i say potato
someone left me a hilariously cryptic message this sunday. my phone didn't list who had called since i was in the transbay tube when they called, but as soon as i was above ground, i saw that someone had left me a message. it went,
"i say potato, you say potato,
i say potato, you say potato,
potato, potato, potato, potato,
let's call the whole thing off."
that was it. no name, not even a hello. and i've tried asking people if they knew anything about the incident, but so far, i think it's isolated.
if you know anything about it, would you let me know? i think the mystery's part of it all, but that shit was hilarious.
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for the past few days now, if i wasn't giving a tour or working in the visitor center or working sather tower, i would be home boxing things up for this glorious move of mine that's happening on sunday (read: tomorrow!). i'm moving basically to david's old place, across the hall. only thing is though, we need to get lamps.
so yes, goodbye studio on the west side, hello one block away from campus. it's gross, really. i can just roll out of bed and be at work.
sigh. there's always that sense of nostalgia when you move, you know? but for this one, i'm particularly happy. good things are happening.
now i really do just need to find another job. here's hoping of hearing from someone within the next week or so. (anyone out there know of any openings on campus? or hell, i'll even do retail!)
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football season! in approximately 34 days!
turning 21 in approximately 22 days!
moving in about 2 days!
oh my jesus i can't wait for the next year to start!
go bears!
filipinos are silly people
i just beat my personal best record on text twist: my highest score now stands at 676,830. (yes, that's six figures, and well over a few hours.)
i'll post pictures later.
and as for finding a new place, i'll be moving at the end of the week to the new apartment. i absolutely hate having to find a new place to live, and i am so thankful that it's all over.
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as for more mob rule, the philippines is going under yet again.
i don't think the filipinos quite understand what is people power. the distinct difference is a revolution for change, versus mob rule because they're not getting what they're want. despite having eleven of gloria macapagal-arroyo's cabinet members turn on her, she's got the support of thousands more loyalists and the catholic church. the military's always the neutral swing vote, but they're really just the ones who wait it out and see what the hell is going to happen. then they choose a course of action that's probably more crucial than the others, and then it's "people power" all over again because they've ousted such a nasty regime leader. right?
well, not really. arroyo's actually one of the leading legislators in the philippines with an emphasis for change -- women's rights, agriculture and the environment, better business, and most importantly, social development -- just look at her track record regarding these things, and she's done a stellar job.
she got inaugurated because of the people ousting another "horrible regime leader," joseph estrada. he was an actor who didn't have any credentials, save for the fact that he was one of the "common men" -- he represented the filipino who could do anything and everything, because he was the everyman. up until, of course, people found out that he was basically siphoning money out of the economy into his private gambling dealings.
but what of macapagal-arroyo? she's got credentials: her father was the president of the philippines. she went to school in georgetown university. she ended up in the most prestigious school inthe country, the ateneo de manila, and received her ph.d in economics in the university of the philippines. she was professor for a few schools, then went on to become undersecretary for trade and industry, then became senator, and then vice president. she's accused of election fraud and gambling, but she's also introduced the most influential bills in the senate, and actually is on track that the philippines needs a parliamentary system because, well, it works.
the philippine electorate works a lot differently than the us's: the vice president is the presidential candidate that garners the second-most votes, and there's no electoral college. ballots are still mostly hand-checked and hand-counted, which could allow for some election fraud to go on. there is a multi-party system in place, and everyone votes (or at least tries to).
they see arroyo's rise to power as a threat, since she's basically eliminating some of the more prominent legislative jobs with their own pork barrels (those wonderful salaries that let legislators do whatever they want). they're unhappy that she knows what she's doing. really, it all looks like the filipinos are being selfish, and that they're looking lnothing more like ingrates when it comes to this. mob rule, really. mobs led by superstars who probably have no idea what they're talking about. (speaking of which, superstars usually run the government on all levels, from mayoral candidacies, to senatorships, all the way to the presidency, as obvious by estrada's rule.)
now they're saying she cheated, lied, and stole to gain power. they're accusing her of rigging the previous presidential election. but wait. if the numbers can't speak for themselves, then why even have a voting system? she won the most votes, almost double that of her previous competitor. and you can only do so much when it comes to popular elections, right? if the numbers speak for themselves, then why is osmething wrong?
they've since filed to impeach her. come on, guys. she didn't start a war in iraq that was unbased and immoral.
filipinos are spoiled. and if they don't own up soon, they're fucked.
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speaking of owning up, anyone watch this show brat camp on abc? some of this stuff is hilarious. the point is that it's trying to be poignant (the premise is nine kids who have uncontrollable behavior going through a camp), but it's the epitome of cheese. sad girly guitar music, kids crying over nothing, and the same old narrator trying to make the show sound more suspenseful than it really is -- a bunch of kids with adults in a desert in oregon.
can't go wrong.
and as for the rest of the entertainment business, harry potter was good (there was so much crying at the end of that book), wedding crashers was good, hustle & flow was good, the island was all right, but i still really want to see dukes of hazzard (mainly because seann william scott was hilarious in the previews -- "let's put another shrimp on the barbie!") even though i know it's probably sub-par, i need to see the beat that my heart skipped, and of course, the edukators.
summer is winding down so fast. oh man. football season.
long live the tower?
i told you that
this guy would take over.
he did it again.
you're my fucking hero.
just because freedom rings doesn't mean we're free
when you find that something isn't right for you and it's too late, is it your fault, or is it one of those extenuating circumstances that you just have to learn from? do you continue on with your life? do you proclaim it to the world? and should you feel so affected as to cut off all ties?
i feel as if i'm a hippie but was born forty years too late. a big, giant, hypocritical hippie.
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how long do you think the senate battle will be for this guy? he already looks like a douchebag. a young, john-edwards-lookalikish, conservative republican asshole.
hopefully he won't push back equality issues like gay rights, women's rights, gender equality, censorship and free speech, and oh yeah, there's the matter of church and state that really ought to be separate in a country that was founded on religious freedom. i mean, those people who settled plymouth rock did so because they wanted to practice their own religion. so why not afford the same chance for everyone who's coming into this country? isn't that the fairest thing to do?
a lot of people, especially our star c student that became our president, tend to forget that. and by the way, the phrase 'nation under God' didn't appear on the pledge of allegiance until 1954, sixty-two years after the pledge was created. (it was to differentiate us from the soviet union, which our country also thought was without morals and needed regime change. only difference was, the soviets imploded, but iraq exploded.) so really, what's the big deal of pulling the ten commandments out of our legal system?
william rehnquist is probably holding off from retiring until he knows we're going to have a democratic president, but that won't happen because everything's wrong with kansas, and middle america doesn't know diddly-squat about what the republican party stands for besides no abortion and gay marriage, which really doesn't concern them directly. because, you know, those gays and dead babies are going to attack any minute now. for real.
somewhere out there, sandra day o'connor is kind of smiling. but more dying inside.
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i saw this movie. it was good.
i especially liked johnny depp. a lot of people said he was being too michael jackson-y, but come on. he didn't molest the kids on screen, he didn't make tiles light up as he was walking down the street, he didn't pose with a tiger for an album cover, didn't get his hair caught on fire, didn't film a music video with his sister, and didn't get beat up by his dad.
all in all, i was
this close to crying because of laughter and because of freddie highmore, the kid who played charlie. something about him when you watch him. makes you wanna cry.
the set design is amazing in this movie, and i get a little giddy when i examine this stuff close-up. the colors are vibrant, eye-catching. it's nothing short of the colors grabbing you by the neck and forcing you to see them in all their technicolor glory.
and let's not get started with the oompa-loompas. they were awesome.
as a comparison to the old movie, i don't think the comparison stands: gene wilder played willy his way, and johnny depp took it as his own character. at least the charlie in this movie didn't try to sing -- that was painful listening to the old version's grandpa joe and charlie singing "i've got a golden ticket" in a really bad, bad key and flubbing up all over the place.
missi pyle is so good at being mrs. beauregarde.
i gve it three and a half stars out of four. go bears. bring chocolate.
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don't you love purge day? when i throw everything away and clean my apartment, i feel really good inside. and i feel really clean outside. it's a win-win situation.
anyone wanna give me a job?
books? what are books?
so here's the premise, really: five kids get golden tickets by eating chocolate bars, and eventually, someone ends up owning the chocolate factory at the end of it all. sounds kind of silly, i know, but i'm sure you remember the old-school 1970s version of this movie. (did you also know that it was supposed to be a merchandise tie-in and that's why they renamed the old version
willy wonka and the chocolate factory instead of its original title,
charlie and the chocolate factory? general mills was marketing wonka bars, but something was wrong with the chocolate formula -- it melted in room temperature. so they ended up pulling the bars from production, but the movie ended up lasting longer than the chocolate.)
they said tim burton reworked the ending so that, you know, it's better. and it's not some silly thing where gene wilder somewhat creeps you out when you're a kid; they full-out have johnny depp scaring the bejeezus out of some kids. i myself have watched the previews quite a number of times. thank god they found a girl who could play violet beauregarde not so, well, stupid. and that kid who plays charlie who was in
finding neverland? somewhere out there, someone's going to cry.
i'm excited to see it, frankly, because of the oompa loompas.
but this is also why we forget that this was a book in the first place. it was a good book, and like many of roald dahl's awesome books, they make good movies. remember
james and the giant peach? how about
matilda? those were seriously kick-ass kid's movies, and th books were even better.
speaking of books, there's another one coming out tomorrow that i'm sure you guys have heard the buzz about.
it's that book series with the kid who looks like will rohrer (when will wears his glasses and gets a lightning scar on his forehead). book six, to be precise.
so anyone re-read the first five? i find that this happens a lot with sequential serial releases like this. you have to review you materials. i mean, there was star wars (and who didn't do the whole episode i-vi bit?). to me, there's alias: i always have to watch the dvds in order whenever a new season comes out on dvd. which really means that for a week i'll get hoome from work or school and just watch tv the whole day.
but back to harry potter. i can imagine this one another ridiculously large book that people will be carrying all over the place. (remember when goblet of fire came out and everyone was freaking out about how big the book was, and then they all bought order of the phoenix because it was heavier? yeesh. this one might be the size of a small car.)
after this one, there's only one more book left for the series. unless of course jk rowling decides to leave one of those open-ended closers and leaves the door open to third-party writers to come up with the next harry potter movie.
have a good weekend, y'all.
then take a nap and then fire ze missiles
this is the reason why the french use the same colors as americans do on their flag: after seeing that the power of revolution by the people worked so well, thirteen years later the french decided that they'd do that too. all while eating cake and beheading marie antoinette.
they stand for liberty, equality, and brotherhood: "liberté, egalité, et fraternité" was apparently what the french were shouting when they stormed the bastille. (which, of course, is celebrated today, and hence the francophilic post.)
the french have gotten a bad rap over the past few years. there's been the raging stereotype that they're all hanging out in front of the eiffel tower wearing those black-and-white striped shirts, black berets covering their heads, smoking, wearing suspenders. half the time they're mimes. and that they're smelly, that their women don't bathe, and that their women don't shave (remember that scene from
titanic when leonardo dicaprio just says, 'they were french'?).
and then there was, of course, the notorious "freedom fries" incident -- can they really be blamed after all that was proven ex post facto? i still know a certain person whose name rhymes with "mack juno" who still calls them the, uh, "freedoms."
everyone seems to forget that during world war ii, germany made them sign a contract that said they'd pay germany for occupying their country. they forget that at one point in time, france owned a hell of a lot of the world, in due part to napoleon (and his nephew of the same name); they forget that there was the bloodline linked with jesus christ known as the merovingians (sound familiar yet, you
matrix fans?); they forget that without france, the english language would be basically defunct (and that they'd be speaking something that sounds like gibberish -- listen to welsh and gaelic for some of the closest approximations of "real" english).
they forget that france is the seat of culture, of art, of love, of things that america so desperately wants and needs but can't because it's got its head burrowed in a freaking ostrich hole of nuclear weapons and right-wing propaganda. (speak up about karl rove already, BUSH!)
the da vinci code would make no sense. wine and champagne? nothing. and let's not even start with cheese. (by the way, this model is laetitia casta, a really hot french supermodel. check her pits. no hair.) and really, can you laugh and be repulsed by this girl being smelly?
yeah, there will always be that simpson episode where lisa ends up going to the wrong school and all the kids laugh at her
en français, but that's part of the bit, right? the whole romanticism with europe, how we'll always have paris, and yes, without the french, we never would have won the american revolution.
so shut up about the french. buy yourself some brie and a baguette, drink some beujolais or some moet-chandon, and rent amelie, moulin rouge, and l'auberge espagnole tonight to watch on your dvd player. cuddle up with your cherie and enjoy some absinthe as a nightcap (if you can find it!), and regail in some good old french magic when you re-read
harry potter and the goblet of fire with the girls from beauxbatons.
you'll fall in love with france all over again.
so what if it's excessive
this came in the mail for me today.
it's so much fun. i got it for the refurbished price of $99, about $40 less than that of what they offer for students.
i know it's only 1 gig of space on the little stick, but that's okay. that means of the ridiculous amount of music i have on my computer (very quickly nearing 25 gigs, by the way), there's a chance that i'll actually get to listen to my entire library instead of going to the standards that i used to click to on my ipod.
so yes, i have a big old 3g 10gig ipod (they don't make 10gigs anymore), and a 1gig ipod shuffle for me to just kinda futz around with.
and yeah, sure it looks clunky, but i actually really liked the idea that except for the 'hold' switch, the ipod didn't have any separate, movable parts. the touch-wheel idea got me hooked, and that's when i hopped on the apple bandwagon. little did i know that soon after i'd be a convert and but a mac mini and from then on just do everything mac-style.
there's songs i haven't even listened to for years that i'm re-hearing for the first time. this is fun!
sigh. to rediscovering those good songs that just bring you back to eighth grade.
and not to mention those white earbuds make you look
slick.
making a mountain out of air
this is my friend nate. that is his car in the background.
to those of you who met nate, yes, he is fine -- at least from what i've read of him -- and yes, he's all right from the accident, too. (just thought i'd give my boy some mad props.) shock, yo. i've never been that close to someone being lost in that instant. and what was the last thing i said to nate? "i'll see you soon."
it makes me feel kind of selfish that for a little bit, i've wanted to just stay here in berkeley and not go back to the super-saccharine, under-the-top vibe of anaheim hills, but jesus, if this shit happens, then i don't know what. i don't even know where to begin. you see, nate's one of those friends who, if the two of you were in a bar, you'd pay for his bill, but he already would have skillfully paid for it before anyone knew.
i know it sounds somewhat irrelevant now, but i owe the guy twenty bucks, and that's twenty bucks i don't want to have if he would have died. and i know it sounds a little weird if you're reading this, dude, but that scared the shit out of me and i'll send you your twenty bucks as soon as i get paid. (note: that twenty bucks is legendary. it goes back to freshman year of high school, when the cingular store in the plaza across from the high school was still a boston market. (we'll get back to that some other time.))
nate's one of my best friends, and is one of the handful of people who know me better than i do myself.
and i am so happy he's all right.
and ok, this is kinda inappropriate, but check out his superpowers. look what he did to the truck that caused the accident.
this is why i'm very happy that nate is alive.
i hope everything's fine, nate. holla back.
this guy is ridiculous
i'm sure all of you know about
lance armstrong's world-record six wins at the tour de france, and how this year he's going for a seventh which, would not only be unprecedented, but also something that will very much insure his place in the history books as ye high and mighty god of cycling.
you've all probably seen his nike ads, where he's holding back tears announcing how his testicular cancer had spread to his abdomen (and unknowingly his lungs and brain). that was way back in 1997, before any of this silly stuff with livestrong and nike or the postal service, before he was ever in a yellow jersey, and before he even met sheryl crow.
and now, to come back eight years later, stronger, cancer in remission, and with a goal of just finishing -- he is retiring after this race, after all -- he's an awesome guy to just, you know, admire.
not to mention his cameo appearance in "dodgeball" was one of the most memorable scene-stealers in the past three years. to think, he was the best deus ex machina for vince vaughn's character, and now, he's the guy holding the discovery channel team together.
and did you see the reports about how his still heart rate was about thirty-two beats per minute, and his working heart rate is above 200? the guy is a machine; his heart is twice the size of the next person's. he's built to shatter records; he's built to be a goddamn inspiration. which i'm sure he hates sometimes, but most of the time, wouldn't you want half of the world looking at you, thinking, 'man, i wish i could be that guy'?
so i doubt you'll ever read this, lance armstrong, but if you ever do, i want you to know that you are one of the most awesome people this planet has. you're not killing anyone, you're not effectively destroying how americans are portrayed to the rest of the world, and your last name isn't "bush," "cheney," "frist," or "bolton," any of which ought to scare the next american, but won't. you're a true inspiration, and yes, some may consider you to be a god. but what i really admire about you is that it never seems to get to your head, and you know better than anyone what your limits really are.
and yes, i have a livestrong bracelet. not because oprah told me to get one, but because your cause, your determination, and your balls-to-the-wall attitude makes spendig that dollar worth it.
you rock, dude.
terrible vision
we're a week past halfway done with the year, and already things are shaky.
there was the announcement in london yesterday about their garnering the bid for the olympics in 2012, but this morning, less than twenty-four hours from that announcement, there was the terrorist attack that killed and injured innocent people while they were on the undergound and on a bus.
you'd think that these scenes you see on the news were only real in movies and books, but since then, we've had new york in smoke, madrid on her knees, india, indonesia, and thailand ransacked, iraq bombed, and now, london, very shaken. buildings have fallen down, cars have exploded, people have been mangled, and it's all been one giant chaotic mess.
what happened? when did we all lose sight of the fact that we're all still human fucking beings? when did basic human decency become obsolete? and furthermore, why?
when did we all begin to hate each other? it's crazy to think about that, you know, despite my idealism, there's actually people out there who coexist and make peace with their differences, and then there are those people who can't let it go. it's been a week of stark, sharp contrasts; there was live 8 to help alleviate world poverty (which was being held by some of the richest people in the world), there was pageantry in singapore for the olympic bid cities, and then now there's a bombing to coincide with the g8 summit in scotland.
what really freaks me out is that the spring of my sophomore year, i was there. i can't believe this is happening, to see it all blow up from a tv screen here in berkeley, waiting on news reports from cnn and reuters while looking at pictures i had of us having fun at king's cross - st. pancras, the spot where there were most people injured and dead.
i'm deathly afraid of being in that situation. even this morning, there were police officers all over campus, scouring garbage cans, looking at backpacks in the layaway station in the tower. even a canine unit came up to the observatory deck. i'd never been asked if anyone looked suspicious on campus, and now, i was asked how busy it was and how many people and all that important antiterrorist stuff.
it's sobering, to say the least. to see it happen is even worse.
to those of you in london right now, i hope you're safe.
