Something Not-So-Cute

(Picture is from here)

Can you believe people actually dress there dogs like this? Look at its face. It's just so ashamed.

Anyway, I was just writing something because I haven't written something in a while. This dog is not so cute. More sad. But I thought I would put it up anyway. Having to much of a break makes me a little rusty.

I had a good Christmas, as I hope everyone who celebrates it did, too. Went to Texas to visit with family. Played some pool and saw a steer and drank some wine. Other things too, but to hard to remember. Fun time.

I've been thinking about some heavy things lately. A few topics to bring up here, but that is for another time. Tonight, I just wanted to touch base and show this dog who may or may not have tried to bite through its own wrists after this picture was taken--just to end the humiliation.

The Battle of the Bureaucracy

For the last month or so I have been working hard to get my Magazine, New Stone Circle (everyone should go look at it), not-for-profit status. It is really hard to move through the crap--file this here, give this place $50, mail this 500 page report here. It's a lot of bureaucracy to move through. I wouldn't have even started if it wasn't for this website I got from the nice people at CHIRP (you should go there, too).

I thought maybe I should keep track of my escapades with my blog. Unfortunately, now I'm almost done. I hope. But if anyone is looking into making that sort of company, you should definitely look at this website. It is a tremendous help. There are a few things missing. Nothing I didn't figure out by completing the step before, but it was a little unnerving to not know something was coming up.

I still can't shake the feeling that I am doing something completely wrong. I'm afraid that I'm accidentally creating like a hundred cooperations I will have to pay taxes on. Or maybe I'm hiring illegal immigrants in a sting operation I am unaware of.

Let's hope none of that is true.

So far all I have left to do is apply for tax exemption. I'll let you know what becomes of it. Hopefully I'll be done soon and will then be able to move onto more important things.

Cute!!! (It's been a while)

Publish2 Contest and Other News . . . um . . . news

Above is a badge with a link to my entry in the Publish2 contest. I think it's pretty good and I am pretty proud of myself. If you would please read it and rate it, I would be much obliged. (That's something people say, right?) While I would love it if you agreed with me and rated it high, please don't feel like you have to. If something doesn't look right tell me. I would like to have a discussion on this topic.

Also besides holding contests, Publish2 is a pretty cool social networking/news aggregator/something-something new media. I have been trying it out for a week or so and I still don't have it all figured out. It seems pretty big and a little confusing. Let me know what you think about that, too.

Comment. Comment. Comment. Please.

Well that didn't take long . . .

Forget my old post saying Chicagoans are walking around happy. Our dear fearless leader Gov. Rod Blagojevich ruined that right quick. Here is the Chicago Tribune's covearge (Keep in mind, Blago tried to get the editorial board fired so they have a bit of a bone to pick with him. Not that any of this is a lie. Just keep it in mind.)

Any good-will collected by my city, from the last election, has been broken by our Gubernatorial foul mouth. Sure it's sad to see our state become the butt of so many jokes, but what I find most insulting is that our elected official sounds like a 10 year old just out of ear shot from his parents.

It's interesting to note, the day after the Presidential election was sunny and clear and happy. The day after the Governor's perp-walk was dingy, cold morning. Is the universe trying to tell us something? No, not at all. The weather and our political system have nothing to do with each other. It's just interesting to note.

Graffiti

I saw this outside my window the other day and felt compelled to photograph it. The building used to be a home for the old, I think. But a few months ago, before it got cold, they tore it down to build some big condos.

People who are bothered by Graffiti tend to explain their feelings with one of two categories. The Broken Window syndrome: in which a broken window left unattended will lead to gradually harsher crimes. There has been scientific research to back up this idea.

Or

Graffiti artists use other people's property as there own canvas.

But, when the building is sitting destroyed for months, what is there to complain about.

The person who owns the building obviously don't care about the original building or they wouldn't try to replace it. And if a broken window leads to other crimes, what would could a broken building lead to?

I guess I'm just making a leap of faith. I have not heard anyone complain about this graffiti, but I'm sure someone dislikes it. This is really just some thoughts running through my mind. And also taking the pictures was an exercise in moving outside of my comfort zone.

Anyone else have thoughts?

My blog is huge.

I just noticed a huge jump in people looking at my blog (well, huge, really it was a jump from 10 a day to 35 today).

Anyway turns out someone from the webecoist.com linked a picture back to me. They found the really cute picture of the Mexican Walking Fish on my blog and cited me. Like I was a real expert on cute things.

Looks like a pretty good article. And hello everyone coming from the webecoist.com. Can y'all fit?

World of Goo

This weekend I've been home for Thanksgiving and my Birthday. I've been able to hang out with my younger brother Ellis. The other day, Ellis bought World of Goo for his Wii. He put it pretty well when he said "This is the best game ever!"

Maybe not the "best game ever," but it is Pretty Fucking Close.

In the game, you move these little balls of goo that connect to each other to make structures. The structures need to be strong enough to travel to a pipe that sucks up any extra goo's. It's a really simple idea that is designed really well.

Each level is nicely even. I have yet to hit a level that is so hard it stops being fun, but they're not too easy ether. The writing is great, too. The mysterious sign maker keeps making signs that continue the story line. The signs are funny and self deprecating. And they lovingly poke fun at the gaming community and Internet culture.

My only complaints are really only annoyances that come from this type of game play. There are little fireflies flying around that reverse time to go back a turn; they are incredibly easy to hit accidentally. And sometimes, in the excitement of the game, it is easy to pick up the wrong piece of goo. When the structure of your goo tower is failing, it can be a little frustrating to pick up a water goo when you wanted a green one.

I would like to see more downloadable content from them, with new levels and new goo's. The game is a little quick (I think I have 2 more levels left). But it is fun.

I just want art in my mailbox.

I don't think I have talked about this before, but in the last few months I have been working on a project. It is not anywhere near completed but I do need your help.

For years, my mom worked on her own Literature magazine. I have decided to take it over and make it my own. So far we (me and some friends/editors) have our website up NewStoneCircle.org. Like it says, we are far from the printing press, but we are looking for submissions. Send us your work (Look at our submission guidelines for what and where to send). Tell friends who like to write or draw, maybe they would like to submit. Send us a donation (we are in desperate need of some money before we can get to much more). But you might want to wait for us to get nonprofit status so it's tax deductible for you. Just help us out and we promise to bring you something very enjoyable in the very near future.

I'm really excited about this and I can't wait to read your stories.

Bulls Testicles and Pig Blood

I assume the title will make everyone dry heave. I'll give you a moment.

. . .

Done? Good.

I'm interested in why most people would have such a problem eating this type of food. There are cultures who don't see a problem with eating the balls of a male cow. A few generations ago, you would have seen nothing wrong with it ether. Something has changed to make parts of the animal like blood a taboo.

I think it comes from our gradual movement to an urban society. We rely on other people to deal with our food. In the past, people who wanted to eat some bacon had to go out and kill the pig first. Now people who want bacon just have to cross the street and pick up shrink-wrapped and precut bacon.

Now, people are soft (a phrase I would rather not use, but just might have to). The idea of killing an animal is so disturbing because it has been bred out. When it was second nature, we didn't waste any part of the animal. Blood and organs were not offensive like they are now.

I have never been one to become nostalgic for a bygone day, and I'm not doing so right now. I am more arguing for new experiences. I'm not talking from experience, myself. I have not killed my own animal; seen an animal slaughtered; or even gotten to know an animal and found it on my dinner table. But It seems like a more healthy life. Perhaps watching death would make us think twice about what we eat.

The Reader has a great article in this weeks paper, kind of about this issue.

I'd like to be able to experience this for myself. It's sounds like a of part of the slow food movement, which is something I've been skeptical about. Maybe I'm changing my mind.

The Call

I just got a call from some guy. When I answered he said "Hunny?!?" I said hello again. "Who is this?" he asked clearly befuddled and a little mad.

Do you think he thinks his "Hunny" is cheating on him. One can only hope, hmm.

Cute! Part Deux

About a year ago, I found a picture of some sort of swimming salamander/fish with legs/smiling cuteness. I didn't know what it was or if it was even real, but I figured it should be on my blog.

Here's the picture if you don't remember.

Today I found this article on Digg.com. Apparently, it is real and it's called Axolotls (ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl) or "Mexican walking fish." And treehugger.com says the Axolotls "is seriously threatened with extinction because of habitat destruction and water pollution."

Hell of a Day to be in Newspapers

Update: The first run of Chicago Tribune's paper yesterday was at 690,000 copies, with a rerun of 410,000 extra copies, said the Tribune. Today, they will sell more copies at convenience stores. Here's the link.

I don't think there is an unclaimed copy of the Tribune, Sun-Times or Red Eye left in the city. And I wanted to read today's paper. Ok ok and maybe I wanted to keep something as a memento.

I heard that they were selling reprinted copies downtown at the Tribune Tower. I went down and ran into this . . .

They said they were selling posters of the front page for $3 and something just came over me. Money exchanged hands and I was told there would be a 10 minute wait for the actual paper. I waited with about 50 other people inside what can only be called the Gothic Cathedral of my kind. A huge room with high ceilings and notable quotes of famous journalists written into the walls.

After a 15 or 20 minute wait a woman came in calling out that the truck was on the bridge. Her declaration met with applause. The truck rolled up and a few burly men ran in with papers in hand.

Really I just wanted to read the newspaper.

Second City Syndrome

Last night we all watched history being written. I could almost see myself telling my grandchildren what I was doing when Obama was elected President. But the intricacies of the historical context should be discussed in another blog, by another more knowledgeable person. I can only talk about what I know best: living in Chicago and feeling inadequate.

Today, November 5th, is the happiest day for Chicago. Today seems brighter, the air smells better, people are more polite. People don there Obama '08 T-Shirts and walk around smiling. I was on the bus today and people were laughing. The bus driver was joking with the passengers.

This city has always been talkative. Chicago is a Midwestern sensibility with a large population. Strangers will always tell you what they do or do not like about you. But todays seemed less crabby; less of the do not and more of the do. This comes from the destruction of what is called the Second City Syndrome.

The Chicago contradiction is that we think the Midwest consists of only Chicago, but we think we are always second best. "Where Chicago goes, Illinois goes," probably should be our mantra. But we will never meet the expectations of a New York or a San Fransisco.

This is how we Chicagoans think, but our minds are changing. Last night we saw the countries newest President Elect give his acceptance speech in our backyard. We saw our beautiful city on TV sets across the world. Obama is a person who cut his political teeth helping make the South Side a better place to live and he calls Chicago his home.

Chicago has always been on the map, but now it is in our minds. Now we can see what a wonderful city it really is.

Zombies and Reality TV

In my small sample of British TV I've been able to digest, I've noticed a recurring theme. It seems the British like there TV with heavy meta aspects. Last year, I think, I watched a bit of a show I can't quite remember about the writers of another show, that I can't quite remember. This week has another meta mini-series, Dead Set. Basically, 28 Days Later if it took place on The Big Brother set.

Zombies and Reality TV, that sounds awesome. The show seems to ask if you want Reality TV stars to be some of the last humans alive in the Zombie apocalypse. It doesn't seem like it.

Over all this show is great. It's scary and jumpy when it when it needs to be. (I've been watching it late at night with the lights off and my stomach hurts from being tensed so much) The only problem I have is the over use of the trendy shaky cam technique. It makes sense in a chase scene but when characters are being develop the camera man with Parkinson's probably shouldn't shoot the scene.

The series only ran for this week and ended today on Halloween. So far I've only watched through the 3rd episode.

The first episode blew me away. And maybe because it was so good, the next two episodes seemed to be like a parody of the show. Not that it was funny, it just didn't hit as completely as the first episode.

I definitely love watching it. And I want more like it.

iPod Games

I downloaded and paid for my first real iPod game a little while ago: Square Enix's Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes. This seems like the only real game for the iPod video, too.

You play as Ziggy, who is a Conductor and creates Tune Troopers to fight against evil robots. Zero, your brother, gets kidnapped and you need to save him. So you wait five years and then go out to find him. If I was Zero I would be a little pissed if my brother waited five years before saving me. Really? That's an awful long time.

The cool, kind of trap of the game is you use the songs on your iPod to make Tune Troopers. This is why I bought the game. I wanted to see how this worked. Unfortunately, it really seems to be randomly generated characters. The tempo or volume level of the song doesn't seem to effect the type of fighter created.

The controls are god awful, too. The iPod click wheel was not made to be used this way. It's clunky when it's inconvenient and slippery, too. Basically, the iPod touch would have a better control system, but it's not made for the touch. And I don't know why.

The story is solidly an RPG story. Robots try to take over the world and humans need to fight back. Only one person has the ability to fight back and he must save all the good in the world. Beyond that the RPG is really simple. It's not good but it's not bad either. Or it is bad, but it's on the freaken' iPod.

Over all the game sucks, but for $5 it's nice. Also it's nice to play on the bus when I have an hour to kill and 50 strangers in my personal space.

TV Shows

I've been watching The Clone Wars. I assume it's the Cartoon Network show fallowing the movie that recently came out. It's entertaining, and the animation is ok. What's fun about it is you can see the cannon from in between the main movies. What's annoying is that there are a lot of stupid jokes. Droides and any unimportant characters are always saying something quick-whited and cutesy.

Also,

I wrote about a pretty good British show called Life on Mars a long time ago. Now, in the great American TV way, Life on Mars has been transformed into an slightly crappier American show. The first episode was basically a shot for shot recreation of the first British episode, except it was based in America. There is really no need for this show, but it is.

Windy City Comicon

I went to the First annual Windy City Comicon.

I guess Chicago is big enough to have its own Comicon. Why not earlier?

It was fun if not a little small. Seriously, only one guy dressed up like a storm trooper? Does it really count as a Comicon then?

I bought 3 comics for myself for $1 each. I honestly went there not wanting to spend any money but only a $1 for a comic book . . . and I had 3 in my pocket. Sounds like kismet to me. I got one "Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD,""The Invincible Iron Man" #153 and "New X-Men" #130.

Keep in mind I know nothing about comics. I didn't grow up reading them or even read them in high school, when a nerd is supposed to come into his own. (Maybe this means I can't call myself a nerd anymore)

All and all, I had fun and I'm glad I could go. Good on Chicago for getting a Comicon and becoming a real city.

Fat Suit

What is it about famous Black comedians in there 40's, that compels them get into a fat suit for comedy. I watched D.A.G.'s new Comedy Central show, Chocolate News, the other night. I thought it was going to be a humerus African American perspective on the news today. Sort of a Colbert Report only less white.

I was excited for that. And it started out pretty good, with a funny rant about Hip-Hop being dead. But then he brought out the makeup and body prosthetics. Maya Angelou one minute, some old guy the next, a gross rapper after that. Really?

David Alan Grier was funny. Why does he need to make the same noise dive into concrete as Eddy Murphy?

This could have been good, too. It could have extended the Daily Show/Colbert Report hour into an hour and a half Chocolate News/Daily Show/Colbert Report news explostion. Instead Fat Suits.

Michael Moore's "Slacker Uprising"

I watched Michael Moore's "Slacker Uprising" the other day. The movie is free to download iTunes for now. And everyone seems to think it's great to see big name movies online for free.

In my youth I was really into Michael Moore/liberal/Bush-bashing. I probably considered myself a punk and I think I liked to finally have the ability to say no. "No, I don't like the President's opinion," I would have said many times not really knowing what his opinion really was. (Not that I agree now, but I know more then before)

So I liked Moore's books and movies. I went to see Fahrenheit 911 and enjoyed it. I wrote an embarrassingly biased report on Moore in high school. I thought I was sticking it to the man.

That all being said, this movie is awful. It's boring. It's slow.

All it is is a camera following Moore on his Slacker Uprising tour, 60 cities before the 2004 election. He rails against everyone. It's everyone else's fault. The media is biased, conservatives are honorable, the public is stupid. These are the feelings I get from the movie and I think I'm just tired of that.

It's also a little annoying to think that the money he gets from even one speech probably paid for the production coast. That doesn't make me feel great about it being distributed for free. It makes me feel worse that eventually someone will pay money.