| Random idea.
A movie about someone wanting to be a star, wanting to act in front of cameras, but never quite making it.
And have the whole thing filmed as if seen thru CCTV cameras, phone cam shots from strangers on the street, ATM and buses cameras, street webcams and such... Never on purpose.
Just to make people realise how often they are on camera without even being aware of it. | comments: Leave a comment   |
| | Tags: | 1960s, 2009, 20th century, 9, anxiety, bob dylan, casino, depression, gambling, july, life, mad men, modernity, morning, progress, purity, the past, thursday, time, twitter | | Current Music: | like a rolling stone, bob dylan | | Current Location: | 95355-1228 | | Subject: | How does it feel? to be on your own? like a complete unknown? | | Time: | 11:21 am |
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| Once upon a time I used to write these epic entries that would start about one thing and --thirty-six or more tangents later -- end up on something completely different.
Now, thanks to twitter, thanks to a lack of confidence in my writing, thanks to many, many, other factors I can barely form a coherent sentence or two. This both unnerves me and amuses me. I find that I am always of at least two minds on any issue. In fact, I believe most of us are that way, if not all of us. Is there such a thing as purity?
I'm never sure what to believe. Some days, I want to die. Others, I want to live. Mostly I want to be left alone, like a "complete unknown." But I know I couldn't hack it on my own. I know I'm one of those destined to forever live with his parents. Consequently, my sister feels I should be on SSI. Thoughts?
I'm not really feeling doom and gloom, despite what the previous paragraphs may or may not reveal. I'm feeling this anxiety, however, about wanting to go to the casino. The casino. My home away from home, where I can go and everybody knows my name. Where I can go and forget about how overweight and over-educated I have become.
According to Edward Abbey, growth, for the sake of growth's sake, is the ideology of the cancer cell. Modernity and "progress" seem to follow that edict. I'm not sure what I want out of life.
Perhaps I'm so enamoured by the 20th century because I want so desperately to belong to something, and the 20th century, at least, is so documented. But I'll never escape my pedestrian, pedantic, melodramatic, medieval mindset.
I'm not sure what to say. I miss eras I never lived in. Watching Mad Men, the 1960s seem more real, and closer to my thoughts than anything going on now. But I know I'd be just as lost and confused. For though people may have a tendency to view the past as static, it is, in truth, highly non-static.
I guess what I'm saying is, pour me another drink, will ya? | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Oh lawdy, I guess one of our doctor's patients ended up with swine flu. The whole front office has to take Tamiflu, heh. Luckily it wasn't one of my patients, so it's all good in the hood.
Had an amazing time last night. Went out to 3rd Street Aleworks with my friends Nikolai and Brian, my sister, Shan and a couple people who I haven't seen since high school, and never really hung out with much. They turned out to be super cool and, after a bunch of pitchers at 3rd st, we brought the party home and rocked out on Guitar Hero and Nikolai performed for us as well on some middle eastern instruments he brought with him.
I'm draggin' ass today, but it was well worth it. New friends! Things are going to feel boring as shit when our guests leave.
Also: NEED some pho, stat. Was sucking on the whiskey bottle last night along with the beer. Uggh, tummy needs some soupy lovin'.
edit: Oh yeah, this post brought to you by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ellnra22. Thanks for the "poke"! :) | | comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Tags: | dream, hitler | | Current Music: | Laibach - Now You Will Pay | | Current Location: | Home | | Subject: | Hitler | | Time: | 01:38 am | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) happy |
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| I had a dream about Hitler this morning.
I was in Detroit, in the renaissance center for some reason, and that's where I ran into him.
He was quite sad and depressed, for he really wanted pork rinds, and the French people had told him that the only place that sold pork rinds in the US was in North Dakota. So he had gone all the way to North Dakota to the store they had pointed out only to discover that they had run out of pork rinds a week before and weren't going to stock them any more.
And he was so despondant that I felt sorry for him, ran out, went to a gas station, and bought a big, big bag of pork rinds. But he just seemed sadder and more resigned and said that that's the way life was. Either he was denied what he wanted, or he was given such plenty that it would destroy him. For if he started eating the bag I'd given him he'd just keep on chowing down until it was gone and then he'd either die of arteriosclerosis or fade away into a ghost or work of fiction through some property of pork rinds I wasn't familiar with. And that's just what the French people would want, according to him.
I told him I'd see if I could find a smaller bag if he wanted, but he said resignedly that he could have no pork rinds at all. Then he ate a grape fruit and teleported to Ohio to go to an anime convention.
I know this is sort of a trivial, silly dream to post, but how often do you have a dream featuring both Hitler and pork rinds? I just couldn't resist. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| Introductory Post:
Name: Morkeleb
Sex: Male
Species: Angelic Mink
Orientation: Bi
Vore: 50/50 Pred/Prey
Howdy all, just introducing myself and waving my tail hello ^^. If interested please feel free to read my profile, it has a short descriptive vore short story there for ya'll to enjoy, while simultaneously describing my Roleplaying character. If interested in chatting or rping, please feel free to contact me. Always happy to meet new people! | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Tags: | language, race | | Current Music: | Arcturus - For to End Yet Again | | Current Location: | Home | | Subject: | Ebonics | | Time: | 10:59 am | | Current Mood: | happy |
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| First and foremost, allow me to say that Ebonics is an incredibly stupid
name. But it's the name most people are familiar with. It's a common
term that has, unfortunately, come to refer to what we syntax ninjas
call 'African-American Vernacular English' or AAVE. AAVE isn't a
perfect term either, but it's a hell of a lot better than 'Ebonics'.
It hit the national attention in 1996 in Oakland California with a
resolution to recognise Ebonics as a language in order that students may
be better taught Standard English. And that's when everyone
misunderstood the point of everything.
People had all sorts of silly notions of people writing papers in AAVE
with things like "And then George Washington done crossed the valley
forge" or "Othello come walked right up and said "Impudent strumpet!" or
similar. I haven't quite mastered the AAVE mood and aspect markers.
There was a cry going up from people over the notion of recognising it
as a language.
And, of course, you all know this, but I'm going to reiterate it anyway.
AAVE is as much a legitimate language as what you speak. It is by no
means a 'degraded' or 'degenerate' form of standard English. It
contains constructions to mark fine variations of meaning more
succinctly than anything we have; many sentences in AAVE (particularly
those involving perfect aspect and future tense) are extremely difficult
to translate accurately into standard English. There are definite
grammatical rules and if you go up to someone saying "He come done is
bein' goin' down to the mill" and they're a native AAVE speaker they
will tell you that your sentence is, in some fashion, unhappy. Or maybe
not, since they'd probably think you were just making fun of the way
they talked. But AAVE being 'a language' isn't a matter of policy or
opinion. It's a matter of fact that can be demonstrated. To claim that
it's 'degnerate English' is about as sensical as claiming that English
is 'degenerate German'. Your opinion, mine, and that of political
pundits doesn't matter. Neither does anyone's 'right' to free
expression or any nonsense about oppression anyone might want to throw
around. (If you don't like the word 'language', you may prefer
'sociolect'. Language is rather ill-defined and usually tries to float
around on mutual comprehensibility, however. Though there are lots of
things we call dialects that aren't mutually comprehensible (Mandarin
and Cantonese, for example) and lots of things we call languages that, I
am told, are mutually comprehensible, such as Swedish and Danish or
Czech and Slovak.)
If you're curious, there is some debate as to where AAVE came from. One
hypothesis is that it originated as a creole of African languages and
English that developed in close quarters in slavery. This is a very
popular view.
It's also probably wrong, given that samples of AAVE from the oldest black
people we can find are much more similar to Southern white English than
they are to modern AAVE or to various African-English creole languages
such as Gullah. Also consider that most slaves were not owned in groups
of tens or hundreds on big plantations like you see in the movies. Most
slaves were owned by smallhouseholds that kept four or fewer. This is
not the kind of environment where an African-English creole is likely to
survive, let alone develop.
The development of AAVE seems to be much more a product of
post-War-between-the-States segregation, with the divergence of AAVE
from Southern dialect or surrounding English being highest in those
cities that are the most segregated. Students from schools with large
black populations show significant AAVE phonological markers, black
students from schools with more mixed populations show fewer markers.
Now that we've established that it is a language, the next obvious
question becomes: so what? Well, here are some lovely facts for you.
72% of black men without a high school degree are unemployed.
Think that's nothing? People without high school degrees are often
unemployed? Did you know that only 19% of chicano men without a
highschool degree are unemployed?
And the percentage of black men without a highschool degree is much
higher than in chicano populations. There's a reason for this. Only
14% of black fourth-graders can read 'effectively'. That is, they are
able to find a book and read it to gain information in an arbitrary
subject. This is contrasted with 80% of white children.
In 1979 the courts ruled that schools should reach out to speakers of
non-standard forms of English after the students of Martin Luther King
Jr. Elementary sued the city of Ann Arbor in 1979, saying that there may
be a link between their non-standard dialect of English and their
difficulty reading.
Studies have shown a closer link, students have difficulty decoding
many of those letter combinations that, in AAVE, are phonologically
quite different from standard English. Students who show fewer AAVE
markers in their speech have less difficulty in their reading.
This may well go further in explaining the observation that black students
in less segregated areas perform better academically than any amount of
theorising about role models or a culture of drugs or other nonsense,
since (as noted above) a lower incidence of segregation leads directly
to a lower prevalence of AAVE phonology.
This could also explain, at least inpart, the startling difference in
employment between blacks and chicanos in the United States. Chicanos
can and often do benefit from ESL programs that work to teach Standard
English, assuming a working knowledge of some other foreign language.
And given the data about AAVE and its effects upon reading, it seems
that would be the only appropriate tack to take with students who do
speak phonologically differentiated AAVE.
Of course, if we get rid of segregation the problem will sort itself
out, which would be even better. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| Someone who has definitely (indirectly) shaped OUR lives has died. Someone you may or may not read about in the papers, and even if you did, you'll say "so a little, old, grey-haired man died, who cares?"
Robert S. McNamara has died at 93.
If you don't know who he is, shame on you and your knowledge of American history.
This, man, I believe, is more significant to America than Mr. Jackson.
Check out the film The Fog of War.
This is my own celebrity crushing right now. Feel free to deride it at your leisure. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| So, I dreamed I was on a roadtrip. The reason we were on a roadtrip
never quite made itself clear. Sometimes it was because someone wanted
this very specific brand of cigarettes. Sometimes it was to take this
kid to a doctor. At one point it was so this guy could go find his
girlfriend. The main constant was that the car was kind of broken down
and such.
Anyway, as we were driving along, the world ended. Not completely, but
God sucked most of the energy available to do work out of the universe,
so we could do the closing ceremonies and then be done with it.
However, we ran into Satan. (He looked like President Obama.) He
convinced us that instead of going along with some sadomassochistic
charade of armageddon and judgement and punishment and all that other
stupid nonsense, we should try to get all the rest of the angels and
people and everyone else together to throw God out and give the world a
dignified ending it deserved.
I wasn't privy to the actual details of how this was accomplished, since
I was trying to gather up as many remaining energy sources as possible,
so everyone could get together. And then we played, using what was left
of coal and uranium and oil and gas to power electric guitars and
synthesisers and all that. And when that ran out, we all went acoustic.
And when those broke, we all went with singing and banging rocks
together until the sun went out and that was that. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
|
There comes a point where these things stop being YTPs and start becoming virtual acid trips, and he's clearly passed it. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| Back to work, always a bummer after vacation. We spent nearly a week out at the river and it was nice and relaxing. We didn't bring any food or cooking equipment and ate all our meals on the beach or up in town, heh. Man, I love Guerneville. We came back Wednesday and spent the rest of the week chillin' at home. Played games, watched movies. We stayed at Russian River Brewing Co WAY too long on Saturday then headed to the Belvedere where...I was refused entry for capping on the bouncer, lol. Well, the guy was a douche. Headed to The Zoo, where I received a much better welcome. Those are my people, man. Sunday we went and saw Transformers. It was ok. Then came home and watched some more movies.
I can't wait to see G.I. Joe and Harry Potter! | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| | I went in with the knowledge that critics had drubbed the movie (and most especially the plot) as a whole for its many lacks, and that fans still rated it mega-high simply because itw as Transformers. I also went in to see this much as I did Hellboy II: The Golden Army, where I felt the second movie of both series was sufficiently excised from the original comic/animation/whatever that I didn't have to compare old and new, and could just see it as a movie (Although the superweapon to destroy the sun in this one was an old Megatron bit from the 80s cartoon). That being said, I'd have to rate this as a low C for overall movie score, and a low B for ability to keep me entertained. I mostly just enjoyed seeing Transformers aplenty popping in, though given how most went unnamed, you pretty much had to hope you could recognize them, because very few got much characterization aside from comic relief. I liked Soundwave and Ravage (and Frank Welker voicing them) and it was interesting to see some other old names tossed around, including Jetfire. That being said, it's your typical Michael Bay movie: loud, explosively colorful, and full of useless jabber and last-minute saves from the world being blown up. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Hi,
Is anyone here, or does anyone here know someone who's driving to Anthrocon, and might have some space for an extra person?
It doesn't look like i'll find anyone leaving from Montréal, but i'd be happy with anyone who would be leaving from Toronto, or from the new york area, or anywhere else in the area. I'm willing to bus down there to meet up with the ride, i just don't want to spend 24h in public transport and pay ridiculously much for that.
I don't mind paying for gas or helping drive, i just want to get there somehow! | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Tags: | 2009, 27, 30, afternoon, april, bea arthur, callous, celebrity news, death, december, january, june, life, michael jackson, news, saturday | | Subject: | when last we left each other... | | Time: | 05:56 pm |
|
| ...Farrah Fawcett was still alive, and Ed McMahon's death was news.
Now, now, someone else has overshadowed them both. Well, I wasn't planning on writing about the "king" of "pop" but, apparently, I am. I still remember, back in '02 how I labeled that summer the summer of death. I don't remember why, but alas, I did.
For some reason, January and June, those are the months with celebrity deaths I notice. And probably December, too. If you died in March or November or February or so, I'm terribly sorry, but I most likely have forgotten you already.
The exception to this rule: you mattered a whole helluva lot to me.
This year, in my opinion, a true Titan, a true legend died. Their name was Bea Arthur.
I'm sorry to sound callous but, the king of pop, aside from Thriller (which we know touched millions of people, as it is the highest selling album of all time) didn't touch me. OR my life. Crap, did I just make a crass child molestation joke? Most likely, that is how I'll remember him.
I get sad when celebrities I know died. But, again, Mr. Jackson, your death just didn't rock me the way it has a lot of people. I'm still mourning Bea Arthur.
Oh, and let me clarify: by Thriller, I don't mean the album, I mean the VHS making of Thriller, complete with documentary and all. Those zombies dancin' in the streets, Vincent Price's narration, that's what I remember.
What else has happened since last we left each other?
Nothing of note. My life is boring. I could write about day to day activities, but then you'd know how (in)frequently I bathe, how many hours I sleep, etc, and well, somehow, in this increasingly micro-managed world, in this increasingly twitteresque and kafkaesque world, I don't care to share the number of bowel movements I have.
I just care to share if the bm was quality or not. :D | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Man, I gotta move my computer out of the garage. I just pulled another all nighter playing Plants vs Zombies. I can't believe it's 9 am! I'm not even tired! | | comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment |
|  It is hard for me to express how I feel tonight.
There's a lot I want to say, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to find the right words to properly express how I feel.
I am both saddened and depressed by the loss of Michael Jackson.
Michael meant a lot to me. I grew up as a child if the 80s and I remember just about everything Michael Jackson did. I remember the Pepsi commercials. I remember eagerly anticipating each and every music video that would debut on MTV. I even remember the night the Thriller music video debuted! I was at a friend's house whose whole family liked Michael Jackson and I really liked him a lot too. Thriller cemented my interest in Michael as an artist, a performer, a dancer, and a singer.
I remember the larger than life persona he had and the moments where he was on top of the world. All the while, he never became greedy, corrupt, or ungrateful. He always remained sweet, thankful for everything, hopeful, and loving towards everyone.
The very first album I ever went to a record store to buy was Bad. Yeah, I remember the controversy of how "white" he looked, but I looked past that and appreciated the the songs and the new music videos all over again. I became a die-hard fan. When I was young, I even wanted to dance like him and I mimicked him all the time. I even remember dancing in front of my mom once, spasming like an idiot trying to pretend to be like Michael Jackson... I could be embarrassed to have that memory, but instead I cherish it now.
I saw Moonwalker, the movie. Yeah, terrible movie, I know, but there were a lot of parts I just loved.
"Leave Me Alone," in which he took a shot at all the negative people in his life, defending himself and proving that he was strong enough to even satire and laugh at himself...
"Speed Demon," probably would have never been able to explain it fully back then, but knowing me now, you gotta understand why I would love this video. Michael, once again, feels the need to escape from the crazy people in his life. He goes on one hell of a flight of fancy, in which he becomes a clay-mation anthro rabbit of himself, actually shapeshifts a lot, and pulls some tricks to get away.
"Smooth Criminal," probably the best part of the movie, in which his style of dance blends perfectly with a fun 1930s gangster theme. It became so iconic the theme itself spawned a video game.
Outside of the video, there was more shapeshifting. Michael actually transforms into a car and a mechanized robot! Given a budget, you actually see some pretty detailed and awesome transformations. Well, okay, the car was done in shadow, but the car looked cool when it pulled out and the robotic transformation was very detailed!
Beyond the movie, you remember his transformations in "Thriller," the morphing part in "Black or White," turning into a black panther in the uneditted ending of that... Michael Jackson seemed to have a thing for transformation. You know how I can definitely relate to that. I'd even go so far as to say those TFs probably did help me get into TF, partially at least, but undeniably.
To me, seeing Michael Jackson transform was Michael trying to express himself in so many ways, just being human wasn't enough any more. He shifted his shape to express things in more than one form. I really admired him for being able to morph his image and his body that way in such a public fashion. He wove that into his identity at times in the same way I do now.
It wasn't just TF, though. In a way, I thought we were kindred spirits. On the level of being an artist, I just... I wanted to talk to him, get to know him, talk about the music videos and everything... he seemed so fascinating and I wanted to get to know him better, understand his creativity and hopefully mutually share some inspiration.
The 1990s got ugly. I felt bad for Michael, but as things went from bad to worst, it was tough to support him when the whole world seemed to turn against him. I never believed in the child molestation allegations, however I had to admit he was getting progressively weirder and weirder. I would often shake my head and ask, "Michael, what are you DOING?!" I would later find out drugs were starting affect him and his judgment, though nothing got to him worse than the child molestation charges. I think that really knocked him to the ground, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The world loved you and all of a sudden they hated you...
(Let me make it clear, I do not believe Michael Jackson ever molested anyone. All comments throwing that back in my face will be ignored. Regardless of what everyone believes, he want to court, was found not guilty, and we all had a chance to move on.)
Sadly, he never was able to shake the allegations. I think his drug use either returned or got worse. I believe his health was fading. I believe he wasn't surrounding himself with the right people. I believe he pushed himself too hard at a later age, trying to perform like he was still 21 when he's in fact 50. I think the botched plastic surgeries were demoralizing and the skin disorder he had that gave him embarrassing blotches definitely didn't help either. He never really got over people believing he just bleached his skin. He hid himself more and more in bandages and with the notorious face mask.
It seemed Michael Jackson just went on a different downward spiral that, it became too easy to make fun of him and yet no one could reach him to pull him back up.
He never got the big come back he deserved. That's what saddened me the most. I see this as a real tragedy. Michael Jackson didn't deserve to die being remembered like this. He deserved better. I didn't speak much on Michael Jackson because he had faded so far from the limelight, however I always remained a die-hard fan and I had hoped for an epic come back that would bring all the fans back.
It just... never happened. His legacy is so tainted and it's so... depressing.
I want to remember Michael Jackson for his soul... not "Early" Michael Jackson, not "Thriller or Billy Jean" Michael Jackson, because that was not the whole of who he was. I want to look at Michael Jackson, his whole life, but the one thing in that that never changed... his soul. He was one of the kindest and most giving celebraties the world will ever know. It is a true shame to see him go.
I don't care what anyone else says. I, for one, will miss him. I am deeply saddened to see him go.
Thank you, Michael... for everything. You inspired me and millions of others. Hopefully, you will continue to do so for many years to come. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
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