Tuesday, November 16, 2004
wow. i don't know that i've ever been quite so happy to write a weblog entry, or to check my email... and it's only been like 3 days i've been fully immersed in central america. i'm in a tiny internet um... room... in chicquimulas, guatemala. this has been an interesting experience so far, i've got pages and pages written that i was hoping to post here, but my sidekick isn't getting any service, so i can't transmit my notes to post them. expect a nice long entry as soon as i get back in range... otherwise, i'm doing alright, getting things accomplished with regard to my grandfather's business and investments here, and my grandfather's kid girlfriend seems pleasant enough. the whole country is a bit chaotic, the security guards at every store are packing shotguns, every available wall is painted a different bright color and covered in painted advertisments (the handpainted typefaces are a designer's dream, it drives me nuts every time i walk outside), they drive like maniacs, the food is okay, the people are dirt poor, the mountains are beautiful, the weather is nice, wish you were here... Friday, November 12, 2004
melancholy today. don't know if it was going to the mark kozelek show last night at the mermaid, but it could've been. he's a great songwriter, poignant lyrics and an aching, beautiful voice, accompanied by a crisp, lonely guitar - and at a beloved venue that's soon to be a thing of the past. the mermaid is one of my 'happy places' - where i feel as comfortable and as welcome as home - and come january it won't exist. i was looking around last night - the mermaid window, the painting above the bar, the "seaweed" backdrop on the stage - and it just seemed so organic, so lived in, so saturated with memories, walls dripping with the residue of a million forgotten songs. when i got to the show, the girl taking the cover was talking to someone. I handed her my money and asked if mark kozelek had come on yet, and she kind of giggled and nodded to the guy she was talking to - who of course was mark koselek and said, "noooooope. not yet." really. embarassing. especially since i've seen him before and know what he looks like. sadly, he didn't play "glenn tipton" which i really like. oh well. wednesday night was wonderful, though - i went to the found magazine party at the masonic lodge downtown, and drinks before and after at the circle bar with jenaya and her boyfriend ryan. the found reading was great - davy rothbart (whose segments on this american life i've always really liked) read from found notes and letters, which were by turns hilarious and touching and just plain odd. his brother peter rothbart, who's in a band called the poem adept, played a few songs based on found objects, including the booty don't stop which may be one of the funniest things i've ever heard. if the found magazine tour is coming to where you are - and i know that applies to some of you reading this - GO. totally. worth it. anyway, the turnout was really amazing - a lot of people i recognized but don't really know - and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. which made us start thinking that new orleans is really lacking in organized, non-pretentious, underground-type literary events - not stuffy tenured professors intoning dramatic iambs and trochees at Octavia Books, but young writers who are self-publishing and touring and looking for an audience. i've been to two events like that in the past month or so now, and really enjoyed both, and... we need more. sounds like a project, eh? who's in? Wednesday, November 10, 2004
went to see holly golightly last night at one eyed jack's - it was a really good show, and i think i got some good photos... which reminds me that i really need to get back to work on my eternally forthcoming photo site... in other news, i'm apparently going to guatemala next week, for the whole week. my grandfather goes down there a few weeks of every month to see his twenty-year-old girlfriend (a lovely little issue i won't even get into here- yes, he's single at least...) But apparently he needs help starting a small business - a snowball stand - and he bought me a ticket, so, i'm going. he claims it's nice, i know it will definitely be an interesting experience; it's a chance to get out of nola (which i don't do often enough) and to practice my spanish (which i don't do often enough) so i'm definitely looking forward to it. i can't say, however, that i'm not a bit afraid - i most definitely am. Tuesday, November 09, 2004
holy friggin hell, my face and hands are in exquisite pain - i just cut up a habanero to add a tiny bit to the ratatouille i was making and didn't realize quite the magnitude of capsaisin goodness i was dealing with. then - i don't know, but i guess i must've given myself a vigorous face-rub or something, because i feel like i'm on fire from the shoulders up. i now understand why they make weapons out of these little fuckers. worst of all, i put a quarter of the damn thing into the ratatouille, so that's a complete loss. grr. i am a complete dumbass. Friday, November 05, 2004
finally, some good news on the political front: ashcroft may not stick around for bush/cheney 2.0 ... no doubt he'll be replaced by someone else just as zealous, but hey, it's something. and on that moderately positive note, i'm following sim's lead and shuttin' up about this election thing. i've done enough moping over the past few days, and any more is just salt in the wound. fair is fair (though stupid is as stupid does) and que sera, sera; now we just have to make the best of it, and we've got our work cut out for us. such is life. heh. hablas trite aphorism? back to your regularly scheduled, mostly-apolitical weblog. well, not quite so apolitical as before - i'm not about to give up or become complacent or disaffected... but </rant> for now. it's too nice outside. Thursday, November 04, 2004
let's get this straight, folks: 51 or 52% is a win, yes, by simple majority. but it's not a mandate, no matter how hard they try to spin it that way. not with 49% of the people against. Wednesday, November 03, 2004
so i just had a republican friend write me, who had read my last post, telling me how this really wasn't so bad and not to freak out. here's the greater part of my response: dear ****, I'm not that upset. I know its not the end of the world, but it is four years of bad leadership, the errors of which will have to be fixed later rather than sooner. I don't think that only idiots could vote for bush, to the contrary, what confounds me is how intelligent, thinking people can ignore some of the threats and infringements upon our civil liberties that the bush admin. has created and will continue to advance and enforce, using vague and overbroad laws the patriot act. or how smart people can be so arrogant as to believe, on the one hand, that we americans live in a vaccuum where the opinions and actions of fellow nations and int'l organizations to which we belong should have no bearing on our own actions, and on the other hand that the rest of the world would benefit from a healthy dose of OUR opinions -social, financial, religious and otherwise. and that we have some sort of right - much less a /mission/ or or /duty/ to impose those ideas upon other people under the guise of "spreading freedom." also: most women are pro-choice? maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it. most americans aren't religious? in a quick google search of related polls, the lowest number I could find was that 77% of americans identify themselves as practicing christians. bush doesn't have to appoint a woman to the court; with a near supermajority of congress, he can appoint david duke and it'd get approved. (exaggeration for effect there, but not much) and in fact, I guarantee there are plenty of judges who would consider it their lifes work to be remembered for killing r v. w - roy moore comes immediately to mind. I'm also amazed that the gay marriage issue is of such prime importance to intelligent people such as yourself - does this really affect your life? does it really "erode the fabric of society" to have more faithful, non-promisuous adults in committed relationships? where in the bible did the prohibition against homosexuality enter the 10 commandments, above dime-a-day covetousness and adultery in which so many millions of straight people - evangelical christians no exception - partake daily?
right. so. kerry conceded. fuck. new supreme court. fuck. R v.W?? fuck. more ashcroft. fuck. more patriot act. fuck. more iraq. fuck. worse terrorism. fuck. more church and less state. fuck. fuck. fuck. what is wrong with america? who are these people? what am i not getting here? just asking. *sigh* ...onward, through the fog. at least it was no landslide. at least he can't consider it a mandate. at least 49% of us knew better. at least 49% of us are upset this morning. i admit, i've been too complacent. i'm taking this as a call to action, to activism, to do what i can over the next four years to offset this loss. what else can we do? it's not a fight we can walk away from. Tuesday, November 02, 2004
fuck this red states bullshit. watching the results roll in on msnbc (don't have cnn) whilst listening to npr and constantly reloading cspan.org and wonkette.com, just for laughs. and wishing i had comedy central to be watching the daily show. fortunately for me, a very friendly bottle of pinot noir stopped by and is helping make all this commentary pretty humorous anyway. swing states are still swinging. sort of. this ain't over yet.
do I get extra points for voting in the middle of a flash-flood thunderstorm? well, it's done. here's hoping for a change for the better.  (i know i'm preaching to the choir here, and i would certainly never presume to remind anyone how to vote, but please, please don't be (or re-elect) a complete fucking idiot.) Monday, November 01, 2004
 my halloween weekend started friday night at a literary event (kind of a fiction reading, but more) in the marigny, and the first speaker was Abram Himelstein, author of tales of a punk rock nothing. his storytelling was excellent, but i was really struck by one bit in particular: once he had come home from a long trip, and after a night of being welcomed back by friends and walking around the city soaking in the beauty of it all, he had laid down and looked up at the moon and decided that if he had died right then, he'd be dying well. that's kind of where i am after this weekend. i can't even express how wonderful it's been to be surrounded by so many of my good friends, especially the ones i hadn't seen in years. oh, and my hellboy costume was a hit, saturday and sunday - got stopped a lot to take pictures with people, and got lots of compliments, shout-outs and thumbs ups - which made the whole elaborate costume worthwhile, and the weekend even more of a blast. the downside might be that everything i own (and some of my friend's things, too) seems to be covered in red smudges from all the makeup, and my shower looks like the site of a ritual slaughter from removing it... eh, small price to pay for the best weekend in recent memory. |