Turf Marking

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Tuesday, November 30, 2004


Coming early next year... to the UK, anyway. Who knows if it'll ever show up here. Posted by Hello
Here are a couple of pics - the rest will go up on my self-restraint site when I get around to it. pics of the dinner are on the self-restraint site. The rest will follow.


E and I at the table. Posted by Hello


A passing shot of Cleveland's clone of Columbus's Easton Town Centre, Legacy Village (of the Damned). Posted by Hello
The following is a clip from the original Ocean's 11, starring the Rat Pack themselves - when they could be bothered to show up, sober, between shows, that is. I present this exchange between the characters played by Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra, and (I think) Peter Lawford partly as social commentary, but mostly because it amuses me.

PLEASE DOWNLOAD, RATHER THAN STREAM - My free server only allows so many downloads per day! The clip will be taken down after a week or two.
Dean's Political Aspirations (32kbps mp3 clip, 80.3kb)
You need to keep a couple of things in mind as you listen to this clip. First, the film was made in 1960 and for another, it starred the freakin' Rat Pack who were allowed at certain points (like you could stop them, anyway) to improvise in spots.

For all their honest, genuine social progressiveness - courageous progressiveness, like standing up to all the Gumbas who didn't want Sammy staying at any of their hotels - they were still men of the '50s. Sure, the conversation was probably written to be satirical, as you can tell from Sammy's and Lawford's side-comments. But, still - you didn't think they giggled, winked and nodded to each other while they were rehearsing?

Friday, November 26, 2004

Among the items I dug up from my parents' house that I'm currently enjoying:
  • The following episodes of Doctor Who that I taped from PBS over a decade ago: Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, and Rememberance of the Daleks. I missed a Dalek episode in there somewhere. There were actually about 2-3 other episodes per tape, but I'll get to those in due course. Watching Daleks totter about gives E something to laugh at, so it's all good.
  • Two Chicago concert videos from the early 90s. I managed to MacGuyver together a setup where I can plug the sound from the VCR directly into my computer and record. But, I'll be damned if it didn't take a few tries and a lot of mucking about with the audio configuration on the laptop. I got 4 choice tunes that I've always wanted on mp3.
  • My dad's old leather jacket, which is, I believe, one of the first items he purchased when he entered this country 32 years ago this December. It's what my cousins used to affectionately call "Uncle [my dad's] 'Shaft' coat." I call it my new "fly-@$$" coat.
Damn right!
I (think I) mentioned that E and I had our turkey earlier in the week with my parents in Clevesburg. E, not wanting to just sit and do nothing for the holiday, set up two tentative sets of plans with two sets of people, probably hoping one of them would pan out. Me -- I would've been happy to leave the Diamond Mine at 5:00, go home, eat some leftover turkey and chill for the rest of the evening.

I saw DATU_B and the misses earlier yesterday who invited us over if we weren't doing anything else. I figured, "Why not?" but apparently, one of E's leads panned out. Two friends of ours, who moved to Washington D.C. last quarter, were in Columbus for Thanksgiving and the three of them "conspired ;)" to meet at a BW-3 in Lancaster.

I was not thrilled at first. But 12 wings and 2 Killian's later, I was grateful for the time spent with people I hadn't seen in months, and probably won't see for who knows how long.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Twelve years in the US, and the Osbornes had it good and were relatively safe. Two months back in the UK, and they got jacked...

Reward for lost rocks as Osbournes face reality
The Times
November 25, 2004
OZZY Osbourne declared Los Angeles safer than rural Buckinghamshire in southern England yesterday as he announced a pound stg. 100,000 ($237,700) reward for his wife's stolen jewellery.
Some interesting excerpts...
The former Black Sabbath star added: "We could have been mugged, shot or murdered in America. We have been over here a couple of months and all this has happened. It does not give me a great reflection about the state of crime in this country. I am very disappointed."

In the end, it was his wife who slipped up: "I'm sure a lot of people will look at us and say, 'Well, they have got more, they can buy it again, there's more serious things happening in the world, who really gives a damn?'.

"But the thing is, we worked for everything. I came from Brixton (in London), Ozzy came from not a very nice part of Birmingham and everything we have got we have worked our arses off for.
And, most interesting was this comment. I'm not familiar with Australian press, so I'm not sure if this was meant to be snarky or not... (emphasis mine)
Earlier, a police press officer reminded journalists to be sensitive to the fact the Osbournes had suffered a terrifying ordeal. She might have spared a thought for the burglar who threw himself 9m out of a window to escape the stark-naked wild man of rock: Ozzy once bit the head off a bat live on stage and snorted a line of ants after mistaking them for cocaine.
The reason I'm not sure is because the BBC ran this story online and that's where I read about comparisons between Ozzy's case and that of one Tony Martin, a man convicted of murder after shooting a teenager attempting to burgle his farmhouse. It seems that the restrictions on self-defense/defense of property more stringent than here in the US.

And, I've never really understood why. Ok, I understand no one wants a pitched gun battle in the streets because of an attempted mugging. I understand no one wants some poor sod who thinks he's Charles Bronson looking up the person who took his wallet, and in a fit of repressed rage, shoot the mugger, his family and his dog.

What I truly don't understand is the expectation that it's MY responsibility to consider things like "reasonable force" when I'm in the midst of a struggle to defend my person, others in my home or, let's be honest, my property. If I attempt to stop a burglar doing everything in his or her power to thwart me, why should I have to be the one checking my reactions and thinking to myself, "Nope, can't kick here. Can't stab there."? If you're in my face in my home, and I don't want you there, and I've got a knife, there are six spots that my training has taught me to target. And, I'm supposed to check that for your dumb, criminal @$$?

The only, and I mean the ONLY valid argument I've found (and it's a stretch, at that) against easing up on property-defense restrictions is that criminals who would otherwise prioritize getting your stuff and getting out with as little confrontation as possible might resort to "search and destroy" tactics upon entering your home. I suppose it's better that than take the risk of confronting a Dirty Harry wannabe. Because thieves are going to steal, regardless. Up the ante, and you'll invariably find some criminals who are more than willing to call.

Hey, if you want my wallet on the street, I'll probably let you have it. But, stay out of my house.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Well, E and I survived a long weekend with my family. Since my parents are leaving for the PI tomorrow, we had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Lots of food, including E's grandmother's recipe for Cranberry Relish! For perhaps the first time since I moved out, I feel sad to leave after a visit.

E really seemed to like the areas of Cleveland that I showed her. It genuinely made her sad to return to this Appalachian backwater. Still, for everything A-Town lacks, there are some good things you find here that are just hard to find in Cleveland -- free wireless internet access being one of them.

On the other hand, I took E to a deli yesterday of a type I don't even remember seeing in Columbus. Well, it's not just a deli, really - more like a specialty grocery store that caters to the local Italian and eastern European populations. I knew E would love it -- all sorts of smells and foodstuffs that reminded us both of our childhoods. It's the sort of neighborhood place that even plays to its own stereotypes, like selling novelty parking signs that say "Parking for Italians Only" and "You Take-a My Space, I Breaka Your Face." The sad thing was watching to decay around the store. I remember a strip full of cars and pedestrians, that's all but dead, now. Sad, really. It brings to mind just how long ago some things are.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Talk about a phrase I haven't heard in ages.

So far this weekend, I've been taking E to see some of my old Cleveland haunts - streets I used to run, coffee shops I used to go to, stores, schools, etc. It's funny how much has changed.

Right now, we're sitting in a coffee shop near the campus of the University where I started graduate school. There's a big building on the parking lot that's blocking the view of (what presumably was) the main building.

I took her to the Deep Space Nine of Cleveland surburban white flight, that last outpost - the Lyndhurst/Beachwood area. Well, just when it looked like that bastion was about to crumble, it looks like The Man decided to build himself a sanctuary called "Legacy Village" (to which I added, "...of the Damned."). It's basically a crammed replica of the Easton Town Centre in Columbus down to almost the very last "shoppe," all sitting behind a fence, as if to mock "Ok, we can't keep 'You People' out, but we can make you as self-conscious about being in this 'Village' as possible by filling it with facades and 'shoppes' of things you probably won't be able to afford and would feel too ashamed to ask about."

I took her to Coventry where I found that the Arabica, a place with a vibe full of teen memories, was gone. With it were all the hippies and punks and "Sodomize the Pope" jackets, and in their place stood a Chipotle. Not that it's a bad thing -- I can subsist on that stuff.

On Coventry, we happened upon a store selling all sorts of Chinese knick knacks run by a local Tai Chi teacher, who proceeded to badger E about what her Tai Chi lineage was. Hey, she's in graduate school - she didn't have time to memorize the entire list of her teachers' teachers' teachers. Me, I would've just said "I think his name was Caine... Kwai Chang Caine" and have been done with it.

The wedding we attended was a replay of every horrid memory I've ever had as a child being stuck full in a ballroom full of Filipinos a really nice affair. E met a great deal of people and seemed to be a big hit - no surprise there. She did stress her self out a lil' bit, worried about what people might expect out of our wedding plans which we've only dropped minor hints about to anyone who asked. I, myself, resolved ahead of time that the information was none of their business, and that I'd just play the game one plays when people at "To Do's" do in conversation.

There's more to tell, and pictures to come. I'll get to that sometime.

Friday, November 19, 2004

*Sigh* Yet another road trip to C-Town this weekend, this time to attend some wedding of a cousin of mine. I mean "cousin" in Filipino terms, i.e. a family member, two or more degrees removed, of a friend of a family member.

I'm sure I'll scrounge up internet access from somewhere up there. If not, I'll return to the world next Wednesday.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

I'm not saying I'll ever stop my little hobby of deconstructing the so-called "traditional martial arts" I know to see what useful nuggets I can glean. But, looking at guys like Kimbo Slice in action, someone who reportedly learned to fight in jail and on "th3 str33t" (I saw it posted like that on the martial arts forum I linked to below - I'm a lemming, sue me.) it sort of makes you wonder why one engages in any "martial art" as a structured pursuit and doesn't just try to get in as many "real fights" as possible.

Kimbo's the darker brother in this video. Check out his opponent's eye.
Ok, these things can be a little off sometimes.





You Are a Snarky Blogger!



You've got a razor sharp wit that bloggers are secretly scared of.
And that's why they read your posts as often as they can!

At the State of the Union? The War on Terror?

No, I got really nauseous last night playing the game Half Life. I was given a disk forever and a day ago, and mostly ignored it because trying to play it on my old and busted laptop never worked right at the best of times. So, in typical fashion, I forgot I even owned it until I heard that Half Life 2 was just released.

I suppose it could have been something I ate, but I think it had something to do with the fast pace of the game. Moving with the mouse and keyboard makes the whole thing flash by pretty fast. Maybe I should just stick to Ultimate DOOM?

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Soul Sides

An mp3 blog I stumbled upon while following a trail of some NPR links on the subject. It's my favorite because the writer did a favorable review of the song Street Player by Chicago. See, I knew I wasn't crazy and/or tasteless ;).

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard dies suddenly aged 35
One of the most original and dynamic voices in rap has suddenly gone quiet.

Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, real name Russell Jones, collapsed and died suddenly in a Manhattan recording studio yesterday (13th November), aged just 35.
I spent 4 years and some change in the community mental health field providing one level of support or another, from a lowly grunt in direct care to a supervisor in direct care to community support case management. Not by choice or design, but all of my work happened to be exclusively with teenagers, and the majority of my caseloads were females. This didn't have anything to do with demographics as much as the agencies that were hiring at the time.

If I do say so myself, I enjoyed some pretty modest success if you don't include the burnout factor. Hey, making it four years without so much as a hint of an accusation of inappropriate Catholic-clergy-like conduct is quite the accomplishment in the social work world. I remember being told that statistically, I lasted longer than most males in their mid-to-late twenties in the field.

I reminisce about all this because the other night, E and I watched the movie Mean Girls, written by Tina Fey based on the book Queen Bees & Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. Wiseman, as I discovered by viewing the Mean Girls DVD extras, co-founded the Empower Program, a non-profit organization that empowers youth to stop the culture of violence. It reminded me of the sorts of things I used to do as I was working with youth, usually after one form of violence or another. It reminded me of flirting with ideas of doing or joining something geared toward prevention.

They might be rusty, but I like to think I still have most of the old skill sets that helped me be successful - communication, empathy, etc. To say nothing of all the new skills I've developed since then, like how to break my foot off in someone's @$$.

But, how to get there... back in touch with old ideas and dreams that inspire you almost as much as some new ideas that you have in your head. Knowing the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step isn't much help until you have a clearer idea of your destination. It's one thing to say, "Yeah, I'm headed toward Bora Bora." Sure, you can determine your direction easily enough. But, the devil's in the details, isn't it?
I post these to give one an idea of just how badly I needed a new laptop.


New hotness... Posted by Hello


Old and busted Posted by Hello

Friday, November 12, 2004

I've got nothing constructive to write about, and I'm feeling a nice dose of ennui. So, in an effort to stir myself in some direction - any direction - I'll just B!tch, Moan and Whine about stuff.

ELECTION WOES
Hey, I didn't vote for him. I'd have sooner voted for Cobra Commander. Dubya won (arguably) fair and square, and there's really no one to blame but us. I was reading an op-ed by a poli-sci student in one of the local rags here who made a valid point. People decided this election based on the issues that mattered to most to them. One would be hard-pressed to find anyone more than two degrees of separation from the war in the Middle East. And, I don't care how liberal you think you are, from what I've seen, most of that stuff gets shut down when one or more of the following happens: (a) You need to start worrying about mortgage payments, (b) You actually find you can't speak your mind without a great deal of static and hassle - and I'm not talking about the Secret Service monitoring your blog. I'm talking about the stares you get from bosses at the watercooler at the job you need to keep food on the table. Or, perhaps (c) You face a situation like this with your child, described by the writer of the aforementioned op-ed:
No one cares what goes on in the privacy of people's homes or bedrooms. People do care when their 5-year-old child is watching a homecoming parade and has to ask his mother why that man is dressed like a woman or when they walk up [the street] and see "Don't apologize, sodomize" written with chalk.
Basically, for me it's easier to believe that people are shortsighted than to believe in the right-wing conspiracy. "Defense of marriage" and all the other things on the Conservative social agenda aren't going to count for squat when the economy's finally spun out of control and down the toilet and former allies around the world finally deem us out of control and need to rein us in.

On the other hand, I look back on a lot of friendships I've had with people you could label evangelical, Conservative Christians. They weren't stupid people, blind to the realities of life. Some of them were/are hit by today's economic woes. They worried about whether the war was justified, and support the troops while remaining skeptical about our agenda. And I know more than one of them can't stand FOX News. I don't know who they voted for, but it wouldn't surprise me if the whole lot of them voted for GWB. And if they did, I'd put money on the fact that their vote was cast out of faith in the proposition that by prioritizing what they valued over other considerations, the rest would take care of itself. To me, there's something to be said for following your conscience regardless of cost.

Well, that took up more space and time than I intended. This is what happens when you get on a roll. I had a couple more things to BMW about. But, I'll stop here and find something else to do.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

This is why I always liked the film more than I ever liked the TV show.

Click here to take the M*A*S*H quiz!

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Ashcroft, Evans Resign, White House Says
Tue Nov 9, 6:05 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans resigned on Tuesday in a post-election shake-up of President Bush's Cabinet.

Ashcroft, a lightning rod of criticism by Democrats and civil liberties groups over the anti-terror policies implemented after Sept. 11, 2001, said in a handwritten resignation letter that "the demands of justice are both rewarding and depleting" and that the Justice Department would be well served "by new leadership and fresh inspiration."
I told E that I can almost bear 4 more years if this jagoff was gone. Of course, it begs the question of how much worse any potential replacement could be. I dunno, though... in my view, you'd have to raid Goebel's grave site, snag some DNA and infuse it into the body of a white supremicist, a la COBRA's Serpentor from G.I. Joe to get worse than Ashy.
Author Warren Ellis once wrote in his Old Bastard's Manifesto,
...if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
Which he then followed up with:
I am part of the problem. F**k you.
From DATU_B:
Confessions of a Cultural Elitist
By UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE/TED RALL

Win or Lose, Kerry Voters Are Smarter Than Bush Voters

NEW YORK--Democratic hand wringing is surrealy out of hand. No one is criticizing the morally incongruous Kerry for running against a war he voted for while insisting that he would have voted for it again. Party leaders have yet to consider that NAFTA, signed into law under Clinton, may have cost them high-unemployment Ohio. No, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, darling of the "centrist" Democratic Leadership Council, blames something else: the perception "in the heartland" that Democrats are a "bicoastal cultural elite that is condescending at best and contemptuous at worst to the values that Americans hold in their daily lives."

Firstly, living in the sticks doesn't make you more American. Rural, urban or suburban--they're irrelevant. San Francisco's predominantly gay Castro district is every bit as red, white and blue as the Texas panhandle. But if militant Christianist Republicans from inland backwaters believe that secular liberal Democrats from the big coastal cities look upon them with disdain, there's a reason. We do, and all the more so after this election.
I couldn't have put it better myself.