Category: Musings

Thanks to Martin.AccuWx for today’s time wasting activity. Worried that the Lord, our Savior, was too busy saving the world from our sins to manage his sartorial affairs? Well worry no longer with your own handy Jesus Dress Up(TM) kit. Gasp at how he carries off sequins and flares! Prostrate yourself at how he rose from the dead! Laugh sacriliegiously as you put on that wig.

And remember kids… use of this product in 45 states in the US will get you burnt at the stake. A Jesus is for life, not just for Christmas.

Just wandered to The Hunger Site, a site where you visit daily and advertising sponsors donate cups of food to starving people around the world. Having click on the link and donated my 1.0 cups I noticed a banner ad at the bottom of the page suggesting I could lose 40 lbs for only $40.

What caught my eye was that the banner did not have a name on it, which having read a recent article about how people are starting to treat banners as normal adverts that they remember later rather than click on there and then, seemed a bit strange. Intrigued I clicked… The site, which I won’t name, was selling diet plans. A vision of losing weight, being thin, a better life – but from a site that was dedicated to feeding starving people all around the world. People who have no choice but to be thin, until they die. A painful, lingering death.

I was sorely tempted to raise a petition against this sick diet site – but I realized that it is better that they sponsor The Hunger Site and help feed people, rather than there being no sponsors at all. But please – just go visit The Hunger Site every day to help the cause.

Just picked up a Lego Millenium Falcon and Imperial Shuttle from Andy. Now that John has been sent back to the UK he’s asked me to look after these rather than have to send them back and pay the associated cost. Made me think that with all the Star Wars (TM) Lego (TM) I could stick them all together and make a huge tower… Not quite sure what that would achieve but sounded like a good idea.

Travelling back home from dinner was a classic New York subway experience. At Union Square there was a swarthy young lad trying to hit on anything female with random ‘Is this the L line?’ tactics. Highly entertaining watching for all in the carriage who were otherwise doing their best to look cool and uninterested in the world around them. That was until one woman de-trained leaving behind a bag of Duane Reade goods. An old guy shouted after her but she was wearing her headphones. A quick throw from him and the good scattered around her feet as she strode rapidly away from the train. She stopped, shocked, and everyone in the carriage started smiling, knowingly, and making small talk and eye contact. An amazing transformation due to shared experience – New York stylee.

Good news! The Bush proposed missile defence system will get rid of the enemy threat once and for all… Now if only we could find a way to get rid of Dubya…

Meanwhile back in sunny State College I’m slightly hungover due to a fun night down at The Brewery. The students are back in town and they have pool hussling German friends with them (you know who you are Karl!!). Not that I need to be hussled to lose at any bar related game as Mr Tanton kindly proved by thrashing me at darts. This variation of darts is called ‘cricket’, a variation on my old favorite killer where you score points by hitting a random selection of 6 numbers (and the bull). You have to hit a number 3 times to start scoring on it and when your opponent hits the same number 3 times as well no more scoring is to be had there. Simple. Except when you suck at darts as much as me!! Oh, and the darts board is made of stickle bricks which is mildly bizarre.

Oh, and good news!! After the weekend’s disappointment in finding that the Squarepusher/Plaid tour is cancelled (see Warp for more details) due to Mr Pusher being ill it now transpires that Plaid are doing their own gig next week at Bowery Ballroom. Yay!

On our trip to buy bagels at the Exxon petrol station this morning I found the coolest thing – a little monkey keyring which when squeezed exudes fake shit. Although I’ve seen these before this one was particularly nice as it has a voicebox that groans and farts in it. Sweet. Still prefer my little octopus with the buldging eyes though. Best $2.99 I’ve ever spent.

Flashback Warning: when I was younger I used to have a helluva time spelling “business”. The spelling “buisness” always made a lot more sense to me. That was until I linked it in my mind to “busyness” and then everything made sense. Go figure. Not as cute as the way I used to say “par cark” instead of “car park”. Ah, bless.

Soundtrack: Hot Shots Part II – The Beta Band

Realised I’ve not been mentioning any of the books I’ve been reading over these passed few months. So here’s a couple of my faves: The Great Gatsby was fascinating for how much the description of New York and the Hamptons hadn’t really changed that much. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius I recommend to everyone – it was a great, emotionally wrenching, semi-true story and written in a very modern style, severely over-analysed yet so well done.

Now I’m going back to creating my birthday party flyer as my a/c struggles against the humidity…

An article today describes the perfect man as having Brad Pitt’s face, David Ginola’s hair, Robbie William’s chest, David Beckham’s legs and, of course, Mel Gibson’s bottom. When I get a moment I’ll put that all together and put the photo up, but in the meantime I can take solace in the fact that although I have none of those attributes they also voted Chris Evans as the Worst Looking Man. Nice.

Meanwhile I’m on the come down from a wonderful weekend out in the Poconos. This was in aid of StJohn’s 30th birthday, with the generous loan of Rob and Anouk’s wonderful house. Lots of swimming in lakes, talking about the meaning of the soul and drinking from large suspended melons. Good fun, and being stuck in a Holiday Inn Express hotel room does not compare in the slightest. Sigh.

Had a great night out last night down at some random art gallery come dance club. The location was for Pam’s birthday (she’s xx years old) and was provided through the Flavorpill mailer. Bumped into so many people I knew which was a lot of fun. Then danced around barefoot for a while, causing much black footedness (flip flops are tricky to dance in). Definately worth a last minute 5 hour drive back from State College.

Great quote from BBC News On-line about the lack of Code Red virus impact today: “As Microsoft servers crash more often than many of their counterparts, this might limit the spread of the malicious code”. Go Microsoft.