States
x29. Mothman Prophecies
x28. The Mist
x27. Videodrome
x26. Seven
25. War of the Worlds (53)
x24. Saw
23. Janghwa, Hongryeon (Korean 03)
x22. Silence of the Lambs
x21. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (74)
x20. Hellraiser
x19. The Changeling (80)
x18. 28 Days Later
x17. Labyrinto del Fauno (Mexico/Spain 2006)
x16. Jacob's Ladder
x15. Jaws
x14. The Exorcist (?!)
13. Quatermass and the Pit (68)
x12. Cloverfield (?!)
x11. The Shining (80)
10. Audition (Japan 99)
x9. Halloween (78)
x8. Evil Dead II (87) (?!)
7. Dawn of the Dead (78) (only in pieces, never all the way in one sitting)
x6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78)
x5. Alien
x4. The Ring (USA 2002) (?!)
3. Rec (Spain 2007)
x2. Juon (Japan 2000) (?!)
x1. The Thing (82)

Some great inclusions. The top of their list (John Carpenter's THE THING) is my favorite horror/sci-fi movie ever, definitely. Some of the movies on this list do deserve more respect and more viewers. But you really want me to believe that Evil Dead 2 is SCARIER THAN The Exorcist? Who are you trying to kid? The list undermines itself every time it redeems itself.

And what about...

...The Evil Dead? While Evil Dead 2 is basically a "do-over" of the first movie in many ways, it's a completely different approach. The first Evil Dead movie is SCARY. Terrifying in places, and the cheaper effects VERY MUCH add to that fright factor. Evil Dead would be on my list, but not Evil Dead 2.

... The Sentinel? Terrifying, but also disturbing in an exploitative way. One could perhaps include Tod Brownings's FREAKS in the same vein. But beyond the exploitation angle, The Sentinel also has a really creepy dichotomy about the role of guardian at the gates of Hell itself.

... Ringu? Including the American remake of Ringu, but dissing The Grudge, yet including Ju-on and not even mentioning Ringu? WTF? While I think all 4 films have their merits, and I do enjoy The Ring, skipping Ringu entirely is laughable and undermines some of their other good choices. Also, their discussion of the plot of the original Ju-on is a bit off, and ignores the entire last 20% or so of the movie.

... Friday the 13th? Seriously? Not ONE single movie in that franchise makes the cut, even though the other superhuman horror staples of the 80's (Elm St. and Halloween) both make it? I'm not a fan of these movies at all, and I've only seen 2 or 3 of them, but I'm kind of shocked. I found the story behind the origins of Jason Voorhees and his homicidal mother to be terrifying as a child. Given some of the other inclusions, this seems odd to me...especially things like Mothman Prophecies(!) and Pet Sematary.

... An American Werewolf in London? It's funny, but it's scary as hell in its own way, too. And the dead guy near the end of Pet Sematary sure seems to be riffing off this movie in a big way.

... Blair Witch, because it's "gimmicky"? And then to include Cloverfield? WTF? I wasn't so much "scared" as I watched Blair Witch, as I was tense and on the edge of my seat the entire time. Creeped out, for sure. It was a stressful film to watch, and it was one I hadn't anticipated correctly. Cloverfield was less stressful than annoying, most of the time. And if you want a film that at least seems more honest about how it handles "the characters are shooting documentary/mise en scene" - Diary of the Dead beats both these films, ultimately (though it's far less successful than either, I'd also argue - it's just more believable in this conceit).

... Sixth Sense? While I can understand wanting to distance one's list from Night's shenanigans, his first major film was spooky, with or without the twist. Perhaps the twist even undermines the fear factor, but that girl under the bed sure as hell didn't.

...Kaidan? Some of it feels dated, but there are some really spooky goings-on in this Japanese movie based on Lofcadio Hearn's documentation of Japanese horror folklore. Along these same lines, Kurosawa's DREAMS (Yume) has a couple of downright terrifying sequences.

... other Asian films - Eye? Shutter? Two very spooky movies (not from Japan or Korea) whose absence is obvious to anyone who has seen them. I'm ignorant of other choices, but I'm sure there are folks who can clue me in.

... Requiem for a Dream? Though it's not marketed as "horror," it's one of the most terrifying (and depressing) examples of film-making I've ever seen. It's also well-acted (by everyone, esp. Mr. Wayans) and has some of the most horrifying visual effects I've ever seen. The film version was also partially inspired/informed by a very creepy anime called Perfect Blue by the late, great Kon Satoshi. If we're going to include Altered States (a film I love, but hardly a staple of horror, and more along the lines of sci-fi than anything else), then it's pretty easy to argue for including Requiem.

... Mulholland Dr.? Or, for that matter, Lost Highway? Once you figure out what's happening in either of those films (it can take a few viewings), they're pretty scary. If we're going to include Eraserhead, then David Lynch's ouvre might need its own niche here. While most of his movies fit better into something like "gruesome noir" maybe, there's still a supernatural horrific presence in just about every one of his original films (except for the biopic The Straight Story, but even in the novel adaptation "Wild at Heart"). The Fungus-Faced Bum from Mulholland Dr. and the Mystery Man are pretty disturbing presences. Even Blue Velvet or Fire Walk With Me could fit here (Ben and his cronies, and the assorted residents of the Black Lodge!). I found Eraserhead far less "scary" than Mulholland Dr. and less creepy and tense than pretty much everything else I've mentioned here. Weird? Yes. Scary? Depends on what you're afraid of.

Zombies

2010-10-19T01:06:00.000-04:00

In the countdown to Halloween, I have discovered Highschool of the Dead, an ongoing manga series (season 1 of the anime covered the first 3 collections, so hopefully once there's enough stuff published they'll make a season 2). It's also got stupid amounts of fan service (NSFW). Yen Press will release it in the USA starting in January 2001.

In light of my ongoing fascination with zombies (I've got about half a script for a 30 minute film featuring zombies that I wrote maybe 10 years ago, and I know the whole story I'd like to tell. I even did casting at one time among my friends, but schedules didn't allow for it...), I'd also like to see the following:

Zeder (Italian, 1983)
Deadgirl (2008)
Zombi 2 (Fulci, 1979)
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie / The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (1975)

and number one on my "want to see" list:
Dead Snow (2009)

Other, non-zombie want to see movies:
Rec (Spain, 2007)
Session 9 (2001)
Quatermass and the Pit (1968)
The Innocents (1961)

Old favorites I may rewatch (or did):
The Thing (1982)
Juon (Japan 2000)
Ringu (Japan 1998)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Changeling (1980)
Perfect Blue (Japan 1998)

15 Albums in 15 Minutes

2010-07-31T01:22:00.000-04:00

Another meme thing...

Nothing's Shocking - Jane's Addiction
Energy - Operation Ivy
Allroy's Revenge - ALL
Appetite for Destruction - Guns N'Roses
Crimson - Alkaline Trio
Too Dark Park - Skinny Puppy
The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste - Ministry
Infliction - Scheer
Rage Against the Machine
Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution
Ride the Lightning - Metallica
Antichrist Superstar - Marilyn Manson
Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair
The Lion and the Cobra - Sinead O'Connor
Karma - Delirium

2010-07-30T02:34:00.001-04:00

First iPhone post

Triptych: Attitudes Toward Media

2010-07-12T11:50:00.000-04:00

After doing battle with a Japanese cockroach yestereve, was thinking about Starship Troopers and its take on media. Actually a smart film with a nice satirical streak running through it.

Got me thinking about portrayals of media in film. I think this little trio could make a nice addition to several types of curricula, esp. those focused on portrayals of media/journalism. Show Citizen Kane and note the tension between Kane, as media syndicate boss vs. the reporter, an idealized notion of the uncorruptible, impartial and neutral journalist.

Next, show Almost Famous (or better yet, Untitled, the director's cut of the same film). Focus primarily on the fantastic portrayal of Lester Bangs by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and use that as a foil for the development of our hero, a surrogate for the director himself.

Finally, show Velvet Goldmine, which is equal parts each of the previous films. Several scenes are literally shot-for-shot homages to CK, and reconfiguring Kane as Bowie (et al) is genius. But most important is the "humanizing" of that reporter figure in Christian Bale's character, coming of age and coming out in the queer and glam-tabulous 70's. The shift to magazine reporting, the humanizing of the "narrator" as it were, all speaks to our changing expectations for journalism.

I'm not sure what film would be the next step...

This blog has moved

2010-04-30T20:36:00.001-04:00

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What Obama's Done - The Good

2010-03-31T22:13:00.000-04:00

I'm no huge fan of Barack Obama. I don't hate the guy, but when I see him, and listen to him, I'm disappointed more often than not. He's smooth. He's eloquent. He's someone I want to believe in.

But to me, he's a sell-out. He's a fence-straddler. He's TOO middle of the road. He's TOO right of where I'd like to see the country go. Isn't that ironic? He's not "socialist" enough for me. He's right of Clinton & Carter. He's as centrist as Gore2000 (which is right of Gore2010) and maybe even a little more to the right, actually. Which, from my perspective, if we rewind the clock about 15 years, almost makes him a moderate Republican.

The new healthcare plan is the evidence of that sell-out. It's hardly as revolutionary as, say, Social Security or Medicare. It's pretty similar to what Romney did in Massachussetts (psst- he's a Republican). It's even based in some ways on the counter-plans offered by Republicans in the mid-1990's as alternatives to Clinton's health care reform plan. Obama even acknowledges that it's "middle-of-the-road," and he's stuck to his campaign promise to "reach across the aisle." Kudos for that, but booooo for the result.

I think the healthcare plan is one step in the right direction, but then again - it basically gives the insurance companies GUARANTEED CUSTOMERS. It's like a subsidy for them, almost, to compensate for regulation. Sheesh.

But let's remember some of the GOOD things Obama's done in his year and a quarter in office.

The health care bill has a section (insanely - hello modern American politics) that will push $36 billion into the Pell Grant program, but beyond that bill, there was also the following:
$5 billion for home weatherization, targeting energy efficiency and jobs to low-income communities
$250 million for Choice Neighborhoods, so people can live in a community connected to true opportunity
$400 million to open new supermarkets and farmers markets in underserved communities
$600 million for summer youth jobs
210 million for Promise Neighborhoods, to spread the powerful message of the Harlem Children's Zone
$8.1 billion for nutrition support programs--a $400 million boost from last year
$9.4 billion to help preserve more than 1 million rental units nationwide
$4 billion for Race to the Top education grants
$10.2 billion for early childhood education
$144 million for prisoner re-entry programs
$4 billion for Community Development Block Grants--plus another $150 million in competitive grants to spark economic development innovation
$4 billion in job-training programs for youth, displaced workers and the unemployed
An 11 percent funding increase in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division
Three major health bills (SCHIP, tobacco regulation, and stimulus funds for Medicaid, COBRA subsidies, health information technology and the National Institutes of Health) enacted even before comprehensive reform
Stimulus contained myriad other individual policy victories, not only preventing a far worse depression but also:

Delivered key new funds for education
Expanded state energy conservation programs and new transit programs
Added new smart grid investments
Funded high-speed Internet broadband programs
Extended unemployment insurance for up to 99 weeks for the unemployed and modernizing state UI programs to cover more of the unemployed

Made large new investments in the safety net, from food stamps (SNAP) to affordable housing to child care
Clean cars victory to take gas mileage requirements to 35mpg
Protection of 2 million acres of land against oil and gas drilling and other development
Executive orders protecting labor rights, from project labor agreements to protecting rights of contractor employees on federal jobs
Stopping pay discrimination through Lilly Ledbetter and Equal Pay laws
Making it easier for airline and railway workers to unionize, while appointing NLRB and other labor officials who will strengthen freedom to form unions
Reversing Bush ban on funding overseas family planning clinics
Passing hate crimes protections for gays and lesbians
Protecting stem cell research
Strengthening state authority and restricting federal preemption to protect state consumer, environmental and labor laws
Financial reforms to protect homeowners and credit card holders
Bailing out the auto industry and protecting unionized retirees and workers

sources: http://bit.ly/cICiEi
http://bit.ly/7jsBDL

I can get behind just about all of that, if it's implemented properly.

Let's see what the next 2 years and change can bring.

THIS is the face of the Teabaggers?

2010-03-21T09:03:00.000-04:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/20/tea-party-protests-nier-f_n_507116.html

Ugly. Sad and ugly.

38

2010-03-14T21:17:00.001-04:00

"When she got home. She was thirty-eight, and just realizing what it felt like to have a sense of home. [...] Maybe the definition of home is the place where you are never forgiven, so you may always belong there, bound by guilt. And maybe the cost of belonging is worth it."

-Wicked
by Gregory Maguire

"The Main Thing Is Not to Install Flash"

2010-03-10T01:56:00.000-05:00

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/02/browser-security-the-main-thing-is-not-to-install-flash/

Interesting that Chrome & IE 8 on Windows 7 are this guys picks for security... assuming you don't install Flash.

Don't Be Evil

2010-03-10T01:42:00.002-05:00

THE BEAST FILE: GOOGLE from Hungry Beast on Vimeo.

iNsidious

2010-03-10T00:57:00.000-05:00

This is completely effed up:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/apple_files_patent_os_embedded_advertising

Dig this bit from Apple's application:
"Apple can further determine whether a user pays attention to the advertisement. The determination can include performing, while the advertisement is presented, an operation that urges the user to respond; and detecting whether the user responds to the performed operation. If the response is inappropriate or nonexistent, the system will go into lock down mode in some form or other until the user complies. In the case of an iPod, the sound could be disconnected rendering it useless until compliance is met. For the iPhone, no calls will be able to be made or received."

W.
T.
F.
?
!

Robert Graves, Wordsworth, Poetry... and Twitter?

2010-03-07T20:33:00.000-05:00

Craig Ferguson interviews Stephen Fry - in an interesting departure, Ferguson goes back to the way Tom Snyder used to do his show, with no audience. Amazing interview. And Fry is just weirdly fascinating to listen to. The link is to part 2 of the interview, but I'd recommend the whole thing, including the intro (which is separate from part 1).

In this section, Craig asks Fry about Twitter, and Fry talks about how he and Douglas Adams (who wrote Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc.) were among the first guys in England to have Macintosh computers, and since then, he's sort of had a passion for trying out new technology. He then goes on to talk about the history of telegrams and abbreviation in epistolary culture, and then brings up the way that Robert Graves thought Wordsworth's "Solitary Reaper" was a bad poem because it was repetitive. All that to say that Twitter is pretty cool, intriguing, useful, and not the danger to our literacy that we might fear.

Amazing.

Choice

2010-02-05T06:11:00.000-05:00

I want to live in the America Sally Jenkins envisions and expects when she says:

If the pro-choice stance is so precarious that a story about someone who chose to carry a risky pregnancy to term undermines it, then CBS is not the problem. [... I]f there is any demeaning here, it's coming from NOW, via the suggestion that these aren't real questions, and that we as a Super Bowl audience are too stupid or too disinterested to handle them on game day.

I think she's right. I don't agree with Tebow's views. I don't think rejecting a gay dating service's ad is the right way to go (a big middle finger to CBS for that), but I *do* believe that if we can't even have one side make their argument in a respectful, thoughtful way... if we can't even listen to the other guy without worrying that they might win some... votes? ...sympathizers? ... then we're already too far gone, and that's not the America I thought I grew up in, and it's not an America I'm very excited about returning to.

Worrisome

2010-02-05T03:26:00.002-05:00

It seems that web advertising has overcome TV advertising in importance (from a dollar$ perspective). This makes me think that non-cable TV is not long for this world, at least as we have known it lo these past 50 years or so.

Adspecs

2010-02-04T19:57:00.000-05:00

Seems to be from "adjustable spectacles." VERY cool idea - flexible plastic lense membranes holding oil. By removing or adding oil, the shape of the lense changes, thereby adjusting the prescription of the glasses. Amazing.

Reasons to Buy...

2010-02-04T00:30:00.000-05:00

... an iPad?

Debbie Harry vocals + B-52's riffs + an iPod

2010-02-01T09:53:00.000-05:00

New Yorker article about Sleigh Bells.

Subtitling and Accessibility article

2010-01-28T02:08:00.000-05:00

"Adjustable typography: an approach to enhancing low vision text accessibility"
Author: Aries Arditi
Source: Ergonomics, Volume 47, Number 5, 15 April 2004 , pp. 469-482(14)
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd

abstract

More on Subtitles and Captions

2010-01-18T20:39:00.000-05:00

Joe Clark (of Fawny) on accessibility and captioning

Clark is also part of the project Screenfont.ca

That's a Big But

2010-01-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

"[...]British writer David Icke, a former soccer player and Green Party member, who has campaigned for both animal rights and social justice, but whose reptilian humanoid conspiracy theories are often dubbed eccentric."

Awesome.

from a NoiseCreep article about Embryonic Devourment's new album

(emphasis mine)

Surprising

2010-01-17T19:55:00.000-05:00

These stats were a bit of a shock, specifically the relatively high numbers among evangelicals:

Younger Americans endorse gay marriage at strikingly higher rates than older ones. According to a 2009 study underwritten by the Pew Charitable Trusts, fifty-eight per cent of Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine support gay marriage, compared to twenty-two per cent of Americans sixty-five and older. And the age divide cuts across some ideological lines as well. In a 2008 study, twenty-six per cent of white evangelicals under the age of thirty supported full marriage rights for same-sex couples, while only nine per cent of older evangelicals did.

Draw Your Own Conclusions...

2010-01-10T00:48:00.001-05:00

from http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/wealthcare-0

a coherent view of society [which] expresses its opposition to redistribution not in practical terms--that taking from the rich harms the economy--but in moral absolutes, that taking from the rich is wrong. It likewise glorifies selfishness as a virtue. It denies any basis, other than raw force, for using government to reduce economic inequality. It holds people completely responsible for their own success or failure, and thus concludes that when government helps the disadvantaged, it consequently punishes virtue and rewards sloth. And it indulges the hopeful prospect that the rich will revolt against their ill treatment by going on strike, simultaneously punishing the inferiors who have exploited them while teaching them the folly of their ways.

There is another way to describe this conservative idea. It is the ideology of Ayn Rand.

from http://www.churchofsatan.org/aslv.html

The S[atanic] B[ible]'s "Nine Satanic Statements", one of the Church of Satan's central doctrines, is a paraphrase, again unacknowledged, of passages from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

University of ...

2010-01-05T02:02:00.000-05:00

http://academicearth.org/

Holy frijoles, this is useful. too bad it can't "count" as credit, though I suppose you could probably pay to take some subject tests of the SAT or the like and maybe testout of somet stuff, or get some credit that way.

2010-01-04T21:25:00.001-05:00

I've been drawing eyes.

And I'm posting from my phone.

Long time gone

2010-01-04T21:04:00.002-05:00

So it feels a bit like a homecoming to be typing in this space again. And there are many reasons to do so, not the least of which is my insanity-inducing habit of reading the Web as a sequence of tabs in a growing collection of browser windows. I tend to have at least 3 and often 5-10 browser windows open, and I often have up to 8 or 10 tabs open in each of those windows. I don't want to lose this info, these threads, and yet I hate bookmarks, hate organizing them, hate dealing with them, and rarely actually return to them. But I still go back through my old blog posts to find info from 2, 3, 5 years ago.

Also... I'm getting tired of the bloat and convolution associated with Facebook. It's too ephemeral, too... too many of those posts and comments and whatnot just disappear into nothingness too quickly.

Finally, I'm less afraid to import my blog posts into Facebook, no matter their policies. It's important that we all realize that we can't "reserve all rights" to anything we put on the Web, because the very nature of putting it on the Web requires that we grant at least some rights to "publish" to the owners of the servers making it available.

I hope to do more here, and also on my other blog about living in Japan, at least a few times each week. I'm also hoping to draw and design more.

And I'm gonna cancel my cable TV.

T-t-talkin' 'bout my g-g-generation...

2009-03-24T09:05:00.002-04:00

Perhaps a sobering perspective, from a late-30-something guy:
When I was a child in elementary school in the 70's, "globalization" was a positive term. Farmed fish was the wave of the future, to feed masses without destroying ecosystems. Solar was keen, but still science-fictiony due to expense. DVD's didn't exist. "Working with computers" meant "majoring in math" or something along those lines. The Baby Boomers were my parents and their generation, and the "heroes of WWII" were my grandparents. Now my folks/the Boomers are the grandparents, and you've got a generation that grew up in the Reagan 80's as the supposed "movers and shakers" who got out of college and immediately weathered the first dot.com bubble and its bursting. When I was in my last year of college, around 6 or so of my friends had email, and they had to go to the basement of the Physics building to use PINE on the mainframe VAX to get access. The summer before I graduated, one friend had AOL. That's it. The idea of using a computer to do research never entered my mind, because I wasn't in a science field. My 1-bit monitor, 2K RAM, 40MB HD Mac Classic and the FIRST TrueType compatible inkjet printer from Apple ran me $1398, no modem, in 1991. I remember the utter shock and wonder and awe at seeing a scanner work in greyscale for the first time, and watching a laser printer spit out the black and white image. I remember 5 years later feeling my jaw drop when I realized how much faster my brand-new 33.6 modem was than my previous 14.4 modem.

I remember when a 1GB flash/jump/thumb drive was $1000. Clearly. Distinctly. I wanted our Department to buy one, and knew it would never happen.

Things are changing quickly. Pay attention. Take nothing for granted. And for fuck's sake, log off sometimes and go sit by the river or something.

Roses

2009-03-22T23:51:00.001-04:00

So, I have a Grandma Rose, but I don't remember her ever being this adventurous. She did take me to see Firefox and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, though.

Faking Out iDVD

2009-03-11T21:21:00.001-04:00

how to use pre-encoded MPEG-2 Files

Fansubbing - Tech Info

2009-03-11T03:30:00.002-04:00

Variable Frame Rates from AnimeSuki

Advanced karaoke effects from Anime Reactor

Fansubbing for Dummies from Serious Fucking Business

Day N' Nite by Kid Cudi

2009-03-11T03:18:00.000-04:00

Day 'n' Nite - Kid Cudi from DP on Vimeo.

Kinetic Typography

2009-03-11T03:12:00.002-04:00

Examples including a link to a Saul Bass interview (he did the titles for North By Northwest, arguably the first animated titles in motion pictures).

Presentation by Shizaki Suguru at ICC Online.

More examples linked from Presentation Zen and Dragonosticism

Tutorial for After Effects from Crooked Gremlins

Helvetica, the film

2009-03-06T07:10:00.002-05:00

http://www.helveticafilm.com/

I just watched this documentary, arguably about the titular typeface, but more about the evolution in design from the Modern (60's) to Postmodern (70's) to Grunge (90's) to now. Lots of opinions. Lots of cool old dudes - Zapf! is in the movie! The guy who made all those dingbat fonts! The guy who started Grunge design with Raygun magazine is in there, too. And the guy who created Verdana. Some really interesting perspectives, some awesome quotes from some frisky, funky German and Swiss guys.

In light of how much my friends have been playing with the "random album art" game/toy idea that's been floating around Facebook, it was a good watch, and a nice gateway into learning more about type. Type is one of the ways to make that album art thing work - it carries so much weight on a semiotic level now, that it's like the glue that holds the random stuff together.

I've started more seriously considering a career / Ph.D. study in type layout/design, with an eye toward film and new media (I'm thinking stuff along the lines of the subtitles in Nightwatch), so this was very topical for me on lots of fronts.

Gaspar

2009-02-19T22:54:00.002-05:00

Saladino

Letterer for over 3000 comics, esp. splash/first pages. He did the AWESOME lettering on Arkham Asylum.

Making Music

2009-02-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

10 Easy Guides to Making Electronic Music

Fotios Karamitroglou

2009-02-02T02:21:00.001-05:00

Greek translator/subtitler
includes several links to articles and a long bibliography

Subtitling

2009-02-02T01:46:00.002-05:00

Subtitling and Tranlation resources

A page intended to serve the needs and interests of subtitlers, but as subtitling often is first and foremost a translator’s job, it can be useful for other translators as well.

History of Subtitling methods by Jan Ivarsson

consent

2009-01-30T03:07:00.003-05:00

So we are confronted with the downfall of Sam Adams, mayor of Portland.

And some of the accusations leveled against him include the cry of "pedophile!"

The "victim" in this case is a former intern, then 17 years old, who had an affair with Adams before Adams took office as mayor. He has said, "I may have been 17. But I was an adult and I knew what I was doing.” To which Timothy Egan, author of the linked article, responds, "Nobody at age 17 knows what they are doing, which is why they should never be having sex with middle-aged men, especially those in powerful positions." Mr. Egan also says, "When Goldschmidt finally came clean under the newspaper’s pressure, he characterized it all as a distant mistake. But it was not anything like that. It was serial sex abuse, and if it happened now Goldschmidt would likely be in prison and a registered sex offender."

OK, sure. While it's probably not a good idea for a 17-year-old to be having sex with someone more than twice their age, males and females alike, let's pause a moment. This guy isn't claiming abuse. He's not accusing Adams of anything wrong. The only "wrongdoing" is that Adams lied about the situation when he was running for mayor and he asked (warned? doesn't sound like it was threatening) the younger man to lie, too. And the younger man was under 18.

But let's hit pause a minute again. This isn't just any old 17-year-old. This one has decided to intern in a political office. Wow, but that's impressive, if you ask me. And let's also think about it this way - you think this "child" was NOT interested in sex all through high school? Was not having sexual fantasies and daydreams and emotion-charged (or hormone-charged) conflicts and elations from, oh, around 13 or 14 onward? If this was a hetero couple, and the female partner had gotten pregnant, it's legal in MANY places for the two to MARRY. The age of consent varies from state to state, but in most places, except in situations where a power differential can lead to passive coercion (or the like), 16 is old enough to decide to have sex.

So. Do I think Adams was a dumbass? Yes. Do I think it was a bad idea, for about 12 different reasons? Yes. Was it wrong to lie about it? Yes. Would it have killed his political career? Yes.

But this isn't like the comparison Egan makes to a man sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl against her will. It's pretty freaking far from it. Like... miles.

I also want to ask Egan if he's appalled and aghast at, f'r instance, the career path of Britney Spears in her youth. Ditto Christina Aguilera. Or just about any teen-aged singer/dancer/star who is dressed provocatively and uses sex to sell CD's, posters, concert tickets, etc. Is he crying out for the contrition of the producers who "did that" to these young women? Because if he's not - then it's OK to sexualize teenagers as long as you keep it within media? Or as long as we use it for commercial purposes and we all, collectively, as a society objectify them? And what about Tracey Lords, who became emancipated early and then went on to star in numerous pornographic movies and the like? Does that sheet of paper and the court's ruling automagically make it DIFFERENT?

Apparently so.

As does the cosmic switch which also, automagically, changes everything and makes it A-OK one minute past midnight on the 18th anniversary of some kid's birth. Sure, we definitely need rules and protections, and arbitrary dates are pretty much a necessity for this sort of thing. But come on. It's not the EMOTIONAL havoc of the situation that people are up in arms about. We don't give a shit about this kid being EMOTIONALLY unable to handle this situation. We're upset because there was touching, and probably lots of it, and it was probably a lot more inimate than a handshake or a hug. THAT'S what we can't abide. So I think we really need to take a look at the situation carefully before we start crucifying this guy for is horrible fuck-up. It was, indeed, a horrible fuck-up, and THAT seems to me like the kind of thing that is more important as far as getting him out of office - he didn't have the good sense to know better. His judgment is obviously lacking. But he's not a monster who will go out and abuse more teenage boys to satisfy his leering craving.

Perspective. Please.

More web stuff - font tools, too

2009-01-19T02:41:00.002-05:00

http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/12-useful-web-tools-for-designers

I especially like the font manipulation, design, and comparison tools

natsukashii

2009-01-12T22:13:00.001-05:00

Which means "gosh, I feel nostalgic..." sorta.

It's been a long time since I posted anything like this, but Top 50 Best CSS Articles and Resources

John Grey

2008-12-22T00:59:00.002-05:00

Wow. Was looking through posts and info about old friends from my undergrad days at Bowling Green State University in the creative writing program. Stumbled onto some names from the past - people I published in the two litmags I founded back in the early 1990's, The Three-Lobed Burning Eye and The Vinyl Elephant. (3LBE lives on as a Web journal of horror and speculative fiction.) One name leaped out at me: John Grey.

Wow. I dig this guy's work. Always have. He was/is prolific as hell, but there's always craft and nuance in his work.

Two in Foliate Oak 2008
3 in Lunarosity 2008
in StrangeRoad 2008
in blue skies 2008
3 poems in SNReview 2007
in Right Hand Pointing 2004
2 in Tryst 2003
two in Homestead Review 2001
in Smartish Pace #3 2000(?)
5 from Belinda Subraman's site (check out Judson Crews there, too)

About Time!

2008-12-19T23:58:00.002-05:00

FINALLY! The academic community is finally seeing that if they take an active part in Wikipedia, they can make it better, rather than just complaining about the inaccuracies and clinging to a (nearly) dead mode of publishing and vetting.

RNA Biologyis now "requiring that authors of a specific type of paper submit a Wikipedia entry for peer review, as well."

Hallelujah!

Some genetic researchers have even gone so far as to create Java bots to PUBLISH information from databases into Wikipedia stub entries.

In a similar vein: WikiProteins is a WikiProfessional project that works in a sort of microcosm, by taking only information about biology and asking professionals in the field to get involved with correcting and editing data from several "seed" sources that were cross-indexed. The importance of this particular project is summed up here:

But the success of the project will largely depend on its ability to attract biologists that feel a sense of ownership regarding a topic and make sure any changes to it are accurate. To that end, and to allow other users to evaluate the credibility of contributions, contributors are expected to register under their professional names, preferably identifying themselves as one of the authors that have been indexed."

Another interesting project is a sort of Wikipedia clone with an editorial review system, called Citizendium. (Sad, that's a sort of craptastic name.) You can find it here: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Citizendium
I think Citizendium suffers from some of the problems that WikiProteins worked around, namely the lack of content leads to a lack of interest among those qualified to be considered "experts." Seems like the best approach would be to find some group (like an academic publisher or existing encyclopedia company) to partner with in order to gain traffic and webranking, building interest in both reading/using and writing/editing.

Old Facebook Posts

2008-12-15T23:58:00.002-05:00

So I realized that I'd been posting stuff on Facebook but not here. I decided to port some of those things over to here, but I had to tweak the dates manually.

Anyway, sorry to anyone with an RSS feed AND a Facebook account.

I used to import my blog into my Facebook account, but I read the fine print, and I think that technically gives Facebook copyright to anything that shows up there. Since I sometimes post poems and fiction on this blog (as well as original research and the like), I'm wary of that practice. I'll look into it again and see...

Community-funded News Reporting

2008-12-15T21:01:00.002-05:00

Wow. spot.us is a site that lets people contribute funds to indie/freelance reporters in the SF Bay area for the purpose of investigative reporting. Fascinating.

via JG

To do, updated

2008-12-08T03:03:00.002-05:00

Things to do before the end of the year:

1) learn to write my address in kanji
2) get immersed more heavily in subtitling (esp. fansub) culture and methodology
3) start learning more typography vocab
4) start to get my brain around Japanese verb inflections better
5) build several more (re)mix blocks for use when DJing (use Dean's old stuff and Prodigy's Dirtchamber disc as models) - UPDATE: new software shifts this to a different sort of priority
6) finish my poetry website update
~~7) national novel-writing month?~~ - Too late. Maybe next year.
~~8) finish and present a workshop at the mid-term JET seminar~~
~~9) find a new apartment?~~
~~10) work out some details of my student loans~~

Auditorium

2008-12-08T00:42:00.001-05:00

Wow. Very fun and neat to mess with:

http://www.playauditorium.com/

"You slow old man."

2008-11-25T01:34:00.001-05:00

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=topxx&id=5&pg=24

Elite (FB)

2008-10-08T10:13:00.000-04:00

"Navy Seals are elite, and they get lots of training so they can swim underwater and invade a foreign country, but if you’re governing the country that dispatches the Seals, it’s not O.K. to be elite?"
-Maureen Dowd

(originally published on Facebook where it spawned a huge, very partisan 31-comment debate about the election)

To Do List

2008-10-03T02:58:00.002-04:00

Things to do before the end of the year:

1) learn to write my address in kanji
2) get immersed more heavily in subtitling (esp. fansub) culture and methodology
3) start learning more typography vocab
4) start to get my brain around Japanese verb inflections better
5) build several more (re)mix blocks for use when DJing (use Dean's old stuff and Prodigy's Dirtchamber disc as models)
6) finish my poetry website update
7) national novel-writing month?
8) finish and present a workshop at the mid-term JET seminar
9) find a new apartment?
10) work out some details of my student loans

3rd Pane of a Triptych

2008-09-16T19:55:00.005-04:00

a draft, early September 2008

Café: A Triptych

I. Coffee and Cream

Reticence can feel
Like a bitter bite
With a scent of mystery

While the milky splash
Can sting at first taste
Before richness satisfies

As the two entwine
Marbling the mug
White and brown alternating

I'm reminded of
Tangled hotel sheets
And your skin against my own

II. Spilt

barely stirring
coffee with (no)
cream spilling
in the saucer
on the table splashes
all around

a mess (spilt) everywhere

but (not) one
drop mixing
staining penetrating
the slow percolation
(seeming) always
unfinished

I (never) taste a sip

III. Iced

restauranteurs know
presentation is everthing
even with a cup
and saucer, ornate
spoon, classy sachets
of sweeteners, natural
and synthetic

if I spill this sweet
syrup, will it harden
clear, crystalize
into a pane
to peer into,
through, and see you?

such a long wait,
such a sticky possibility
and nothing says
it will even dry
transparent
or thick enough to lift,
thin enough to view,
strong enough
to last beneath
my fingers,
my sweaty grasp

at the end of decadent
evenings out with friends
I’d like to kiss the night
goodnight
with sweet lips—
I always get dessert,
if only for the crosscross
lace of caramel,
the sugary gilded cage

and it all melts
in cream
and coffee

but I like to try
to savor
the shattered sections,
even for a second more,
and this is why

I drink my coffee cold.

Stop Being Cute

2008-09-16T19:55:00.002-04:00

Hey, New York Times! The plural of "talisman" is "talismans," NOT "talisMEN," even if you're using the term as a metaphor referring to people.

Knock it off.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/nyregion/17rosenbergs.html?pagewanted=2&hp
"The brothers became talismen for a lost cause. They would literally be embraced by Rosenberg defenders, dwindling in number but unflagging in their faith, as touchstones of an era when the world was reflexively defined as black or white (or red). If you believed the Rosenbergs were not guilty, you were considered a fellow traveler. If you believed the government, you were viewed as a McCarthyite."

There's a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella

2008-09-12T01:20:00.001-04:00

I want to love someone...

2008-09-01T06:13:00.000-04:00

...like he does.

Bad Apple

2008-08-25T19:57:00.000-04:00

a cautionary tale for poets

a draft, from about a year or more ago, spruced up

2008-08-21T21:16:00.000-04:00

Tradition

Like a hive
We crawl across
Each other, blind
To all but need and drive,
We comb the honey
From the walls, feed
Our queen on royal jelly
That we sweat
Through 60-hour weeks,
Skim subservient backs
For precious lube
To grease
And ease
Our upward climb
Our constant crawl
Our clinging fight
To be the one
Who scrapes and bows
And feeds one stolen
Droplet to the queen.

umlauts and such in iTunes (FB)

2008-08-20T00:51:00.000-04:00

So I was getting pissed that whenever I listened to Hüsker Dü or Björk lately, the characters with umlauts would get all f'd up and it would change the name to Bj^rk or H^sker D^. Same was true of any characters with diacritics, etc. So I turned to Google for some answers and found a solution.

Appears to be the case that iTunes 7.7 on the Mac (maybe Windows, who knows?) hates outdated versions of ID3 tags (the things that fill in all the info on iTunes when you download... er... import... yeah... mp3s and such) and BREAKS them into tiny bits of goofy-ass characters if they have special (read: non-English) characters.

Solution: "select all" in your music list. Then go to the "Advanced" pull-down menu. Select "Convert ID3 Tags" from the menu choices, then choose "2.4" for the version you'd like to use. Once you do that (and basically upgrade the ID3 tag version for all your mp3s (or AACs or whatever), you will no longer have the "disappearing umlaut" problem.

Cheers.

Reference: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080712064910551

(originally published on Facebook)

Quicksand

2008-08-12T00:35:00.001-04:00

http://www.quicksandnyc.com/videos.html

Hell yes.

Home Sweet Home

2008-08-10T02:42:00.001-04:00

Dayton, Ohio
One of America's Fastest-Dying Cities according to Forbes.com

Never Forget (FB)

2008-08-06T00:50:00.000-04:00

Photos from the Peace Park

(originally published on Facebook)

So I laughed AGAIN (FB)

2008-08-04T00:49:00.000-04:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

(previously published on Facebook)

So I Laughed... (FB)

2008-08-04T00:48:00.000-04:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

(originally posted on Facebook)

Remedios Varo

2008-07-15T20:49:00.003-04:00

Wow.

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

Reflejo Lunar

(images from http://www.spamula.net/ via Wikipedia)

part 2 of a triptych (see also April 25)

2008-07-02T18:46:00.000-04:00

barely stirring
coffee with (no)
cream spilling
in the saucer
on the table splashes
all around

a mess (spilt) everywhere

but (not) one
drop mixing
staining penetrating
the slow percolation
(seeming) always
unfinished

I (never) taste a sip

Vocabulary - AGAIN

2008-07-02T18:37:00.003-04:00

OK, I've seen this done wrong AT LEAST twice this week, so to set things straight:

"peek" is to look at, perhaps sneakily
"peak" is to reach a high point, then stop and return to a lower level. A peak is also the top of a mountain.

The word people keep spelling wrong is "pique." Specifically in this case:

"I saw something that piqued my interest." That's how you spell it, FYI.

Pique can also have a negative emotion-related meaning. As in, "I was piqued over the misspelling of the word 'pique' in the above example."

Industrial Top 10

2008-06-13T09:01:00.002-04:00

http://www.regenmag.com/Blog-26-Top-10-Industrial-Albums-of-All-Time.html

Actually, my list would probably be similar, but I'm pretty ignorant of stuff past about 1995, really. I'd probably have put something other than Closer on the list from NIN, but I think that's just my own myopic perspective. Too Dark at #2 was a surprise, but hell yes. 242 at the top was really nice to see. I was shocked by ChemLab, actually, but I saw them live open for White Zombie and Pantera, and, well, it was TOTALLY the weakest set that night, so it colored things for me. They also seemed a little more artsy and alt.rock-ish to me, rather than heavy and throbbing. Also, I have no clue about the Neubauten record, but I wanna check it out.

I saw VNV Nation and there are some great tunes on that record. And Haujobb even opened for them on that tour, and they played a hell of a show, but I'm ignorant about that album. More to explore...

with apologies to Bill Watterson, H.P. Lovecraft, and William Butler Yeats

2008-06-02T21:12:00.002-04:00

For Melina

Somewhere in America, it is bedtime.

The towheaded child, blankets to his chin, grins malevolently. A fierce struggle has culminated in victory. He has “gotten his way.”

A man in his mid-thirties, brow crinkled all the way up to his receding hairline, perches on the edge of the bed. Tonight, as every night, his son has whined, wheedled, blackmailed and tantrumed, all in the name of familiarity and ritual. But tonight, things will be different. Tonight, the father will have his vengeance upon the son. Tonight will end the pattern. This is a quest in the name of all fathers, avenging Lot’s honor, smiting ingrates like Oedipus and Cain.

The man turns the page and reads aloud the title that fills him with revulsion:

Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie

“Hamster Huey!” No sooner are the words out than a form, small and furry, troubles our sight! A gaze, red and pitiless, burns through us, and we know that we are in the presence of something from beyond our mortal realm. This is no ordinary hamster. This is a demi-hamster, a rodent-god, the uber-pet. Who is this tiny avenger? What guides his mighty paw? He is an avatar of spiritus mundi, the champion of Gaea, the devourer of corruption.

Ahem.

The town was beseiged. Day and night, over the past several months, the dark lord Globulus had levied tax upon tax on the people. Soon the stores of grain and the city coffers were empty. When the people refused to pay, or could no longer meet his demands, the fiend sent his minions, the Slymuloids, to collect other forms of payment: pets like cats and dogs, even hamsters, and tigers; children out after dark; virginal teenaged daughters. The Slymuloids were misshapen things from the bowels of Globulus’s tower of darkness, amoeba-like and running with sticky mucous, caustic to the touch.

The repulsive Slymuloids oozed through town, sucking in any unwary unfortunate in their path, leaving behind only the headless bodies of their victims. Brains were all they sought. The gelatinous masses then bubbled and roiled their way back to Globulus’s obsidian spire.

Meanwhile, somewhere in middle America, a young boy clutches a stuffed tiger, trembling.

The townsfolk knew something had to be done. They gathered what remained of their herds and grain, and what little silver and copper they could scrape together, and sought the advice of the town sage, an old man who lived in a clearing in the forest, and who dealt in matters from beyond the living world. The sage told them that their answer would present itself if they would only go to the mouth of the cave at the base of the mountain that overlooked the once-peaceful valley in which they lived. He advised them to construct a massive axle, mounted on a frame. They were then to saw the top from a round silo, and mount the walled circular section on the frame so that it might spin around aforementioned axle. When this monstrous rodent wheel was in place, the sage told them they should make a bed of cedar shavings and go home. Salvation would arrive within three days.

The townsfolk did as instructed. In three days time, a bolt of lightning struck the wheel, and the cavern at the base of the mountain belched forth a white and green light. From this aura strode earth’s defender…

Hamster Huey.

Huey marched straight to Globulus’s tower stronghold. As he pressed forward, Slymuloids melted beneath his gaze. His talons and incisors made short work of the armored guards at the gates. Knowing full well that Globulus would fortify himself in the highest chambers of the tower, Huey instead headed for the lab locked beneath the dungeon. He passed through the stone innards of the tower, to another lower level, where a necropolis of ancient days stood. Evil had long worked its way into the world at this spot.

Here, he found the horrible array of pipes, tubes, and boilers wherein the Slymuloids were birthed. Even as I write this, I know that the flopping, gibbering servants of the outer darkness chitter and laugh at my feeble attempt to render in prose their unholy, extra-terrestrial origins. In that pit of terror, the noble harbinger of coagulation and foe of viscosity triumphed, though it brought his own doom!

After turning all the dials up, to their maximum and plugging the spouts from which the foul servants of Globulus flowed forth, Huey rushed to the stairs and began his attack on the dark lord’s final haven. As the boilers overheated and pressure built, Huey threw himself against the heavy oak door, cursing the fiend on the other side. This was what he’d been made for, this is the task for which he’d been summoned.

But Huey’s time had run out. On the other side of the door, Lord Globulous was summoning the largest, most vile Slymuloid ever conjured from the filth and decay at his command. As our hero, Huey, hammered his hamster hands against the hardwood, finally hewing a hole through which he hopped, the huge hellspawn surged forth and attacked. As Huey and the creature locked in fearsome final battle, the boiler in the lab exploded, and Lord Globulus’s spire erupted in a shower of green goo.

KABLOOIE!

Somewhere, in the dark, a boy speaks with his tiger.

“Gee, it sure didn’t end the same THAT time.”
“Yeah. I wonder if the villagers ever found his head?”

Video = Not Always Necessary

2008-05-28T01:33:00.002-04:00

The Web is not TV. And one of the biggest problems I ran into when I was working in academia is dealing with scholars and theorists and professors who started in TV and thought "convergence" (esp. "media convergence") meant, basically, putting audio and video (radio and TV) on the Internet.

No.

No, no, no. Sure, it's cool to be able to watch old video and weird stuff on YouTube, etc. And the pipes are finally big enough that it's practical in most cases. But I don't want all my info on the Web to look like posh TV with stripped down details. I'd much rather read articles, for example, AT WORK, rather than watch a video using my headphones, especially if I just want the info and don't care about the production quality. Also if there are other people around and I MUST use the headphones. I'm sure I'm not alone. If it's a music performance, a play, a visual production of some sort that warrants visuals, fine. But in the meantime, text works great. Or... how about a transcript or something? But don't tie ME to load times, headphones, and the appearance of being unproductive and wasting time, esp. when I'm actually researching something useful for my job. And why is this INTERVIEW with some business leader in VIDEO on a website run by a NEWSPAPER!?!

Bleah.

Coffee and Cream

2008-04-24T11:18:00.001-04:00

Reticence can feel
Like a bitter bite
With a scent of mystery

While the milky splash
Can sting at first taste
Before richness satisfies

As the two entwine
Marbling the mug
White and brown alternating

I'm reminded of
Tangled hotel sheets
And your skin against my own

(first draft)

Californication

2008-04-09T01:22:00.001-04:00

Ok, so let's just be upfront about this: I like women. A lot. It's a known thing, if you talk to my friends and even women I've dated. I've learned, especially during my time in academia, enough to feel comfortable in my own circle, in my own right, to say that I am a feminist. I would probably temper that for certain audiences (who would be hostile to the very notion that a man could be a feminist) and say that I am sympathetic to and supportive of feminist ideologies in general. But still and all, I have a profound appreciation for women in an aesthetic sense, romantic sense, and carnal sense. For sure.

And this leads me to Californication, the Showtime original series starring David Duchovny. Wow. Overwhelmingly funny, poignant, and interesting. Nice commentaries. Shoots from the hip well.

Also... Madeline Zima. Holy smoke. She may just have leaped above Jena Malone in the formerly-jailbait- but-talented- and-sure-to- break-hearts standings. Damn. My god. And thank god she's NOT 16 like she plays on the show, but was 20 or 21 during filming and is 22 now. From the youngest daughter on The Nanny to THIS? Holy Frijoles. God. Damn.

Movies

2008-04-06T21:37:00.002-04:00

by Alien Ant Farm

At slow speed we all seem focused
In motion we seem wrong
In summer we can taste the rain

I want you to be free
Don’t worry about me
And just like the movies
We play out our last scene

Two can play this game
We both want power
In winter we can taste the pain

In our short years, we come long way
To treat it bad and throw away

I want you to be free
Don’t worry about me
And just like the movies
We play out our last scene

You won’t cry, I won’t scream

In our short years we come long way
To treat it bad and throw away
And if we make a little space
A science fiction showcase
In our short film, a love disgrace
Dream a scene to brighten face
In our short years we come long way
To treat it bad, just to throw it away

I want you to be free
Don’t worry about me
And just like the movies
We play out our last scene

You won’t cry, I won’t scream

(one fascinating thing about this song is the way that my mind fills in the gaps in the pidgin-like grammar)

Quotes

2008-04-04T02:40:00.002-04:00

The answers to my list of quotes. Novel figured out number 7. Julie must have known most of the rest.

1. Sylvester Stallone in Death Race 2000

2. Pee Wee's Big Adventure

3. Egg Chen and Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China

4. Han Solo to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars

5. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

6. The Usual Suspects

7. Jules in Pulp Fiction

8. Blue Velvet

9. Brad Pitt in perhaps his greatest role, the stoner roommate in True Romance

10. Unforgiven

Lexical Forebears

2008-04-04T02:26:00.002-04:00

I realized recently that there's one person in particular who has been a really huge influence on my vocabulary and mode of speech.

Bill Cosby.

That may sound asinine, and it may, also, BE asinine on some level, but it's actually true. I say "Hey Gang" when I meet a group of friends, I refer to money as "dough" all the time. There are tons of other examples, I'm sure, but those most readily leap to mind. I listened to Bill Cosby's records over and over as a kid. My brother Sean and I would be doing stuff and I'd be playing Bill Cosby in my room, and we'd just start laughing and laughing until we couldn't breathe. We'd even hear one word, later, that reminded us of Cosby routines and start laughing and get yelled at during dinner.

That guy has really been a huge influence in my life.

I saw him perform live at Northern Illinois University with Sean about 4 years ago. It's one of my favorite memories... I just wish it could have lasted longer...

Film Quote Meme

2008-03-28T02:16:00.003-04:00

So I'm slow, but Novel tagged me for this, and so...

1. You know, Myra, some people might think you're cute. But me? I think you're one very large baked potato.

2. It's like a giant cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting... and knitting... and knitting... and knitting.

3. "What's that?" - "Black blood of the earth." - "You mean oil?" - "I mean black blood of the earth!"

4. This ain't like dusting crops, boy.

5. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

6. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.

7. I'm a mushroom cloud-laying motherfucker, motherfucker.

8. If there's one think I can't stand, it's warm fucking beer. Makes me want to fucking puke!

9. Don't condenscend (sic) me, man. I'll fuckin' kill ya.

10. Hell, I even thought I was dead 'til I found out it was just that I was in Nebraska.

(With apologies to those in the know from 150 Darrow Hall.)

2008-03-18T09:29:00.001-04:00

"You're Beautiful"
by James Blunt, Sasha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost

My life is brilliant.

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

Yes. I know exactly how that feels.

Cooking TOOLS

2008-03-13T00:28:00.000-04:00

Online resources from Epicurious.com

Bottled water

2008-03-06T22:53:00.001-05:00

Astounding

2008-03-05T01:35:00.002-05:00

Check out the maps for Clinton and Obama in Texas and Ohio. Obama wins the large population centers/urban areas every time. In Texas, it's Dallas, Austin, and Houston. In Ohio, it's Cleveland, Columbus, and that unnamed bit is Dayton.

Sobering. Very. Also appears to be a race/class disparity, along with the well-documented age disparity (young people like Obama, Dems over 60 like Hillary).

I'm amazed it polarized this dramatically. Fascinating.

From Sandman

2008-03-03T22:54:00.003-05:00

John

2008-02-20T19:57:00.000-05:00

His words

Tributes from his friends

The Last Victim

2008-02-18T19:10:00.002-05:00

This is the rough bit. But the killer was a victim, too -- of himself, of an affliction, of our culture. We'll surely never know why. But it's obvious, to me anyway, that he was troubled, and maybe agonized, maybe crazy, maybe driven that way... We're all responsible. These are our children, our sons and daughters, who do these things.

Steven Kazmierczak, rest in peace

Thank You

2008-02-17T23:51:00.002-05:00

I just became a Chicago Blackhawks fan.

Northern Illinois University

2008-02-17T20:29:00.003-05:00

I entered NIU in June 1999 as a graduate student in English Literature. I finished an MA in 2001, and then worked as an instructor for a year before being hired as Support Professional Staff in 2002. I finished a second MA in 2004 and worked at the University managing computer labs and teaching classes for the Department of Communication until June 2006. My office was in the basement of Cole Hall.

Last week, on Thursday (in America), a man dressed in black entered a Geology class in Cole Hall and opened fire with a shotgun and 2 or 3 other weapons. He shot 22 people, killing 6 (including himself).

I went to bed with the news about my friend John. I woke up to the news of the shooting. Friday (in Japan) was a very bleak day. The high point, for me, was the farewell party/ talent show for the 3rd year students at the school where I teach (though even that was bittersweet as it was one of the last times I'll see most of those kids).

http://us.cnn.com/2008/US/02/14/university.shooting/index.html

Here's a piece of something I wrote to my fellow English teachers here in Nara, Japan:

The shooting happened in the building where my office was. It's in a classroom where I was a TA (during the 9/11 attacks, no less). I've called or emailed or Facebooked a bunch of friends and colleagues, and I don't think I know any of the victims. But 2 years ago, I was in that building, and I might have been buying a drink in the vending machine right outside the doors. I used to spend long nights there, working late. It never felt unsafe.

Call your families soon, if you haven't. If you have college friends or old pals you haven't talked to in some time, do it, no matter the emotional stings and the weirdness. Just say hi. Just let people know you give a damn about them, and you miss them, and you appreciate them. Don't put off any longer the little efforts that keep us close to those who are far away. Sometimes you lose that chance if you don't take the time and make the effort.

And as you teach, try to be nice to the nerdy kid. The dorky kid in the corner. The out kid that everyone craps on or ignores. And if they aren't nice back, or don't respond, let it be ok. Smile anyway. It's taken years, maybe, to get them to the place they are now. One day, one moment, one gesture isn't going to fix or change all that. But even a smile might be remembered later, and appreciated. And it might be something that helps keep this sort of thing from happening here, among our students. Who knows why this happens? But just increasing the niceness and goodness in the world can't hurt.

John

2008-02-17T20:19:00.003-05:00

Last week, as I got home from Osaka, I got email from J. telling me that John was gone.

Sobering.

I met John frosh year at BGSU. He lived in the dorm, upstairs on the 3rd floor. He was one of the Honors Dorm dorks we all were at the time. He was tall and thin, glasses, unbelievably wavy hair, and a grin that never stopped. Very preppy dresser, and a comic book freak. He became friends with my friends, and with me vicariously. He dated my friend. Together they worked out that he was gay and that was a good, great thing. He was the housemate of another friend. He found someone he loved. He had a family. He helped Katrina victims. He was good people. He was fun. His grin was infectious and he crossed culture, gender, clique boundaries quickly and easily and gladly, but as far as I knew him, he never compromised who he was and how he wanted to be.

I hadn't talked to him in a long time. The last time I saw him was at J.'s wedding, where we danced together and he picked me up. It was ludicrous and perfect. Last Tuesday, he died.

Rest well, John. Rest well.

Rollercoaster

2008-02-17T20:17:00.002-05:00

Last week was pretty cool at the beginning and just awful at the end. The beginning of the week saw a Monday holiday, lots of DVDs and relaxation, a nice, calm Valentine's Day (because of the time difference)... and then it all went poorly.

Fuck You, Filmrot They're Back?

2008-01-30T02:24:00.001-05:00

I just tried to go to a formerly cool website called Filmrot dot com (don't bother going there... it's GONE) where they, at one time, had done a frame-by-frame comparison between the Sin City graphic novels and the Sin City movie.

Now... it automatically redirects to the Ron Paul campaign website.

Fuck you, too, filmrot. Bleah.

EDIT (4/2/08):
Appears to be back to its former goodness. I dunno what happened there, but I'm not gonna lose sleep over it. All I can say, though, is that the re-route to Ron Paul made me like both him and this site less than before. So... brute force campaigning is maybe something to reconsider.

ChaoSpirals

COM 121 - infographics

For ENGLISH 112 - info graphics, etc.

He Didn't JUST Write Conan Stories

The Civil War: A Cause for Celebration

The Difference Between "Wounded" and "Butthurt"

DJ Setlist - Butterfly in Kyoto - April 7

Music Blog?

Higher Education, Pay, and Unions

Finally Doing Something Right

video tools

97X - BANG! - The Future of Rock n' Roll

Plastician (fka Plasticman) on the History of Grime

Loss

Sleazy

WhyNot Party playlist - September 11, 2010 - PURE

"Scariest" My Ass

Zombies

15 Albums in 15 Minutes

Triptych: Attitudes Toward Media

This blog has moved

What Obama's Done - The Good

THIS is the face of the Teabaggers?

38

"The Main Thing Is Not to Install Flash"

Don't Be Evil

iNsidious

Robert Graves, Wordsworth, Poetry... and Twitter?

Choice

Worrisome

Adspecs

Reasons to Buy...

Debbie Harry vocals + B-52's riffs + an iPod

Subtitling and Accessibility article

More on Subtitles and Captions

That's a Big But

Surprising

Draw Your Own Conclusions...

University of ...

Long time gone

T-t-talkin' 'bout my g-g-generation...

Roses

Faking Out iDVD

Fansubbing - Tech Info

Day N' Nite by Kid Cudi

Kinetic Typography

Helvetica, the film

Gaspar

Making Music

Fotios Karamitroglou

Subtitling

consent

More web stuff - font tools, too

natsukashii

John Grey

About Time!

Old Facebook Posts

Community-funded News Reporting

To do, updated

Auditorium

"You slow old man."

Elite (FB)

To Do List

3rd Pane of a Triptych

Stop Being Cute

There's a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella

I want to love someone...

Bad Apple

a draft, from about a year or more ago, spruced up

umlauts and such in iTunes (FB)

Quicksand

Home Sweet Home

Never Forget (FB)

So I laughed AGAIN (FB)

So *I* Laughed... (FB)

Remedios Varo

part 2 of a triptych (see also April 25)

Vocabulary - AGAIN

Industrial Top 10

with apologies to Bill Watterson, H.P. Lovecraft, and William Butler Yeats

So I Laughed... (FB)