Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Revisionist Westerns
I'm staying up all night to write a term paper about Clint Eastwood's ultra-revisionist western, Unforgiven. I think it's interesting to read scholarly articles about popular culture. I believe it adds a much-needed legitimization of popular culture as a social document and reinforces the idea that in many ways, popular culture can become a real entity rather than a media-imagined social phenomenon. Especially now, when digital technology allows for unprecedented interpersonal connectivity, especially for the distribution of information, society seems to really exist in this forum of constant discussion which is popular culture. Many critics dismiss the value of this information because of the influence that the media has exerted onto it in the transformation of information into a marketable product for a mass audience, however, I feel that the nature of this media manipulation is a direct response to the will of the people (or at least, the will of the people with enough money to constitute demand), and in being such, becomes an invaluable barometer for the philosophies and achievements of the times.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Friday Night
I haven't spent a Friday night at home by myself for a long time. I can't help but feel lonely, but I know that the more I learn to rely on myself for contentment, the happier I will be.
So, tonight, it's just me and Admiral Howard (Howie) Tulipblossom, my beautiful new fishie!
He has lots of places to hide in his new home, so he's been spending a lot of time out of sight, but he shows himself a little more every day. It's nice to have a little life in here again.
So, tonight, it's just me and Admiral Howard (Howie) Tulipblossom, my beautiful new fishie!
He has lots of places to hide in his new home, so he's been spending a lot of time out of sight, but he shows himself a little more every day. It's nice to have a little life in here again.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Cowboy Stuff
Working Out
Jake, Sandy Frank and Dana are doing pilates exercises (badly) along with the TV.
Sandy Frank: I think the best way of going about this is to make sure you've got all of your bases covered, then tell them to go fuck themselves.
Dana: Yeah, I guess, but I want to be able to use them as a reference, you know?
Sandy Frank: Didn't you hear about that new law that says you can't say anything bad about a former employee?
Jake: That doesn't make any sense. What's the point of references if you can only say good things?
Sandy Frank: Take it up with your congressman, man.
Dana: I've only been there for like 6 weeks, though, do you think it's bad that I want to quit, or should I stick it out?
Jake: You should get out of there as soon as you can before you're stuck working there forever.
Sandy Frank: I don't know, maybe it's because I was raised in a good Catholic family, but my parents always taught me that if I didn't like my job, I oughta learn to like it because if God wanted our lives to be easy, well, then we wouldn't have to work at all.
Jake: That's so stupid!
Sandy Frank: Excuse me?
Jake: Listen to what you're saying. You believe what you want, but idly believing in a God that wants our lives to be difficult is a little farfetched. It kind of proves…
Sandy Frank: Proves what, that you can't listen, that's what it proves. Life isn't supposed to be easy because we're supposed to prove whether we're good enough to go to heaven.
Jake: I'd just as soon live my life without worrying about that stuff.
Dana: But that's just it, life is shitty and God knows it. How are we supposed to live our lives knowing that God has set us up to fail?
Jake: If you don't like it, you don't have to believe it.
Dana: Yeah, but…
Sandy Frank: Don't listen to him. You're looking at it all wrong. God didn't set us up to fail, he just made things more challenging. Not just anyone deserves eternal bliss. Think about those assholes in your history class, do you want to hear them playing their fucking rap music while you're trying to sup at the table of the Lord?
Jake: If there's rap music in heaven, why do you still have to listen to that God-forsaken pipe organ every week in church?
Sandy Frank: Because the fucking pipe organ is the holiest instrument and God hates rap music. If you would just listen, that's what I've been trying to tell you all along.
Dana: Who cares which instrument is holiest?
Jake: I always thought it was the bagpipes.
Sandy Frank: Shut the fuck up, Jake.
Jake, Sandy Frank and Dana are doing pilates exercises (badly) along with the TV.
Sandy Frank: I think the best way of going about this is to make sure you've got all of your bases covered, then tell them to go fuck themselves.
Dana: Yeah, I guess, but I want to be able to use them as a reference, you know?
Sandy Frank: Didn't you hear about that new law that says you can't say anything bad about a former employee?
Jake: That doesn't make any sense. What's the point of references if you can only say good things?
Sandy Frank: Take it up with your congressman, man.
Dana: I've only been there for like 6 weeks, though, do you think it's bad that I want to quit, or should I stick it out?
Jake: You should get out of there as soon as you can before you're stuck working there forever.
Sandy Frank: I don't know, maybe it's because I was raised in a good Catholic family, but my parents always taught me that if I didn't like my job, I oughta learn to like it because if God wanted our lives to be easy, well, then we wouldn't have to work at all.
Jake: That's so stupid!
Sandy Frank: Excuse me?
Jake: Listen to what you're saying. You believe what you want, but idly believing in a God that wants our lives to be difficult is a little farfetched. It kind of proves…
Sandy Frank: Proves what, that you can't listen, that's what it proves. Life isn't supposed to be easy because we're supposed to prove whether we're good enough to go to heaven.
Jake: I'd just as soon live my life without worrying about that stuff.
Dana: But that's just it, life is shitty and God knows it. How are we supposed to live our lives knowing that God has set us up to fail?
Jake: If you don't like it, you don't have to believe it.
Dana: Yeah, but…
Sandy Frank: Don't listen to him. You're looking at it all wrong. God didn't set us up to fail, he just made things more challenging. Not just anyone deserves eternal bliss. Think about those assholes in your history class, do you want to hear them playing their fucking rap music while you're trying to sup at the table of the Lord?
Jake: If there's rap music in heaven, why do you still have to listen to that God-forsaken pipe organ every week in church?
Sandy Frank: Because the fucking pipe organ is the holiest instrument and God hates rap music. If you would just listen, that's what I've been trying to tell you all along.
Dana: Who cares which instrument is holiest?
Jake: I always thought it was the bagpipes.
Sandy Frank: Shut the fuck up, Jake.
Tuesdays at Moore-ie's
Tradition dictates that when I work late at the Photo Lab, Lisa and sometimes Sandy Frank come up to the cage and we eat food and watch SVU.
Usually, we start off just eating some dining hall food that Lisa brings up, but that's never enough to satiate our monstrous appetites. Thanks to Campus Food.com, it has become even easier for us to eat way too much food, spend way too much money, and avoid exercise. We can now order meals online and even play games to get money knocked off the price. Last week, after eating Chicken Alfredo and fishcakes from the dining hall, we ordered the 3-meat, 2-side combo from Phoebe's BBQ. That's right. Three meats. Pulled pork, pork ribs, brisket, all smothered in tangy barbeque sauce with a side of garlic mash[ed potatoes], grandma's mac'n'cheese and an extra order of sneaky spicy greens. Needless to say, this was a lot of food.
We've sampled quite a few of the available restaurants on this website and have developed a sort of system for evaluating them. We rate them according to the following categories: Speed and Efficiency of Delivery, Taste/Quality, and Pounds of Food Per Dollar.
After the feast, we watch Law & Order: SVU on Netflix and digest the greasy goodness of our multinational takeout.
Who knows what culinary adventures await us this week at the photo lab?
Usually, we start off just eating some dining hall food that Lisa brings up, but that's never enough to satiate our monstrous appetites. Thanks to Campus Food.com, it has become even easier for us to eat way too much food, spend way too much money, and avoid exercise. We can now order meals online and even play games to get money knocked off the price. Last week, after eating Chicken Alfredo and fishcakes from the dining hall, we ordered the 3-meat, 2-side combo from Phoebe's BBQ. That's right. Three meats. Pulled pork, pork ribs, brisket, all smothered in tangy barbeque sauce with a side of garlic mash[ed potatoes], grandma's mac'n'cheese and an extra order of sneaky spicy greens. Needless to say, this was a lot of food.
We've sampled quite a few of the available restaurants on this website and have developed a sort of system for evaluating them. We rate them according to the following categories: Speed and Efficiency of Delivery, Taste/Quality, and Pounds of Food Per Dollar.
After the feast, we watch Law & Order: SVU on Netflix and digest the greasy goodness of our multinational takeout.
Who knows what culinary adventures await us this week at the photo lab?
Friday, February 6, 2009
Will Stranger and Gar Wolleridge
10 – The West
Gar and Stranger.
Stranger: I tell you what, a man gets ter thinkin' an' start to realize somethin' ain't right.
Gar: You mean, like, how ever'body's alw'ys needin' this feller tracked down er that fella killt, an how they's willin' to pay somebody to do it?
Stranger: If there's somebody in charge of all this, I'm fixin' to kill him.
Gar: You mean the railroad company?
Stranger: I mean the Lord Almighty if that's what it takes.
Gar: Hell of a bounty.
Stranger: What?
Gar: On God. I bet the sheriff'll pay out real good for Him.
Gar and Stranger.
Stranger: I tell you what, a man gets ter thinkin' an' start to realize somethin' ain't right.
Gar: You mean, like, how ever'body's alw'ys needin' this feller tracked down er that fella killt, an how they's willin' to pay somebody to do it?
Stranger: If there's somebody in charge of all this, I'm fixin' to kill him.
Gar: You mean the railroad company?
Stranger: I mean the Lord Almighty if that's what it takes.
Gar: Hell of a bounty.
Stranger: What?
Gar: On God. I bet the sheriff'll pay out real good for Him.
More Cowboy Talk
“56 Jesus said, "Whoever has come to know the world has discovered a carcass, and whoever has discovered a carcass, of that person the world is not worthy."” - The Gospel of Thomas
9 – bathroom
Eddie: So, I was thinking I might quit my job. (silence) I mean, well. It's, I mean, it's just that there's this guy there, you know, this asshole, and I just keep staring at the back of his head. He's got a bald spot and the hair grows out of it really weird, like it is really curly at the base and just sticks real close to the scalp like a snake, like a little sneaky snake, and then all of a sudden it sticks straight out of his head, but somehow, by the time you get to the end of the strand, somehow he found out how to control it and it just kind of sticks to the tips of all of the other strands of hair, except this one hair that is really short and thin and just sticks out. Well, anyway, it reminds me of when my dad had hair before he and his girlfriend shaved his head in the woods. We used to go camping all the time, and, well, one day while my sister and I were out at the swimming hole or something, we came back and there he was: Stone Cold Steve Austin. My dad. Shaved head. Goatee. I'm used to it now, but there's something about the way my dad used to search for things, how unsettled he was, how much he longed for a resolution. You know, back when he had hair. He's engaged now. Not to the one that shaved his head. Who cares about her? He's going to marry Jan. She didn't shave his head, but she likes it shaved anyway. So, yeah.
Stranger: Let me tell you somethin', (improvised speech, maybe about searching.)
Eddie: I just feel bad, you know, like everybody worked so hard, and here I am at this stupid job. I should have more to show for myself, you know? You know how many envelopes I stuffed today? 1,006.
Stranger: Yep. I reckon' it's about that simple. Like findin' what you was lookin' for. That inside of that bottle, that's the same as the inside of them envelopes. You get shit stuck to your fingers.
9 – bathroom
Eddie: So, I was thinking I might quit my job. (silence) I mean, well. It's, I mean, it's just that there's this guy there, you know, this asshole, and I just keep staring at the back of his head. He's got a bald spot and the hair grows out of it really weird, like it is really curly at the base and just sticks real close to the scalp like a snake, like a little sneaky snake, and then all of a sudden it sticks straight out of his head, but somehow, by the time you get to the end of the strand, somehow he found out how to control it and it just kind of sticks to the tips of all of the other strands of hair, except this one hair that is really short and thin and just sticks out. Well, anyway, it reminds me of when my dad had hair before he and his girlfriend shaved his head in the woods. We used to go camping all the time, and, well, one day while my sister and I were out at the swimming hole or something, we came back and there he was: Stone Cold Steve Austin. My dad. Shaved head. Goatee. I'm used to it now, but there's something about the way my dad used to search for things, how unsettled he was, how much he longed for a resolution. You know, back when he had hair. He's engaged now. Not to the one that shaved his head. Who cares about her? He's going to marry Jan. She didn't shave his head, but she likes it shaved anyway. So, yeah.
Stranger: Let me tell you somethin', (improvised speech, maybe about searching.)
Eddie: I just feel bad, you know, like everybody worked so hard, and here I am at this stupid job. I should have more to show for myself, you know? You know how many envelopes I stuffed today? 1,006.
Stranger: Yep. I reckon' it's about that simple. Like findin' what you was lookin' for. That inside of that bottle, that's the same as the inside of them envelopes. You get shit stuck to your fingers.
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