so, before you were famous you did what?

today, we were watching the ellen degeneres show. i really enjoy ellen. i think she's a funny host, has a good positive energy, and tends to get pretty good guests. and, she tends to get her guests to open up, be themselves and do stupid things. like, someone came out one day and did a cart wheel. i forget who, but it was pretty unexpected. anyhow, back to today. evangeline lilly was on the show. evangeline lilly. she's on the hit abc show Lost. now, that i've used enough key words, (evangeline lilly lost), i'll move on. good interview, and as they're going to break, ellen says, we'll show some of evangeline's early work when we get back.

what's that early work? it turns out that my wife is a genius. on several occasions we've seen an ad for a service called live links. it's a number you call in, talk to other singles in your area, and so on. heather said one night that she thought the girl in the advert was evangeline lilly from lost. i was like, hmm, maybe. i checked on imdb.com, but it didn't list any commercials. so, i couldn't confirm or deny. so yeah, they come back from the commmercial break by showing that commercial for live links. pretty funny. so, evangeline lilly is talking about how people would come up and ask if it was really her on the other end of the phone. stupid, it's not a 900 number or something. it's one where you call in and talk to other people in your local area. it's not her. heck, it's not any of the girls or guys on any advert you see idiot.

so, yes, evangeline lilly is the girl on the live links ad.

(then later i flipped by oprah, whom i detest, and she had on nba player karon butler. he did jail, solitary time even before he got famous.)

ankle biters

you thought you'd never hear about it. here it is, a story about a police officer attacked by chihuahuas. and a burgler adding "erotic indian art" to a woman's computer. what's going on in fremont, ca?

a few days left

odd five is almost over. this year has flown by. that is, up until this week. this week seemed to creep by.

so, what am i up? tonight, heather and i will take my dad out to dinner and a show for xmas. we're seeing something called forever plaid. hopefully it will be good. maybe i'll blog about the show. i think it's a 4 man show, songs and stuff. but we'll see.

let me ask you a question. for this dinner & show, we bought tickets in advance. this doesn't cover drinks and stuff. anyway, what's the appropriate tip for our waiter? again, we've already paid for the meal and stuff. and that cost includes the show. the ticket price was like $35 each.

is the war over yet?

here's a funny clip from the daily show

what you talking 'bout willis?

ah-nold, they don't want you around any more.

nevermind that our guh-vah-nate-orr enjoys low approval ratings here in ca., he's doing even worse in his hometown.

see, most of the civilized world has discarded the practice of capital punishment. gov had the chance to pardon a soon to be executed prisoner (he still has even more chances upcoming!). he didn't. some people in his hometown were pretty upset by this. they talked about removing his name from a public stadium. guvah struck first though. he demanded that they take his name off it, and returned a ring of honor that they'd given him.

i don't think they'll be throwing him any parades soon if graz.

mr or mrs 3000

on wednesday, july 27th @ 3:27pm i started blogging. here were my goals:
1. post at least once a weak, but not multiple times a day. (ok, i break this one but you love it)
2. show pics of my art, family, friends (check. now more with my flickr account, but check.)
3. complain about tv (check.)
4. interact with your comments (and how!)
5. whatever else i want to do (double check)

i think i'm doing alright with my blog. well, on august 11th i discovered the sitemeter. so, i've been tracking you. i finally reached my 3000th hit since then. so, here's what i know about mr or mrs 3000:

Domain Name comcast.net ? (Network)
IP Address 67.187.237.# (Comcast Cable)
67.187.237.29
ISP Comcast Cable
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : New Jersey
City : Mount Laurel
Lat/Long : 39.9559, -74.9173 (Map)
Language English (United States)
en-us
Operating System Microsoft WinXP
Browser Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor
Resolution : 1400 x 1050
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit Dec 26 2005 9:01:22 am
Last Page View Dec 26 2005 9:01:22 am
Visit Length 0 seconds
Page Views 1
Referring URL http://chrisbrown.blogspot.com/
Visit Entry Page http://edwardstewartartist.blogspot.com/
Visit Exit Page http://edwardstewartartist.blogspot.com/
Time Zone UTC-8:00
PST - Pacific Standard Time
PDT - Pacific Daylight Saving Time
Visitor's Time Dec 26 2005 9:01:22 am
Visit Number 3,000


good times. for being #3000, you win happiness and guilt free cupcake eating.

i'll try and keep up the good work.

a year ago

a year ago (dec. 26th) around 200000 people passed away. for many others, life will never be the same. if you will, take a moment of silence today in rememberance of these people.

i love adverts

so, i saw a commercial. i had no idea what it was about after it was over. but, they prominently displayed their website. i think it's worth checking out.


also, i advise you to be on the watch out for the lastest commercial for children's pepto. let's just say that "children's pink does more than you think" should never be your slogan.

happy endings

i heard this quote today, found it to be provocative, "happy endings are stories that haven't finished yet."




it reminded me of another quote about how irish stories end.

another funny thing

Christian wrestling. okay, morality tales are an age old technique, but man, fake wrestling?

don't forget, tonight (tuesday) barbara walters will tell us all where heaven is, and how we get there. it's surprising, fascinating & provacative. 9, 8 central.

watch this video or else

Apparently, snl hasn't completely forgotten funny. just most of the time.

call me a cynic

but i just don't trust these guys.

i was watching cheney tonight on nightline. he was answering questions about the wiretaps that have recently received a lot of attention. cheney, like the prez, assures us that is all legal. that it's within the rights of their job.

hey, i don't know if it is or it isn't. what i know is that there are just as many government officials that are saying that it isn't within the right of the executive branch to just authorize wiretaps of u.s. citizens. these others feel that there needs to be approval from @ least one of the other branches of gov't.

i'm not really looking to discuss whether or not the prez can singlehandedly authorize it. when they revealed they were doing it i wasn't surprised. was anyone? really, the goverment is monitering things? shocking.


then they started the torture question. the interviewer asked cheney if the u.s. used 2 specific methods- mock executions & water boarding. his answer, "i'm not going to talk about specific methods." well, he just had talked about how it was debatable what was cruel and unusual treatment. who doesn't think it's cruel and unusual to do a mock execution in front of a prisoner, and then tell them they're next if they don't talk? Waterboarding, that's a fun little one where you blindfold a person, elevate their feet, cellophane is wrapped over their face, and pour water over them. in about 14 secs, their gag reflex kicks in, they think they're drowning, and will do & say about anything to live. yessir, that sound humane. it's debatable whether or not that is cruel or unusual in the veeep's mind though.

and, for another point of reference, Torture is defined under the federal criminal code as the intentional infliction of severe mental pain or suffering.

end of a long weekend

yeah, it's been a little while.

sorta finished the semester. my prof gave me another week. i requested it. the paper i wrote was okay, had some flaws, and need to have some fat trimmed at some points, and beefed up at other.

then, we had our going away kareoke for tim. we'll all miss that guy. he's kept me sane @ seminary. but, i understand that life changes, takes us different places. and tim will really enjoy returning to work he loves, in a place he loves. and we'll see him when he visits in february.

today, sunday, was just about as hectic. in the morning i preached at my old church. it went really well. then, i had to come home and prep for our church tonight. i team taught w/matt, our pastor. it was different and fun. your "standard" church service is music, message, closing. basic formula, nothing wrong with it. we use it sometimes. but, we also like to try different stuff. so, tonight, basically no music. we did one song, at the end. we combined the 4 advent themes into one message. matt and i alternated back and forth, teaching and then providing different ways for people to respond to the message.

then, we had a little going away type thing for tim after church. simple little gathering, another chance for another group of people to say goodbye to our good friend.

finally, tim came back to my place. his dad is flying in @1am, tim will pick him up @ the airport and they'll begin the long drive across country. in the meantime we worked on a powerpoint presentation. tim's wanted to put together a presentation to use @ a few speaking gigs he has coming up. it's a bunch of pictures with a recorded narration. the narration is me scratchin and cutting up some songs. it starts with "it's the end of the world as we know it" by rem, goes into an instrumental of "how i could just kill a man" by cypress hill, then into an instrumental of "broken tape decks" by l.a. symphony, had "the one i love" by rem mixed in. worked out pretty good, just took a while to get it all together right.

so, we're chillin and waiting for tim's dad to call when he arrives in the 'no.

about freakin time bushy

you finally signed the anti-torture bill. good job.

i don't know if it will actually accomplish this, "Senator McCain said the law would help win "hearts and minds" in the fight against terrorism." but still, it's the right thing.

tv haiku's for tonight

another rerun
this week again on lost show
what will i do now?




watch trading spouses
white princess in bad places
fox still sucks most times

nu blu p. tu

here's step 2 of my really big canvas. eventually, this should look like a drop & ripples type idea.

amazing race finale

so, on tuesday, sept 27 i wrote about the first episode of this season of the amazing race. it included a fun conversation with tim over text.

at the bottom, i said, "so there it is folks. the family that i labeled as the favorites (3 brothers + sister) finished second to last today. but it's only the first week so they can come back."

tonight was the finale.

guess what, they won. booya! it's too bad i didn't have anything on it.

where are the calls?

some catholics called for john kerry to be denied communion because his political stance did not match the official church doctrine on abortion.

are those same people calling for schwartzenegger to recieve a similar ban? last i checked, the catholic church took a very aggressive stance speaking out against the death penalty. (okay, i'm a little fuzzy on whether not the guvuhnator is catholic. i think he is. his wife is.)

shameless plug

hey, i've put a temporary link to my amazon.com wish list underneath my myspace link. so, if you want to see what books, cd's & movies i'm interested in, feel free to click on that link.



oh yeah, holiday sale is still on! at least 25% off all paintings. buy them now and save some cash!

monday morning

ah, monday. i usually try and start the blog week off on sunday night, but didn't. i just didn't feel like writing last night.

so, i've got this knot in my stomach. partially because i'm hungry (it's coming up on lunch time) and partially because of the paper i've been lagging to start. it's for my hebrew class, and is on the word go'el. that word refers to redeemer, like in the book of ruth. the redeemer concept is often linked with the concept of the levirite marriage. anyhow, i've doned reading, written another paper this semester that really helps me in this one, but i just can't get started. so, i'm getting a little nervous.

i've also got to work on a sermon. i'm preaching this sunday morning @ friends community. it's nice to be asked to "come home" and preach there. we haven't been back since we were sent out to be a part of tower mosaic. i've been in the building a few times, but haven't been on a sunday. so, it'll be odd. i'm sure we'll get tons of questions, general update variety. and i'm sure people will tell us that we should visit more often. these are nice, i appreciate the sentiment. but, i still haven't settled on scripture to preach. as an educator, i firmly believe that you should teach to your class. you know who they are, what they need to learn. so, i'm against mandated materials, scripted teaching, orders from the district that say you should be on a certain page, certain line @ a certain time. how does this apply to my current sit.? well, i'm not a part of that congregation. i really haven't followed what they've been doing since we left. yes, we still have family and friends there, but i have almost avoided discussing friends. i've always hoped that the church is doing well, that they're growing and maturing in faith. i don't want to know or dwell on troubles that they may be having. so, i don't know who they are any more. i don't know where they're at, what they've learned in the last 2 years. so, i'm really trying to be sensitive to the Spirit, and preach a message that is needed for them, and not just whatever struck my fancy to speak about.

finally, this no car thing is biting me in the rear today. i've got to go to a meeting @ a friends house. he lives way out north. i need to be there @ six. heather will be @ yoga and have the car. it's important to me that she goes, gets some stress relief. she hasn't been able to go lately (timing) and today's the best opportunity. so, i've got to figure out how to make quite a trek. i've thought about borrowing a car, bumming a ride, or riding my bike. i thought about the bus, but i don't know how/where the bus system goes in reaganville.

some new links

i've added two new links in my list on the right.
one is steve, the uber one. he's sorta back in the bloggin game. but is a good read.
the other is sara. she's new, has a head of steam for blogging. read her stuff before she peters out. (ha ha, peters out. her name is woody. peters, woody, i can't believe how funny i'm not.)

congrats to prez bush

here it is folks, an honest congratulations to president bush. really, i'm serious. he sent out his annual holiday card. that's right, holiday card. seasons greetings. it's paid for by the rnc. the bushes, who are Christians, are now on the defensive from, that's right, so-called Christians. the bushes are stressing that this card is sent out to people of all faiths, and they wanted to send out a holiday greeting without offending anyone. oops, the conservative right is riding in on their high horse. they're offended.

see, i remember something in Jesus' words about humility, a gentle spirit, love. i also remember Him condemning a critical spirit. (for more information, see the sermon on the mount in matthew 5-7) sending out a pleasant greeting, attempting to not be a problem, see that seems xian to me. now, constantly whining for attention, accusing everyone of being against me despite the fact that i'm the freakin majority in this country, crying that they're taking away my holiday because it's becoming less commercial, these aren't Christian things to me.




on another, more pleasant note, i've added another few pics of paintings to my flickr account. so, click on the art photos + friend photos link to the right. then click on the art photos set. you'll see some more new work.

interesting thought on pricing

so, say there is something you wanted to buy.

it cost $1.60.
if you made some subtle variation to it, it now cost 1.70.

not bad, you'd probably pay the difference right?

now what if it was 10.60
and the variation was 11.60?

still buy it?

what about 160 and 170?
1600 and 1700?

16000 and 17000?

finally, 160,000 and 170,000?

when does that small difference become a deal buster for you?

is 10k really that big of a difference on a home loan?
is 1k really that big of a diff on a car payment?
is $10 that big of a diff on something that costs around 160?

holiday sale!

hey, you know what a good Christmas present would be?

art.

by art for someone you know.

and you could even support a local artist.

so, in the spirit of that, i'm declaring a sale on my artwork

everything that i'm selling is marked down 25-33%!
click on my flickr link (to the right) and check out the artwork section
contact me to buy!

white elephant

so, i like being with friends & family during the holidays. if you don't remember, go back and read the post about thanksgiving with friends.

the other night, some of our friends brought up the idea of a white elephant gift exchange. you know, give someone a gift that costs less than $5, in a random exchange.

so, i've been thinking if i want to participate. and i've decided. i don't. but i might. here's my question, why should we exchange a cheap gift? is it so we feel like we're giving something to each other but can't afford to buy good gifts? or can't afford to buy gifts for everyone? or don't want to feel awkward about giving a gift to someone but not others?

i'm not ripping on the suggestion, i'm just trying to understand why we'd do it. i know, it's sorta fun to stick someone with an odd gift that you picked up for cheap. but then again, i don't know if i want to keep that junk either.

really, i just want to enjoy your company. why don't we all buy a bottle of wine that costs around $5, and we'll spend time opening those?

long week

as you've noticed, i've been inactive on the blog this week. i will pretty much stay that way until i turn in my final paper for my OT theology class. it's due friday @ 3, so see you after that.

la times

i admit, i get a lot of my news online, especially nonlocal news. i find the la times' web page to be a pretty good news source. i also really enjoy their different sections. today, i found 3 opinion articles that were pretty interesting.

two were debating the value of hip hop, particulary social conscious hip hop and it's ability or inability to instill change.

the other was about darwin in patagonia.

here's a quote from the latter, "Poor old Darwin. Like an incorrigible drunk, he always seems to be in the dock. First it was the Oxford debates in 1860, then the Scopes monkey trial in Tennessee in 1925, and now Dover, Pa. He is forever being dragged before some school board or another (in November, Kansas became the fifth state to allow discussion of Intelligent Design as an alternative to Darwinism). To a sizable percentage of America, the mild-mannered beetle-collector from Shropshire is no more than a bearded blasphemer."

now, these are all opinion pieces, are slanted, and are not trying to be factual journalism. i found them well written, especially since they all seemed to have word count limits.

there was also an interesting read about a woman who is basically the queen of online gambling & porn.

the la times has such a good online presence, it makes me wonder why my local paper has such a terrible one? is it really that difficult to have a well laid out, easily navigated, web page?

buy nothing on friday!

friday is buy nothing day.

for a comprehensive history, check out this webpage

happy thanksgiving

much love out to all of you. happy thanksgiving, i hope you enjoy your time.

today has started pretty cool. our church teamed up with another church to serve meals to our community this morning. the motto, 'serve a meal before you enjoy a meal'. it's also nice because it's helping with the important goal of reconciliation. for those that don't know, we share a parking lot with a church called true light community church. they are predominantly a black church. we are predominantly a white church. our pastors have gotten to know each other, and we've been looking for ways to work together, share in ministry. they invited us to join them in this event, and we jumped @ the opportunity. so, we rolled up there @ 8, and got down to work. it was fun hanging out, talking, getting to know our neighbors.

hopefully, family stuff will be fun later today.

in other news, the XBox 360 is out. I don't have Xbox 360. I won't buy Xbox 360. Fortunately, Playstation 3 comes out in May or March, right around the time i should graduate from seminary. timing, baby, timing.

finally, if you haven't seen Walk the Line, go see. freekin great. i've seen it twice. it's got all the oscar buzz, and it's as deserving as Ray was last year. unfortunately, this will probably mean that don cheadle will get screwed again. last year was for hotel rwanda, this year will be for crash. really, hotel rwanda was 100 times better than ray. and, although i think fox did a good job, cheadle was super convincing. he looses himself in the character like few do. seriously, i was convinced that was his normal accent, and you could tell he felt the pain of telling that story. although crash is fictional, it's just as good, and cheadle again showed his great acting chops. and it's another movie featuring him that made me cry.

enough for now, peace out, enjoy your bird.

XBox 360

in a sneaky attempt to screw with people, I've put the phrase XBox 360 in here, now twice. i'm seeing if a bunch of people will hit it via search engines. this could theoretically cause all people i know to get more hits. ok, really, putting XBox 360 will probably get me nothing, except for one second hits.

btw, Playstation 3 will be better. and that's why i'll get it.

thanksgiving ignored

adam or tim, or maybe both was recently lamenting the loss of thanksgiving. it used to be that xmas would start after thanksgiving. now, even in our neighborhood, xmas decoration and ads pretty muched jumped right after halloween. it does suck. thanksgiving is a nice holiday, and is something that we should take time out of our lives. i mean, it's not like they're emphasizing the religious aspect of xmas. it's all about buying crap. spend spend spend because it's christmas or holidays or something. and so as soon as possible, get that idea in people's minds.

so, i'm trying to enjoy this thanksgiving as much as i can. went to my first family one today. had a good enough time. it's making me look forward to the ones to come. i've got at least one more.

but, this also reminds me of my own recent traditions. for the past few years, we've gotten together as friends, and done our own thanksgiving on some alternate day. unfortunately, our friends keep moving away. jerks. so, we haven't got anything planned and it's coming up. new traditions dying!

this has also got me thinking about xmas. the decorations, gifts, distractions. these last few years, we haven't done gifts. last year, we encouraged people to spend the money that they would spend on us by giving it to a charity. don't know how well that worked. it was a good gesture on our part, as our lives are filled with junk and more junk is far from what we need. i don't know about this year. it's hard to kick against the goads (what's a goad, i'm too lazy to look right now).

welcome back mr car-ter

i'm back from indianapolis. really nice downtown, that city was cold as, well, um it was cold. nights in the upper teens and lower twenties last week. highs in the thirties. that's a lot different than the seventy that it was in fresno on the day i left.

i was @ the national convention for c.c.d.a. the devotionals were done by john perkins. he's a good speaker, and his devotionals were very inspirational. the plenary sessions were mostly enjoyable, and i think i took some decent notes to reflect on.

then we get to the seminar sessions. there were a ton, and most had pretty interesting write ups in the conference guide. and, the ones that i chose to attend had good hand outs. unfortunately, the speakers didn't always deliver. at least i have their notes.

overall, i had a good time in indi. unfortunately, my visit didn't bring the bad karma to the town that i needed, and tweety and the colts managed to pull out another victory this weekend.

faithful readers

i'll be away from the computer from wednesday @ 1:30pm to saturday evening. i'll be able to check emails, but most likely won't be able to update the blog between those times. but you never know, so obsessively check back to make sure.

galaxy

ah, the championship match of a sport few care about.

i enjoyed watching a good match. the galaxy had pretty good offense all day, plenty of opportunities. solid through the midfield, never really allowed new england to get much going on offense. and, in overtime, got the winning goal. good stuff.

congratulations to the los angeles galaxy, mls champions for 2005.

thanks to abc for showing all of 2 mls games this season (all star + champs). okay, there are games on cable and like i said before, few care enough about soccer here to watch it. actually, i was happy with the announcing crew. they called it like they were talking to a crowd that knows the game. no long, stupid explainations of rules, didn't spend the whole match just gushing over the stars, etc. just commenting on the match.

so, i got to sport the jersey, watch the game, and enjoy my afternoon.

policy of torture

ummm, why isn't more being made of this? the senate overwhelmingly passed a bill that limits the torture that the u.s. military is allowed to use while interogating. but, vice evil cheney is going around lobbying against it. wha?

and this is the party that is allegedly moral?

toothpaste for dinner

these comics are freakin hilarious to me. i highly recommend you go to his website daily and read toothpaste for dinner

*&$^#&*$!!!!!! (wave arm angrily)

as some of you know, i sold my car. this means to get places i either:
1. coordinate w/heather for the car
2. ride bike
3. ride bus
4. walk

some would say the timing of car sale was bad because of oncoming winter & spring. well, cold doesn't bother me much. shoot, i won't sweat as much. maybe. rain, that may be a problem.

so, i was riding the approxiamate 4 miles to school. cruising along. (sidenote: oh yeah, there was a chance of rain today. hadn't rained yet, that is, until i got my bike out of the garage and was putting a little air in the front tire. then it starts sprinkling. it did so about half my ride. not hard, just enough to make me put on my windbreaker to deflect it and keep my backpack dry. this, of course also maybe me hot and sweaty. since it was a bit cloudy and sprinkling i figured i'd turn on my headlight (visibility + i figure w/ca.'s law about having to have lights on in your car if it's raining). now back to the story.) i was cruising through downtown, on a 2way street. it's in business district, so speed limit is 30. the street i was on, has traffic flow broken up frequently by stop signs. basically, stop sign, street without one, stop sign. well, i was coming up to street without stop sign, not going very fast (21 of 24 speeds = big front crank and mid of back is lots of peddling for little speed) and was looking at this oncoming car that had just left street with stop sign. this person is not going very fast. they are making left hand turn. this is a problem, as i am going straight. i know they see me because they start turn, hesitate & correct, then proceed with turn. the other thing i try and do when riding is make eye contact with person who i am approaching and do that as much as i can until i pass them so that i'm sure they see me. so, i'm looking dead into their car, it's difficult for me to imagine that they don't see 250lb, 6 foot guy on bike coming right at them. uh oh. uh oh. uh oh! here's how those uh oh's break down. uh oh 1 = realize car is turning, stop peddling. uh oh two = apply breaks and try to get a foot on ground to further break. uh oh 3 = realize breaks are applied and tires are simply skidding along pavement because it's wet from rain.

fortunately, i didn't crash into this car. although mr. or mrs. dumas (that's french) was turning slowly they managed to get out of my lane just fast enough. i managed to get my foot on the ground to slow and stop myself before smacking their rear door or quarter panel. did person stop, wave, anything? nope, but i know they realized they were wrong because i could see it in their eyes as. yep, passenger mirror (very brief), rearview (longer eye contact), driver mirror (looking back but trying to look away). i also know that they know i was there because i was yelling pretty loudly. unfortunately, my mom would not be proud of one of the three words that came out of my mouth. my wife may not have liked the wildly flaily arm (but no fingers folks!). i didn't like almost dumping myself onto some fools car.

so, the hair on my legs was standing straight up like a cat's back for the next 1/2 mile. the rest of the ride was uneventful, the sprinkle let up, and i was able to ventilate slightly by opening up my windbreaker.

and, typing this out has almost allowed me to stop sweating completely. good times. now i've got a bike ride home to look forward to later.

malaise

not a good spot to be in

about a month left in the semester
one more semester to go after this one

little desire to do any work

got to push through this malaise
got to write 2 big papers (and quick)

fun fun fun


on another note, heather got me a canvas for my birthday. it's not just any canvas. it's huge. i'm talking 60"x36". 5'x3'!. it's a bit intimidating. i've wanted to move to bigger canvas, but i was thinking the next step is 3'x3', maybe 3'x4'. even 4'x4', although i know that's actually more sq ft that 5x3, but the shape is different. so, i get to stare at, walk by, and dream about this next chapter of my life as i work on a huge project. this has got me excited, and i'm definately not in a malaise about painting right now. unfortunately, paintings aren't assignments that seminary accepts. and, i'm not working towards a m.f.a. but a m.a. in o.t. d'oh.

always low prices or buyer beware

i'm not a fan. tim thinks they are an evil company. they are a fact of life, especially in certain regions of the country. they are walmart. (i must now rinse my keyboard for typing that) apparently, they sponsored a truly independant study & conference about themselves. they stepped completely out of the way, and whatever results came about, they acknowledged. here are some choice quotes revealed in these 10 independant studies: (The 10 papers are to be presented by economists, urban planners and other experts.)

"One study concluded that Wal-Mart's giant grocery and general merchandise Supercenters brought little net gain for local communities in property taxes, sales taxes and employment; instead, the stores merely siphoned sales from existing businesses in the area."

"Michael Hicks of the Air Force Institute of Technology and Marshall University found that each employee of Wal-Mart caused "the average state to expend just under $900 a year in Medicaid benefits."

"A study of the San Francisco Bay Area also presents a mixed picture. UCLA researcher Randall Crane and his coauthors found that once Wal-Mart established itself as the region's leading grocer — the company is already the national leader — it would probably depress grocery store employees' wages by hundreds of millions of dollars. But, they found, the company also would save shoppers hundreds of millions of dollars by offering cheaper food."

riots on the streets of paris

apparently, it's crazy in france right now. the cauldron is bubblin over.

time to fight in the senate

so, gw bush nominated alito in replacement of harriet miers. i really know little to nothing about either of these two. but, i think think i'm already against this guy. it's not just party lines, issues, or personal preference.

what it may just come down to is this:
"Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson called the pick "a grand-slam home run." Gary Bauer, a conservative activist who joined allies on the right to challenge Miers nomination, said, "Now with Judge Alito the battle is where it belongs; it's a battle against the president's avowed political enemies." so, the battle is with political enemies? i thought the battle was to nominate a judge that would actually represent the ideals of the united states as laid out in the constitution. apparantly, it's a matter of being able to say 'we won and you lost' rather than actually doing what is right.

and frankly, it doesn't bother me that he is supoorted by conservatives. but these tow people speaking out in your behalf is a stamp of disapproval for me. it doesn't bother me that he is anti-abortion. that is a consistant stance with his religious beliefs (he is catholic. amazingly, he actually follows their doctrine.) honestly, i am against abortion on a personal level, although i'm not sure about making it law. but i do think we should speak out against it, and definately speak out louder for alternatives.

oh yeah, and as further cronyism, alito was nominated to the appeals court by daddy bush.

halloweeeeeen

okay, i like holidays. i really do. but, i what i don't like is all the freakin build up. every event now must be perfect. what do you dress up as for halloween? if your costume doesn't work out right, the night is spoiled. if you have to spend a grip of cash on a stupid costume, it's not worth it (to me at least). so, with halloween on monday, i'm hoping that i have a good time. but, i also recognize the chance that it may suck.

this bring up that this is the start of the holiday season. not a lot of pressure on thanksgiving. but then you got christmas and new years. get the right gift. plan or go to the right party. soooo much freakin headache.

remember, i like holidays. i hope to enjoy all these moments. i hope to savor them, and to think back later with fondness. i just have to figure out a way to get past all this build up.

basque food & baseball

tonight was the last tuesday of the month. why is that important? well, really, it's not important. but, on the last tuesday of the month the landmark restaurant serves chicken livers as a part of their basque dinner. okay, i don't care about chicken livers, but i had one anyway tonight. the meal is like an 8 course feast. it's reasonably priced. so, i'm stuffed with bread, chili bean soup, salad, rice pilaf, beef stew, seasoned beef tongue (just a little touch), fried chicken liver, friend chicken, and some ice cream. oh yeah, and many little glasses of wine. we finished dinner fully three hours ago and i'm still feeling stuffed. it was a nice walk home. tim and adam joined heather and i. the meal is served family style so it's fun passing stuff around. we were joined by 2 other people. isaac and melonie. okay, i may have spelled both of those wrong but you get the point. nice conversation, they live in the tower district, cool people. sitting at a family table like this can be a real grab bag but both times we've come to this meal we have done alright. last time it was like a family of 4, but we had around 17 in our group. i'm sure they felt outnumbered.

when we left, the baseball game (game 3 world series) was in the 9th. tied up. this game tied for the longest ws game ever at 14 innings. crazy long, war of attrition. i was hoping houston would win, and maybe make the series a little more interesting. now i want them to get swept and the series to be over with. frankly, i don't care too much about baseball. i like the giants, and follow the season until they're done.

so, i went home, flipped back and forth between the amazing race and the ball game. then just watched the game until it was finished.

on another note, saturday night live is in the crapper this season. not every skit has stunk but plenty have. it seems like each week there isone decent one. nothing great, and even the news hasn't been delivering. i was really surprised that there were two skits, back to back this week that were funny. unfortunately, they were the last 2 of the night. i just kept thinking, why didn't they show these first and put those duds later? btw, i record the show. i'm not going to stay up and watch that suck. and this way, i can fastforward through crappy skits or musical acts (ashlee simpson again?). when i heard that the host was catherine zeta jones and the music was franz ferdinand i said to heather, "what is this, three years ago?" good job lorne, way to keep relevant. freaking franz ferdinand played their hit from the last album. you're telling me that you don't have another song on your current album worth playing. terrible.

enough for now.

okay, one last note. painting is going well. hope to finish up 3 paintings in the next short while.

happy model un day

monday, if i remember right, is united nations day. i always joke about it being model u.n. day because in high school i participated in junior statesmen of america (jsa). it was sorta a mix of mock trial and politics. and, it was much cooler than model un. m.u.n. was debating like politicos, jsa was conferences (@ hotels in other cities no less) and you went to debates, watched and participated. okay, jsa and m.u.n. were basically on par with each other. so, every time i see united nations day on the calendar i think of m.u.n.

also, it's a fun little joke i have with our pal jay. click on his link. wish him a happy birthday and a happy model united nations day.

painting update

here are some photo updates on two paintings. i'm coming along slowly on them, but definately think i'm making progress

through the clouds


this painting is an example of one that i really liked when i first put paint on the canvas. i went to make it thicker, weightier, and i felt like i really screwed it up. so, i've kept working and am happy where it's at. still not quite done yet, but getting near there.


inspired by you, 3




still has issues of dull and shiny spots. getting there, but trying to really get an even color change accross the canvas. this painting is also getting there, but not quite yet.


on anther note, i'm watching fight club for about the millionth time. needed a little kick in the rear to get my week and life jumpstarted. this movie always make me realize there are bigger things in life, that the things that distract me are just that: distractions. i'm not my khackis. i used to watch this movie at least once a month. haven't watched it in quite a while, so thought i'd put it in. plus, i wanted to lounge around and rest because my sinuses were killing me last night and this morning. feeling good right now, but don't want to tackle anything bigger than a movie. or blogging. btw, i have the book, but have been too lazy to read it. need to.

good job tim

my buddy tim preached @ church tonight on service & love based in jesus' footwashing example. really well done. tim's learned a bunch in life, as well as @ seminary and it shows.

one point that is standing out to me right now is that we usually think of service as a chore, or something we don't want to do. we don't we think about serving in positive, even enjoyable events. seems obvious, and yet i think i'm generally guilty of this. sure, sometimes service can be less than desirable. but we can also serve people through the enjoyable moments of life.

i think i want to say more, but i'm a little tired and can't put big thoughts together.

(hey, it's sunday night. that means golf tomorrow @ fresno west nile virus. sweet, haven't golfed in a week and a half. which used to not mean much, but now playing consistantly it seems like a while. ah, stress relief through minimal exercise.)

joint stewardship

so, i'll do my best to explain and dialogue about this concept. the guy that spoke about it just mentioned it briefly, but it stuck in my mind and so i brought it up here.

basically, this guy is a farmer. many people would say that he, as a landowner, has a responsibility to use the most environmentally friendly farming techniques, needs to pay the best wages, needs to not use pesticides, whatever. these voices generally are coming from those that do not have land, etc. they are urban voices. his response, and his thesis dealt with this as well, is that yes, this may be true, but, our urban responsibility is to pay more at the grocery store. it is to find and support those that are making responsible choices listed above. it is to also drive less, be environmentally responsible as well. i am sure there is more to the theory, but that was a basic sketch he gave us. plus some more that has washed out of my mind in the last few days.

these aren't completely new, unheard of ideas. but, they still need to be said. and, realistically, we all want the best deal on stuff, so it creates environments like walmart, who undercuts the price on everything, screws every producer, so that american joe can get a tv for cheap. nevermind that this undercutting process has eliminated the ability for any u.s. companies to produce said tv in the states. (well, there is 1 factory in the u.s. that still makes tv's. really 1.) in similar fashion, we want banana for 50cents a bunch, etc. the governator wants us to buy california vegetables etc because that keeps our economy going. that's good, but lets also buy responsibly produced products. and that means paying more, making choices.

alas, most of us don't want to do that. we mortage our values at most every turn for the chance to save a nickel. perhaps these stated values aren't really our true values?

modular week

it's a busy week for ed. i'm in class everyday, all day. 8:30-4:30. it's been a while since i did anything all day long like that. it's wearing me out. on top of class, i'm going home and doing work for the next day's class each night. beautiful.
class is good, but my brain seems like mush half the time. it's difficult to process a ton of huge theologians all in a week. but, hey, it'll be all done after saturday.

don't feel sorry for me (like you would). just understand that my blog output is going to be lessened.

today, someone mentioned a concept i want to talk about later: joint stewardship. pretty cool concept dealing with balance of rural & urban.

on gas prices

see, i keep hearing all these calls for gas prices to go down. the method behind it always seems to be some sort of dump of our nat'l reserves or some other scheme.

i say no. keep the gas prices high.

do i like paying $3 a gallon? of course not. but it makes me rethink how i live and drive everytime i do. it makes me glad i got rid of my jeep even though i loved having that thing. i still want one. but it doesn't make any sense to drive something like that even when gas was only $2 a gallon.

back in the day, around the time of my birth, there was this little thing called the oil embargo. the u.s. was screwed and gas was short in supply and high in demand. what was the response then? conserve. and not just conserve gas. turn off lights you're not using. drive slower. carpool. take less frequent trips. now, we have low watt lightbulbs that no one uses. there still is no sort of pressure to use solar panels in construction. bush isn't going on tv telling us specifics, just, "hey, everyone needs to conserve a bit." great idea, but how? why not lower the speed limit back to 55? that'll save gas. why not force the car manufacturers to live up to their gas claims? shoot, why not speed up the process of more efficient suv's? most don't have to get better than 22mpg until like 2011! way to force their hand.

so, i say leave the reserves untouched. leave the price of gas high. yes, this will cause inflation. but, it will also make us be more responsible in how we use gas. or, if we stop buying so much, those who control the supplies will have to lower prices to entice us back into our wasteful ways.

shoot, willie nelson is pushing a biodiesel mix on his current u.s. tour. he's targeting truckers, trying to help them make ends meet. diesels were meant to run off vegetable oil, not petroleum oil. there is no reason why u.s. farmers can't be producing a viable product for our shipping/trucking needs. but it's not going to happen if the gov't doesn't step up, help out, get the ball rolling. we give subsidies to farmers, why not encourage those subsidy receipients to make crops for biodiesel use?

again, keep prices high. you will either drive less or reorient your life to afford your consumption. you make the choice.

(i sold my car, and now only have a bycycle. i'm giving friends gas money when they take me places out of the way. that and i'm setting my life up as much as possible to walk when i get out.)

scultpure v.1

these photos are of a series of ceramic sculptures that i did while in college. the first is a big piece, about 2.5-3' tall. the others are little test/practice pieces as i was figuring out how i wanted the piece to go from drawing to 3d piece.


the basic idea behind this piece was the human form, as well as attempting to connect the idea to worshipping God.


in these two you see a similar form, but it is much more dense, solid.

this is uplifted hands, a feature that didn't make it into the big piece.

this is a variant body shape, without head.

the final piece didn't play out exactly as the drawings had. although this was my third semester of working with clay, i was still learning about strength of material and ways to work bigger pieces in parts. so, it ended up being very focused on the front of the form, almost ignoring the back and sides.

golfin on thursday

i'm golfing for the second time this week. heading out to javier's fresno west (nile virus)* in about half an hour. i enjoy playing this course. some of the holes are pretty tough, some are easy. but, it's now only $10 on monday, tuesday and thursday! and that's with a cart so my lazy rear doesn't have to walk but a few steps to the cart. they used to just have that special on monday but as the weather gets a little colder and business slows, 3 day a week special. probably will still just golf on monday, but since i can't go next week i thought i'd get in an extra one this week.


in other news, i think my friend steve jinxed me. we were chatting about blogging on monday and he was saying something to the effect of "i wanted to have something to say, and i didn't just want to post junk about how my day went." now, i can't think of anything to say. i've got no snarky comments. i've got nothing on my mind.



* - we're calling it fresno west nile virus because...they've got confirmed cases out there. great.

future primitive

aaah shoot. jeep's got this concept car. it looks like the civic we're soon to sell to adam. but with a jeepesque front and suv capabilities. if this thing can actually 4x4 a bit, damn, i'm in.

mairin is hilarious

on saturday, heather and i went to the wedding of heather liddle. well, now it's heather doria. she married joe. it was a great wedding over @ meridian winery in paso robles. heather (doria) went to school with us, but more importantly she is my sister-inlaw melissa's sister. so, i guess that makes us sorta family. anyhow, we were happy to go and be a part of the celebration. beautiful wedding, nice vows, overall good time. joe's family is italian, from new york area. so, the dj was spinning a lot of old school sinatra and such, along with traditional italian songs. it was fun. i kept waiting for this song that they play/sing from the godfather. and we heard it. awesome.

one of the other highlights of the occassion was seeing our niece mairin. as she lives in south africa we don't see her too much. we saw her @ xmas but she's grown up so much. she has a funny personality, seems to be a very enjoyable baby to be around. one of those kind of kids that makes you want to have kids. that is, until you think about it seriously and realize that unlike our cat, a kid actually requires attention all the time. so, i took as many pix as i could of mairin (stupid me forgot to put the charged battery in the digicamera).


this is melissa and mairin.


"i love purse"


good night mairin, we'll see you again soon. that's a nice sippy cup.

baseball season is over

the season ended the other night. giants lost to san diego and were eliminated. since then, they've kept losing. great job team. anyhow, once they were eliminated, i was glad because now i don't have to watch baseball (granted i'm actually watching yanks vs red sox as i type). i'll catch a couple games, like if there is a really compelling playoff game. i'll watch a little of the world series. basically, i like baseball, but it kinda bores me if i'm not rooting for my team. although, as a hater, i can always root against the yanks or dodgers. but without them, i don't have much to care about.

maybe this stems from the fact that the nfl is way better. it's just more fun to watch a football game. even games that i don't care about any teams.

shoot, i'm a soccer fan. i really wish i could catch a game on tv. i know they're on cable, but i'm cheap and don't have cable. okay, i can watch mexican league games, but they're not very compelling. occassionally one of the spanish stations shows european leagues, and that's nice to stumble upon. whenever we finally move into a house of our own i'm going to break down and get satellite & dvr so i can record way too many sports and watch things in my free time.

amazing race

i love amazing race. it's right there behind survivor for me. frankly, mark burnett knows how to make reality tv. although "the cut" w/hilfiger stunk. anyway, back to the point. tonight was the first episode of this season. the twist is that it's family groups of 4.

so, they started out in n.y.c., had to go to soho. from there they went to where washington crossed the delaware. this cross is from pa. to nj or ny. okay, my geography sucks. i admit, i am from california (my crap gov. says kal-ee-fohr-nya) and basically it's the west coast, and the rest coast. but i digress. so, as many of you know, our good tim is out here, attending seminary w/me, from beautiful pa. so, let the text messaging begin.

me: hey amish, do you live near washington's crossing? amazing race is going there.
tim: nah.
me: what about mt. joy? they're going there now. to (some farm i forgot name)
tim: my joy is fifteen minutes from my house.
me: what about the farm? it's a co-op of some sort
tim: don't think so
(by now, tim has flipped it on, but i dont know and am typing)
tim: yeah, a lot of farms are that way. it's how they sell their milk. can't believe the dumb bitch got ran over
ed:(haven't got message above yet) hey, turn on 47 now and you'll see this lady get run over by a buggy.
(read message from tim again, and respond)
ed: worse yet, her husband got ran over and died. worked at nascar race track and got killed picking up debris and hit by car.
tim: those buggies do have breaks
ed: and they told them how to use them
tim: pathetic
ed: how close to rorher farm in lancaster
tim: i know the rohrer's (he spelled it right, i spelled it wrong despite it being on screen). i work 2 farm's down (although the apostrophe is misplaced so there)
ed: sweet
tim:i lived on bluerock rd. too
tim: he's not amish (that apostrophe is right)
ed: menno?
tim: costume
ed: how can you be sure?
tim: buttons
ed: dang, thats weak sauce
tim: plus he's on camera
ed: menno wouldn't?
tim: they drove right by my old house
ed: fahqin cool man. this is going on my blog.
tim: mennonite men don't wear color
tim: mennonite men also don't wear amish hats.

so there it is folks. the family that i labeled as the favorites (3 brothers + sister) finished second to last today. but it's only the first week so they can come back. the fist team eliminated had the last name of black, and ironically, they were aftrican-american. my wife did a double take when they were introduced and she saw them on screen.

now, five or so minutes after the show over, tim texted me: "that made me miss home"
i got to hand it to the guy, i didn't leave everything and everyone i know to go to school for 3 years. give tim a hug when you see him.

peace out until tomorrow! put some weak sauce on your breakfast for all of us.

a final note/joke

thanks to jay, i have a final little post to put in response to the science/religion conversation that's been inadvertantly happening in the comments of a couple posts ago. please take it as just a joke, a witty bbit of closure. or something.



this comes from here

i broke 1000!

so, i've had a meter on this site for a while now. i had the blog for a few weeks before i got the meter. man, i enjoy knowing how people got to me, where they are, how long they stayed, etc.

today, i broke 1000. it was by someone i know @ fpu (there are more than one that visit). here are some fun details from that visit.

ISP

Time Warner Telecom
Location

Continent
:
North America
Country
:
United States (Facts)
State
:
California
City
:
Fresno
Lat/Long
:
36.7638, -119.719 (Map)
Language

English (United States)
en-us
Operating System

Microsoft WinXP
Browser

Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Javascript

version 1.3
Monitor

Resolution
:
1024 x 768
Color Depth
:
32 bits
Time of Visit

Sep 26 2005 8:57:22 am


yeah!

a post for adam

so, here is a story. i'm pretty much putting it up for adam. it's not spite or anything, i just thought he'd get a kick out of it. maybe he can reference it to the inkblots. it'd be relevant to a current post.

(oh yeah, it's from evangelical outpost. it's worth a look and chuckle no matter who you are)

in other news, our cat is dumb

heather was putting out some snail bait and the stupid cat ate one. of course, this is not good for cats. in fact, it can be fatal. so, the cat is off to the emergency vet service. i imagine we'll be switching to a pet safe variety soon.

also, we're seeing dave chappelle tonight. never been to a comedy show, so this will be different. hopefully the cat thing will resolve itself alright and that won't be hanging over our heads.

rockstar inxs finale

before rockstar inxs, i watched my name is earl & the office. both were funny. i liked the episodes of the office from last year, although i’ve not seen the english version. i hear they’re good. anyway, my name is earl was worth a second watch.

onto the finale of rockstar inxs. the final three are mig, jd and marty. all of the previous contestants were there as well. what will happen on the show? my money is on…tons of recap.

and at about 10:16 the power went out. we’ll see if i get to watch and journal any more.

so, the power came back on at…11:59. roll credits.

who won? jd was on stage @ the end, so i'm guessing him.

baghdad burning

friends and readers, i urge you to go to one of the links on the right. it's not about me this time. click on baghdad burning and read the entry from sept. 11, 2005. i found it very moving.

something new

it's been fun lately. i've met a bunch of new people. i like to think of it as networking. not that i've really gotten to know any of them, just a comfortable level to say hi when i see them around.



and here's another plug for my photos (link on the right). best place to see my art, and i'm starting to add photos of friends and such.

peace out for now

flickr, to the right

just as a note, i'm really trying to get as much of my work on flickr.com, as an easier way to showcase my stuff. so, above the links to other blogs and news is a link that says photos. click it. the one below, labeled myspace is to myspace.com, but that's not that interesting for you. but the my photos, that's good stuff.

evangelical outpost on pledge

a tidbit from a website i just learned about called evangelical outpost. don't know how long i'll read from it, but this caught my eye.

"Count me amongst the good hearted people who have a very low view of civil religion. Many of my fellow Christians appear to have forgotten that it was the influential political theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau who coined the phrase “civil religion” in his “On the Social Contract” (1762). Rousseau developed the concept not as an “acknowledgement of God and His blessings on this land” but as a way to keep the Christian “rebels” allegiance aligned to the state rather than to their religion."

booyakasha! respect!

simmons on last night's survivor

i admit, i just copied this from bill simmons, who is one of my favorite columnists.

1. Note to the "Survivor" producers: Not nearly enough good-looking women this season. Next time you're choosing between the struggling actress with 36C's and Lydia the Professional Fishmonger, go with the struggling actress. Just trust me.

2. As much as I like having Stephenie back, the person who plucked her eyebrows before the show started was apparently the same person who built Denny Green's two-point conversion chart. What the hell? On the bright side, it did lead to an entire hour of "This tribe has really raised my eyebrows" jokes.

3. You probably know that former NFL QB Gary Hogeboom is one of the tribe members this season, which was initially disappointing for me because, if a former NFL QB ever went on "Survivor," I had always hoped it would be Jeff George (just to see how fast he would get voted off). But here's what you didn't know -- Hogeboom acts and speaks like Carl Spackler in "Caddyshack." It's uncanny -- he even does the crooked jaw thing. And now that I have mentioned it, you will never be able to watch him on this show again without waiting for him to scream, "It's a little harsh ... here, cannonball it. Cannonball it right back. And then one more right on top of it. Cannonball! Cannonball coming!"


in other news, nick cannon is hilarious!

self portrait?

this is a painting i started about 7 years ago. it progressed through some different colors and variations, but pretty much always had the same idea. i like this painting a lot, especially the color of the person.

paul rusebagina is coming to fresno

:: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH ::

PAUL RUSESABAGINA
FRESNO CITY COLLEGE GYM

12PM
FREE

As manager of the Belgian-owned Mille Collines, a luxury hotel in Kigali, the
Rwandan capital, Paul Rusesabagina saved hundreds from the Rwandan genocide. His
finesse and courage inspired the film "Hotel Rwanda," and he'll be speaking at
City College about his harrowing experience.

administrative leave?

(my buddy adam put me on to this story)

so, this deputy confessed to having crazy disgusting kid porn on his computer. he was rightfully arrested.

now he's on administrative leave? with pay. what the heck?

is he cutting his own throat?

i haven't formed any real opinions about the guy that is nominated for chief justice. so, this morning as i skimmed the news i read about how roberts was basically telling the senate that roe v. wade was a settled issue. so, i popped over to drudge to get a righty perspective and read this article. there's a lot in there that i think conservatives may find troubling.

yet, the cynic in me keeps thinking, "is this just a little 'wink, wink, i'll vote this way and i'm just saying this to get in' type of situation?"

i know we got problems

but they're rioting in belfast. firebombs, fights, police raids, and much more. and yet i didn't hear a peep about it. i checked all the major news sites, and only cnn had a headline, and it was down in their world section. of course, it was top story on bbc.

my question is, how do we maintain a bigger perspective while we deal with our own issues? this can apply on both the world and personal levels. please comment.

his mom said it

"Almost everyone I've talked to says, 'We're going to move to Houston.' What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them."


thank you very much, barbara bush

a prayer for today

Lord, give us the courage to worship your American flag whether it be on a belt buckle, shirt or your royal person.



















that was said by reverand lovejoy. then lisa quoted the first amendment. then the simpsons got arrested under the "government knows best law"

who's next?

"i support brownie. he's doing a good job. he works hard, comes in on saturday, eats lunch at his desk," ed's paraphase of g.w. bush talking about the head of fema, who is apparently being replaced as the head of disater relief.

update: another story on brown.

do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

here's a funny little video. apparently not everyone cowers in fear or respects the devil, errr, cheney.

3000

andre is up to what?

rockstar inxs update 9/6/05

rockstar inxs update 6 september 2005
ah, the ongoing saga to replace michael hutchinson, rest in peace. for various reason, queen has been on my mind a lot lately. can you imagine if they did this sort of thing? i mean there really isn’t any reason why the couldn’t or wouldn’t. but i just don’t think they would.

(did you ask a woman about the jennifer love hewitt thing?)

tonight’s twist: at the end they’ll show voting for all five remaining contestants, and each person is doing 2 songs tonight, and tonight’s song selection is in the voters’ hands.

brooke burke’s outfit is terrible. heather says it looks like pajamas with a belt.

jd – “come as you are” – he’s back to rearranging things. this is terrible. his cadence is like stop then go, stop then go. it’s all very boring. even the band sounds terrible. then they kicked the music up to normal tempo and at least the band sounded good. that pogo jump was friggin lame.
song 2 is his own –“pretty vegas”. i’m impressed with his writing skills, as it seemed like some catchy 80’s rock tune, ala inxs. in that way, it helped him in the competition. and the band liked it. i don’t know the title connection though.

suckie mcmeal, errr, suzie mcneal – "i can’t make you love me” – “I did such an epic job on bohemian rhapsody.” ugh, this chick’s ego bothers me as much as jd’s. flat notes all over. earlier in the comp, they really pointed out these things.
original song is called “soul life” and is dedicated to ty. i’m distracted by yet another huge, and i mean huge ring, like a plate. what’s with all these rings that people are wearing? “tripping down the avenuuuuuu” bleh. dave electra says he’s never heard here sing a note off key. what? then why didn’t he disagree when the band told her that in the past? horsebleep.

mig – “hard to handle” – better hair than last week. felt like a pretty average performance to me. mig was very active, but nothing really stood out good or bad vocally. just sorta there.
original piece is called “home in me” about moving on after loosing a friend. i guarantee there will be a comment by one band person about the song touching them because they too know what it’s like to lose someone. song is overly breathy. not an impressive songwriting display.
(dave electra stole the thunder by bring out the loosing someone comment. the band didn’t feel the song was their style and people need to remember you’re trying out for them. really, is that what the title of the show means?)

jordis – “we are the champions” – will she do it better than jd? heather sticks by her assessment from that night that jd didn’t do it well at all. jordis even says that in her taped interview. she had some real good moments in this, also had some tone problems. the slow parts had a nice, sultry feel to them. good stage presence, too.
original song called “try not” – i wouldn’t think she would write such a bluesy sounding song. done well. she’s working her way back into being a good fit for inxs. dave electra doesn’t feel the energy in her lower register.

marty – “everlong” –i love this song, one of my favorites. i won’t hold this against him no matter how it goes. he did worry about inxs’ comments about him screaming. he must have forgot that the acoustic version is as well received as the original, if not more so. no he didn’t, did it acoustic. a few tone probs. some can be attributed to his different sounding voice, a few he just missed the note. well done.
original piece called “trees” – lyrically there isn’t much to this song. sang it well. sounded good and I liked the musical aspect. this guy must really like the killers though. the band really loved it.

Very first voting results top to bottom: marty suzie jd mig jordis.

What I learned tonight:
1. jd can write songs, or at least write a song
2. jordis can still sing
3. marty can write a catchy tune and he’s probably the leader right now

here’s what I think the order should be, based solely on tonight: marty jordis jd suzie mig

what's a refugee?

i thought at first that people were just wrong. they kept saying that "these people (hurricane survivors) are not refugees. they are americans." and i kept thinking, yes they are. they're seeking refuge. but see, i was wrong.

ref·u·gee n
somebody who is seeking or taking refuge, especially from war or persecution, by going to a foreign country (often used before a noun)

Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

but, to my credit
ref·uge n
1.a sheltered or protected state safe from something threatening, harmful, or unpleasant
2.a place, or sometimes a person, offering protection or safe shelter from something

Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

so, "they" weren't wrong. they were just splitting hairs. these survivors are seeking refuge. the are transients. is that any better? hey, cuba offered help. so, maybe some will go there and actually be refugees.

perspective, sweet perspective

i am in a fantasy football league. i consider it a fun little diversion. i'm competitive and want to win. recently, i've been really pissed about it. see, we're using msn/foxsport's version. it's supposed to be great. it's got all sorts of features and it's free! last year, we used yahoo. it was functional, but to get things like live updates you had to pay $10. so, this seemed so much better. that is, until we really started to use it. freakin site is often down, features don't work, etc and the season starts thursday. so i'm complaining to friends, trying to see if maybe we should switch back to yahoo, and so on.


then i remember that i'm at home. hundreds of thousands are currently displaced. i'm slapped in the face that thousands have died due to a catastrophe. i'm informed about a typhoon hitting japan and people dying there. or about a bridge falling down in iraq and around a thousand people dying while trying to visit a religious site. or numerous other things.

and i shut my own mouth and realize that my little problems need to be put in perspective

gots me a flickr account

so, i joined flickr so i could have another space to put up photos, mainly of my art. i'll also put a link on the side

anthropology today

i wonder what the sociological or anthropological explanation for this is?

and i ask that question as i watch judge mathis and two "ladies" complain about each other being drunk in public and some sort of injury one blames on the other.

nobody, i mean nobody

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."

—President Bush on ABC's Good Morning America, Sept. 1, 2005

really? how about this?

oh yeah, and all those studies done by LSU and other academics, agencies and eggheads.

waaah-mart

funny story about walmart complaining about a competitor in england

slaying the dragon

it's been a long time coming...and i think it finally happened.

the u.s. men's national soccer team has become the most dominant in our region. today we defeated mexico 2-0. it was a sloppy game, but both goals were very good. they weren't just lucky little accidents. one was off a set play, a header deflected off the post to another guy who put it home. the other was just a nice shot. and, we could have had one or two more. our defense didn't let mexico get anything going, and their stars looked pretty frustrated.

i'm sure when if we play them again @ azteca stadium in mexico city before the world cup it will be a war. but we're ready.

it was great to hear the spanish announcer (i don't have cable so it's spanish soccer broadcast for me) say after the second goal, "sprechen si deutche?" okay, i don't know if any of that was spelled right but it was a great moment. the u.s. is officially in world cup 06 in germany. i'm sure mexico will be there too, but just not yet.

let me have your opinion

series of questions
should we rebuild new orleans?
if so, why?
if not, why?

please answer in the comment area. this debate is in the papers, on the news, etc. and i'm kicking it around here now.

here's what they think about you

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/02/MTFH62797_2005-09-02_14-16-45_BAU248384.html

LONDON (Reuters) - The world has watched amazed as the planet's only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society.

World leaders and ordinary citizens have expressed sympathy with the people of the southern United States whose lives were devastated by the hurricane and the flooding that followed.

But many have also been shocked by the images of disorder beamed around the world -- looters roaming the debris-strewn streets and thousands of people gathered in New Orleans waiting for the authorities to provide food, water and other aid.

"Anarchy in the USA" declared Britain's best-selling newspaper The Sun.

"Apocalypse Now" headlined Germany's Handelsblatt daily.

and...
"I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."

okay, that's a cheap shot. we didn't talk crap on you when were in need.

the first story i read today contained...this

so, i got online to read and see what was happening in hurricane areas. last night, before bed i watched some programs on tv. i was moved to tears over the desperation in the south, especially in new orleans. i know a lot of people are jumping on this bandwagon, but what the heck is the federal government doing? and why is it taking so long? anyhow, here are some parts from the article i read, of course, interspersed with my commentary.

NEW ORLEANS - An explosion jolted residents awake early Friday, illuminating the pre-dawn sky with red and orange flames over the city where corpses rotted along sidewalks and thousands remained stranded — crying for food, water and a way to evacuate.
explosions? corpses? thousands stranded? this does not inspire any confidence that our government can do anything or will do anything until it's too late.

Bush, before leaving the White House, told reporters that “the results are not acceptable” — a blunt criticism of federal efforts so far, particularly at the New Orleans Convention Center where thousands are stranded even though the site is easily accessible by vehicles
federal efforts not acceptable? we blame you bush. you're at the top. the buck stops with you. if the federal gov't hasn't done enough, it's on your head. why not step up and accept your rightful blame instead of calling out others? chickenshit.

By Thursday evening, 11 hours after the military began evacuating the Superdome, the arena held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn.
okay, this is a little misleading. of course there are more people there. if i knew that was the spot where i could get out of hell i'm there in an instant. but 10000? this problem is way bigger than i expected. it's going to get much worse before it gets better.

“I don’t treat my dog like that,” 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the (dead) woman in the wheelchair. “You can do everything for other countries, but you can’t do nothing for your own people.”
The street outside the center, above the floodwaters, smelled of urine and feces and was choked with dirty diapers, old bottles and garbage.
i don't share the other countries sentiment. we help people were help is needed. after the tsunami, it took a few days for us to realize the need and respond properly. i know this takes time, but i don't blame people for being frustrated either. in an interesting turn, the UN has offered help. they've also offered up the trained people who deal with these sort of catastrophies. as of last night, we hadn't taken them up on the offer. why?

In hopes of defusing the situation at the convention center, Mayor Nagin gave the evacuees permission to march across a bridge to the city’s unflooded west bank for whatever relief they could find.
for whatever relief they could find? what does that mean? isn't that a call to loot? i'd like to think people would just go looking for food and water, but how do we tell people to go find whatever you need and expect it to be civil? and why the f isn't the fed doing more to get food and water to these people?

To make matters worse, the chief of the Louisiana State Police said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers — many of whom were from flooded areas — turning in their badges.

“They indicated that they had lost everything and didn’t feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives,” Col. Henry Whitehorn said.
scary. but i don't really blame these cops either.

i hope today is better.

thoughts on a tuesday

i don't know what to make of this katrina thing any more. i was really happy when they didn't have a story. i wish it would have stayed that way. now, as things spiral out of control, i read all the different stories and just hope that lives can be saved. i am starting to feel really helpless. but really, i live across the country. it's not like i can jump in my car and go help out. so, i'm committed to prayer. maybe i'll go give blood.
------------------
rockstar inxs last night: the band said it right, those were three underwhelming performances. ty gets the boot. i thought it should have been jd, but the band is looking for who will fit them best. and apparently they didn't see it in ty. it's been odd seeing the early leaders (ty, jd, and jordis) start to fall off and others getting stronger. i still have no idea what they sea/hear in suzie. she got the encore? her singing was terrible. and when i say terrible i hope you hear bill walton saying it. terrrrrible. and her encore was just as bad. and the band seems to be in love with her. mig, who is good and has been good, was the other person that never was in the bottom three. both of them should have been locks for the bottom three based on their performances. but ty, jordis and jd were bottom. ty is out. and i'm alright with that because it's the bands' decision. they are evaluating what is right for them and don't see it in the person of ty.
and then ty pulled the race card. not on the band, but on all of us. here's the deal, i agree. sort of. it's hard for me to see a reason why he has been in the bottom three on three different occassions and jd has been there once, and suckie, err, suzie now hasn't been there the last 2 weeks when should could have last week and should have without a doubt been there this week. mig gave a bad performance. but ty didn't. wasn't great, and i could see it being bottom three this week. but other weeks? this guy can sing rock. he can sing soul. he can sing r&b. and inxs' music reflects those influences. i realize you're down to 6 and so half will be bottom three, but he shouldn't have been there other weeks. and jd should have. suzie should have. jordis should have last week. mig should have. so why not look at it as race? name for me rock two bands that have either a black lead singer or have several black members in it? i'll give you three: bloc party, fishbone, living colour. now take away living colour because they've been nonexistant for like ten years. can you tell me another? so ask yourself, did america not vote for this guy because they can't imagine a black guy doing rock/fronting inxs? terrence trent d'arby did it. so inxs seems alright with the idea.

how the h does suckie get the encore two weeks in a row on terrible performances? maybe last week wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the best. it didn't deserve the encore. and her cover of bohemian rhapsody was terrible. absolutely terrible.

that's enough of me for now.

rockstar ed.s update

i mean rockstar inxs update after the show on 8/30/05.

(sidenote: do you want to hear something funny? ask a girl why she doesn't like jennifer love hewitt. i had heard of this phenomenon, and asked my wife her feelings. it was a funny rant for about ten minutes. give it a try.)

i am starting to despise dave electra. maybe i'm seeing it wrong but it just sems like every comment out of his yap has this misogynistic undertone. (so of course he doesn't do it the rest of the night. now who's the jerk? it's me, it's me)

ty - you can't always get what you want - 'you get what you need, get what you need, get what you need' i noticed that little nod to inxs, my wife heather vocalized it though. ty sounded good, but could have probably pushed it more. the choir didn't seem to help him much. dave electra actually complimented ty! amazing.

jd - suspicious minds - this guy used to be an elvis impersonator. that's funny to me. not every song sounds good at a punk tempo guy. jd did sing pretty good, but this constant tinkering with people's songs is getting old.

(i am reallly excited for the start of the next season of survivor. dang, i just realized i have some other plans that night. will have to tape and postpone survivor kick off bash)

marty - wish you were here (pink floyd) - i included the group because i didn't recognize the song by just title, but knew the song. marty sings really well. never hurts either when the band sounds great on a song. he should definately get kudos for inxs for stepping outside his usual sound. i hated the crowd waving their arms about, but really enjoyed marty's performance.

brooke burke's hair is creeping me out.

jordis - imagine - very sweet sound. well done. it misses some of the sound/thing/it that she had going for her the first few weeks but still right on performance.

sidenote discussion: imagine is a song with a very radical message. is it softened and not heard for what it is saying by such a 'sweet' performance? does the meaning get neutered?

mig - live and let die - good that he's trying to stretch himself. didn't pull it off well at all.

suzie - bohemian rhapsody - why do people fight for those songs that are impossible to do? really, have you ever heard anyone other than Queen do a good performance of this song? like jordis last week with dream on. can anyone else but steve tyler do that one? if i were in this competition i'd stay away from these sort of songs like the plague. not surprisingly, suzie sounded bad. she postured foolishly on stage. she did the rockin part alright. welcom back, queen of the bottom three. dave electra said that what suzie did was spectacular, awesome. what?

my predictions for the bottom three: suzie, mig, jd.
early vote results: jd, ty, marty.

with only six left, i'm sure they may all spend time there tonight. i think jd or suzie is done.

congrats sunbird volleyball

my alma mater, fresno pacific, played D1 Fresno State in women's volleyball tonight night. Did i mention that we play in the lowly naia? we swept 'em. three straight. good job ladies.

who's house? run's house

hurricane katrina stinks

if you're out looting, i hope you find your house underwater when you return.
if you're trying to scam people as a charity, i hope you go bankrupt and are prosecuted
if you're trying to make political gain out of this natural tragedy, you disgust me.


(btw, it was air america that i heard trying to make political gains. but i'm sure the right is doing it as well.)

i spoke too soon

dang, it looks like things are getting worse down south. they're now expecting death tolls in the hundred due to the hurricane. thankfully, that's not tsunami bad, but it still stinks. read today that they're having to pull even more people out of N.O. because a levee broke. (terribly, i wrote that line and then the zeppelin song popped in my head).

my prayers go out to folks down there. i wonder what the international communities response will be?

monday monday

hurricane, hurricane, how you bluster.

i'm really thankful that the hurricane didn't hit as hard as it was predicted. it's unfortunate that anything bad has happened, and the deaths that have happened are regretable. hopefully it won't get worse before it's all said and done.

funny thing is, the news built the story up so big. it's the end of the world! the sky will fall! but what do they do when it wasn't the end? uh, well, here's our guy, he's standing in the wind. here's a picture of a building that crumbled. other than that, we don't have much. here's an interview with a guy from a hurricane fourty years ago. that hurricane was bad. we'll update you if anything else happens. saps, i tell ya, saps.

again, i'm thankful that they didn't have anything to report.

patty robertson keeps it coming

hey, he finally actually apologizes, although it's only been on his website and not to the masses on his tv show.

then he compares himself to bonhoeffer. that kills me. it's unfortunate the bonhoeffer was ever a part of a group that tried to assassinate hitler, because it's constantly brought out as a defense for someone's poor actions. "well, bonhoeffer did it, so it must be alright." never mind that bonhoeffer also considered his involvement in the plot a sin, and always struggled to justify this sin with his own life.

i also like that there's ads on the side for pat's age defying shakes, pancakes and antioxidents.

it's friday, have some art

these two photos are of my painting shades of love. they're done with different lighting and i included both here because i think each displays different aspects of the painting. the work is 36"x24" (or 3'x2' if you prefer). i'm currently asking $150, but i'm intending to have my friend adam make a frame for it, which would up the price.

btw, when you give dimensions on something 2D like a painting, what the proper order? it is height then width? is it just small one first?

fresno still loves to suck up

before reading this post, take time to read this from the la times and this from the fresno bee. it'll all make sense that way. also, i originally posted this rant on a comment on fresno famous.

earlier today i actually got on the fresno bee's website and read this story. it's about the first time a month that i read the media or print version. what a crap newspaper. they are the fresno magazine of newspapers. now, that i've insulted two groups, i will get to my point.

i was disappointed, but not surprised, that the issue was tabled. this city needs to get on the ball and do what is right. we have a mayor and council saying that they wish to be fair leaders and want to keep creative minds in fresno but for the most part they still cowtow to to developers. you want to keep creative people here? then don't sell every downtown property to the same developer. give more incentives for smaller developers or individuals to get into downtown.

i keep hearing clamore to turn 99 into a federal hwy. if you hadn't skimped on developer funds for the last several decades maybe there would be money in the bank for such a project. maybe friant road would have taken 37 lives over the last decade because it would've been widened. maybe parts of the west side would have paved streets in a reasonable amount of time. maybe pot holes would be fixed. maybe our fire dept would have enough trucks, staff, and locations. maybe you would have money for more cops and we wouldn't still be a mecca for car theives. but no, fresno "leaders" have led us to urban sprawl, underfunded road programs, and operation rezone. bleh.

rockstar inxs update 8/24/05

here's a recap of last night's show:
suzie got the encore performance from the band. she was very pleased, i was not.
the show is starting to add those annoying american idol suspense techniques. i'll tell you about it after this commercial.
well, it seems that everybody except suzie was in the bottom three at sometime the previous night.
first of the bottom three: ty. you can tell that he's pissed and emotional. and goes and gives a freaking great performance of "what you need". really, this guy should be the next lead singer of the band. just sounds excellent, he could do this nightly without a doubt. the statements to the band after the performance were a little much.
second of the bottom three: deanna. this performance of "elegantly wasted" was energetic but her voice just doesn't do the song justice. if you don't believe me, check out the recap on the rockstar.msn website. they called her singing dusky. dusky? the band really likes her, thinks she does a great job singing and performning. also, she got down on her knees after her performance as if to plead with the band to keep her. if i thought ty's remarks were over the top, this is just embarassing.
third of the bottom three (it's down to jordis, who stated earlier she would be disappointed if she wasn't there, and marty): marty does "don't change". i think it sounded really good, sorta killers-esque with a little iggy pop and inxs mixed in. nice job.

so, i won't keep you waiting. as i predicted after the show, if deanna is in the bottom three she's done. and she is. at this point, there's going to be tears, there are going to be difficult decisions. i think most of the singers brought in for the contest were deserving and so each week it's going to get harder. if i was suzie, queen of the bottom three, i might be packing my bags next wednesday afternoon.