I smite thee! ...The Diary of Nod: February 2008

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Charlie Murphy on Storytelling

Charlie Murphy, the less successful brother of Eddie, talked with SOHH about what makes good storytelling. He breaks it into 5 items:

Never Try to Tell Somebody's Else's Story
Draw on What You Know
Be as Descriptive as Possible, Then Perfect the Story
Be Positive
Trust your Material

Most of this can really be summed up as, "Be yourself". Stand-up comedy is more than just a series of jokes, it's about selling yourself. Life is about selling yourself and it's all to easy to sell yourself short because you're trying to live someone else's story. Trust yourself. Trust your instincts. It's important to know where you're going, but you have to know where you are.

Confidence breeds success.

Labels: charlie murphy, comedy, storytelling, truth

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

My Fatty Fantasy

What is it about a fat girl that the only arousing fantasy I have is making her cry?

Or maybe, what is it about me that the only arousing fantasy I have about a fat girl is making her cry?

For the record, this girl was not chubby or even fat, she was unequivocally obese...and I couldn't take my eyes off her. She did have a pretty face and would have been attractive had there been half as much of her, but still...

All I could see was her naked and crying. God, it's turning me on now.

Labels: crying, fantasy, fatty, sex

Sunday, February 17, 2008

What's Worthwhile: Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Life

Here's what's worthwhile that I've been reading or viewing:

I've watched the first eleven episodes of Life (all they've made so far), about a cop who spent twelve years falsely imprisoned before winning his freedom and a lawsuit from the city which gave him his job back and millions of dollars. He studied Zen Buddhism while incarcerated and that combines with his experiences as an inmate to make for a very unique character, especially a police detective. It's nudging me in the right direction, to try and clear my mind and focus on what's in front of me now rather than what's behind or far ahead. I've got some books on Buddhism, I should finally pick them (or something) up and see what the philosophy can teach me.

NOVA Science Now is a spin-off of NOVA and has three shorter stories in each episode. Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts it, which is the reason I'm watching.

I've re-read two of Dr. Tyson's essays, The Perimeter of Ignorance and Holy Wars. Both are wonderful and push me to ask deeper, richer questions and to not put forward unnecessary boundaries upon myself.

Labels: dr. neil degrasse tyson, life (tv series), nova (tv series), science, what's worthwhile

Friday, February 08, 2008

Knight Rider comes back because Hollywood lacks writers for anything original

They're making a new Knight Rider movie. And KITT will be a Ford Mustang. Ugh. But here's my fave:

Sarah and KITT track down her best friend from childhood, Mike Tracer (Bruening), a 23-year-old ex-Army Ranger, whom Sarah hasn't seen since he left home at 18. Having served in Iraq, Mike is now jaded and lost and initially resistant.

This is all of that same superhero bullshit that everybody you meet was some special forces guy. If you're an ex-Ranger at 23, I can't think you were much of a Ranger. This isn't a knock on Rangers (I'll save that for later), but Rangers are (relatively) elite and they aren't made of guys that take a single tour and become so jaded that they quit.

Lots of guys have come back missing body parts and they don't have a Ranger or Airborne tab; many of 'em weren't even infantry, they're just guys who've been pushed to the line because the Young Republicans aren't willing to sign up their own asses.

Anyway. It's going to be a horrible movie and it'll be a horrible show, if it gets that far. The idea is completely unoriginal and amateur. And it's using a Ford. I wonder if they'll show it exploding in a rear-impact collision. Maybe it rolls over and the ex-Ranger sues the tire company, even tho no other car manufacturer has come close the instances of roll-over when using the same tires.

Ford sucks.

Labels: ford mustang, hollywood, knight rider, rangers

QOTD: Why am I not a Republican (part deux)

"What a welcome. That is so fabulous. And it's such an honor to be introduced by Laura Ingraham."

"It's wonderful to have Laura Ingraham on our side. You know that? She is wonderful."

Ingram spends her career degrading people for their personal lives, most notably sexual preferences. She also told her viewers to call a voter help line all at once so it would tie up the line and make it unusable for the public. It was specifically a Democratic voter help line. That's voter fraud. The Bush administration declined to prosecute.

"Today we are a nation at war. And Barack and Hillary have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq and the war on terror: They would retreat, declare defeat. And the consequence of that would be devastating. It would mean attacks on America, launched from safe havens that would make Afghanistan under the Taliban look like child's play. About this, I have no doubt."

"I'd forestall the launch of a national campaign and, frankly, I'd make it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win. Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

"I will continue to stand for conservative principles. I'll fight alongside you for all the things we believe in. And one of the things we believe in is that we cannot allow the next president of the United States to retreat in the face of evil extremism."

All are from fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney's speech 07 Feb 2008, that he was suspending his campaign for President. He was elected governor of Massachusetts because he was moderate and he was willing to work with and among both parties. It's sad that he's thrown that all away for a power grab.

To accuse your opponents of supporting our enemies is low. Slimeball Low. Mitt, are you slime?

Our policies need to be more than talking points. Though many politicians want to paint issues as right or wrong, black or white, they are entirely shades of gray. We've spent decades supporting tyrants and dictators (Hussein, Musharef), mass murderers and criminals (Pinochet, Bin Laden), choosing the side most convenient for our monetary interest while ignoring the ethical questions of supporting butchers.

Mitt, your arguments are worthless. You seek to ignore serious debate and instead paint patriots as traitors. You decry debate and seek defamation. Your positions are so without merit that you attack the personage of those with whom you disagree.

Labels: 2008 election, government, iraq, laura ingraham, mitt romney, politics, republican

Racist bookstore chain closes

Karibu Books, a chain in Washington D.C., is closing. Good riddance to those racist fucks.

Karibu was a "Black" bookstore that is just as bigoted as the groups it's trying to enlighten. There is no such thing as "Black". African? Sure. American? You bet. There's even the occasional African-American who is the child of an African citizen and an American citizen. (Obama '08!) But...black? I've had a lot of brown friends but never any black ones.

Even more disgraceful is when we try to assign characteristics or issues or interests to a single group, especially based on something as insignificant as the color of their skin. If there is no such thing as a "white" issue, then there is no such thing as a "black" issue.

I think the only "white issue" is the one the KKK has with "black" people. If we can all appropriately ridicule that, why are we accepting the idea of "black issues"?

Karibu, tho it may be well intentioned, is still set in the idea that we are not all Americans, that we are not all human, that we are not all creatures of this universe with diverse tastes and interests and concerns. In attempting to balance underrepresentation of authors who are black, they've ignored the fact that we shouldn't care whether or not an author is black.

There are many forms of bigotry and we cannot excuse any simply because the practitioners have been the victims of gross bigotry for generations. Fuck Karibu Books and fuck everyone who thinks that a person's interests are dependent upon the color of their skin.

Labels: racism

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Why am I not a Republican?

In his path toward the Republican nomination, McCain has been continually hammered by conservatives including influential talk show host Rush Limbaugh, commentator and author Ann Coulter, and James Dobson, the evangelical Christian founder of Focus on the Family.
Jennifer Parker, McCain's Problem on the Right (ABC News)

And THAT would be why I'm not a member of the Republican party: I won't associate myself with the ethicless scum that control the party.

Labels: coulter, limbaugh, mccain, politics, republican

Monday, February 04, 2008

Cops focus on naked tushie when they should go after creepy grandpa

Virginia Beach cop says a guy's tushie is obscene:

Police, saying they were responding to citizen complaints, carted away two large promotional photographs from the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Lynnhaven Mall on Saturday and cited the manager on obscenity charges.

The photos were pretty tame. It's ridiculous that we actually consider the naked body to be obscene; being naked in public will get you registered as a sex offender which is automatically assumed to mean you're a child molester.

Oh, speaking of child molesters, some sick fuck in Canada-ay molested another grand-daughter when he was on parole for impregnated the first. Yet the family welcomed him back with open arms.

At the time of the incident, the man was on parole after serving two years of a five-year sentence for incest. He had sexually abused another granddaughter several times when she was 12 and 13, and only admitted it when DNA tests proved he fathered his own great-granddaughter.

On a humorous note, the Winnipeg Sun had a slight ad mishap when I looked at the article:

Labels: government, law, obscenity, politics, rape, sex

Sunday, February 03, 2008

QOTD: To each according to his needs.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!
Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program (1875)

All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one's need.
Acts of the Apostles 2:44-45

There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.
Acts of the Apostles 4:34-35

Labels: acts of the apostles, christian socialism, christianity, communism, karl marx, marxism, politics, qotd, religion

Friday, February 01, 2008

Microsoft offers takeover bid for Yahoo!

CNN Money is reporting (I also heard it on NPR's Morning Edition) Microsoft's takeover bid.

Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has made a proposal to the Yahoo! Inc. Board of Directors to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion. Microsoft's proposal would allow the Yahoo! shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft common stock, with the total consideration payable to Yahoo! shareholders consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock. The offer represents a 62 percent premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock on Jan. 31, 2008.

Labels: microsoft, takeover, yahoo

I smite thee! ...The Diary of Nod