"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Retro Stuff

The partisan jab; way ahead of it's time.

And holy shit, looking for a good url to link my mom's name to, I found this old gem:

Whether it's a pitcher of beer, smoking a bowl or compulsively shopping, many people have felt the effects of unbreakable habits. One New York University theater group travels the country provoking discussions about addictive behaviors.

Quick Fix, a reality-based theater group, will hold performances at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday in the EMU Ballroom. Free tickets for students are available at the EMU Ticket Office.

During the 1999-00 school year, Quick Fix began as a project at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, said Josh Koenig, an actor with the group. He said the year-long project started when a theater class at the New York University conducted more than 100 interviews with students, faculty, lawyers, advertising executives, tobacco executives and people on the street. Then, they put those interviews into a performance piece.

Man, you gotta click through to see our old B&W publicity photo though. That was some excellent stuff. I paid my rent from acting with that!

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There's Always Work To Be Done, And Songs To Be Finished

So tonight among other things I half-watched two sequels: Rambo II and Lethal Weapon Dos. Both feature plot turns where the primary (male) character's (re-awakening) love interest is killed by the bad guys. I guess that's how Hollywood rolled in those days.

It's an interesting romantic trope: ultimate possibility (slain interest) coupled with revenge fantasy. "I could have been happy if only..."

Here in the real world, for my part I got in a solid days labor, and am hoping for the same tomorrow. It's not glamorous or the most fun, but it's what needs doing for the moment, and I can live with that.

It was a lovely day though, and being around drinking my coffee as the sun slanted in from the east made me think of Jodie's and Eggs Royston (which no one seems to review, suckas). Overall I might like more excitement and zazz in my average weekend, but I also recognize the sometime necessity of occasionally buckling down and doing Teh Work.

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BARTblogging

Quickie from Embarcaderro.

It's a lovely day. I'm sweating. Rode a lot last night, encountering some hills on my way to/from the outer Richmond. Good stuff. The Cobra is working out marverlously, and I came home to a clean kitchen. Always a good feeling.

I'm overly busy as always, but I feel my mood coming around. Feel like flirting, getting witty. Being productive.

Wondering what me and my gang should do for Election '08.

Here comes the train again...

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Math Rules Everything Around Me

In keeping with my recent wedding-borne inquiry into default notions of romantic future, the arc of the story, and also owing to the fact that I finished my most recent book conquest -- the inestimable Mountains Beyond Mountains (we're helping out PIH w/their drupals at chapter3) -- I've been considering the possibilities.

Fact: to the best of my knowledge all but a recent few of my significant romantic interests (the "old flame" category) are now married, engaged to be married, or have been married. Some of them even have children. This would seem to suggest that the kinds of girls I've been into over the years are the marrying kind. Also it would seem to suggest that my future more likely than not lies in undiscovered country.

Counter-Fact: I haven't been in any relationships lasting a year or more, and have never lived with a lover. Also, to put it diplomatically, I don't have a strong track record of fidelity.

Fact: I really really like kids. I've always loved children, was a babysitter as a young man, and I've gotten into arguments with people who suggest that it's morally questionable to bring new ones into the world (as opposed to say adopting). I seem to have a pretty strong desire to pass on my DNA.

Counter-Fact: the particular circumstances of my life (massive work, lack of steady location, etc) are not conducive to settling down. I've also shown a particular affinity for rambling, as well as a resistance to compromising personal goals or priorities for the sake of others.

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Black Candidate!

Obama will clinch tonight, and Sen. Clinton will suspend her campaign. VP? Maybe. I dunno if it's the right ticket or not, but for now it's good that the healing can begin and the campaign against McCain commence.

Politically speaking there's a huge watershed opportunity here. Want universal health care? Elect the Black President, six or seven new senators, twenty congresspeople, and then hold their feet to the motherfucking fire.

Don't forget the last part, because FDR was just some aristocrat in a wheelchair without Huey Long, in the words of the Wu, moving on the left:

Number one, we propose that every family in America should at least own a homestead equal in value to not less than one third the average family wealth. The average family wealth of America, at normal values, is approximately $16,000. So our first proposition means that every family will have a home and the comforts of a home up to a value of not less than around $5,000 or a little more than that.

Number two, we propose that no family shall own more than three hundred times the average family wealth, which means that no family shall possess more than a wealth of approximately $5 million—none to own less than $5,000, none to own more than $5 million. We think that’s too much to allow them to own, but at least it’s extremely conservative.

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Recovering From a Comprehensive Beating With The Drunk Stick

Got beat with the drunk stick. Weddings; they'll do that to ya. It was a great one. Champaigne and scotch and dancing with maids. It all gets out of hand so quickly, and then you have to make a questionable bike run to catch the last BART. The real downside was that I didn't go right home, and -- in addition to making the executive decision to stop in at the Albatross and stare mutely at the attractive bartender (weddings; they'll do that to ya) while imbibing even more demon liquor, loosing track of my bike helmet and black suit jacket and some of my dignity in the process -- somewhere along the way I crashed into something and broke my laptop screen.

That scene is missing from my memory-reel, but the forensic evidence is conclusive. Stay classy, KoneZone.

On the upside, a bike ride to Emeryville for an on-demand replacement at the Apple store is a good hangover cure. The weather cooperated with brilliance, there was a cool Sikh parade on the way, and I'll have a new headless computer to muck about with for however long it stays alive.

Still, the whole thing feels childish. Especially the bartender part. That's just un-called-for behavior.

Now is probably as good a time as any to get healthy(er) again. I mean, maybe in advance of the next wedding (a western-themed hodown in Portland, guaranteed bacchanalia) I can abandon my five or six pounds of latent beer-weight. On the other hand, who knows what kind of awful trouble I'd get into if I showed up all lithe and sexy. Still, it's always a good idea to revive Operation Get Real Hot. Decisions, decisions.

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