ad hoc.

I’m trying to do mood mixes again. Here’s one that would be the background music to my existense right now.

In that I don’t think I can stop blogging. I don’t want to sound like a big hypocrite, but maybe going cold turkey wasn’t the best idea. As Chris said, my previous post was like the Cher farewell tour.

I couldn’t sleep last night as usual, and the only thing that calmed me down was blogging.

However, I NEED NEED NEED to get some resumes and cover letters out. To jobs in a career field that I am not even sure I want to be in.

The cover alone sold me. Hot.

[THE PRESETS; Beams] [multiply] [mediafire]

[MENOMENA; Friend or Foe] [multiply] [mediafire]

Is this for makeup? Or cologne? Does it matter? I feel funny down there when I look at these.

On second thought, he either is very photoshopped or captured in soft focus.

Ok, here I am 24 hours later and I am kind of regretting my semi-retirement. Maybe going cold turkey isn’t always a good idea. I really really need to spend my time working on my life stuff. Let’s just say my posting will be a bit sparse in the coming weeks.

But seriously, this NEEDS to be posted. Dan Radcliffe is in a play where he has a sexual fixation on horses. The promo pics are out, and I am equally repelled from these pictures as I am fascinated. He’s 17, folks. It’s nice he is growing up well, and was luckier than some child stars i.e., Ben from Growing Pains. And he’s obviously been busy working out or something. Ginny Weasley is on to something.

I’m also not going to repost them here for fear of being arrested. Look at some HQ scans here and here.

How to Know When to Stop Blogging « Lorelle on WordPress

Reading the above post the other day realy got me thinking. Is it time for me to go? If I continued to post hot pics of celebs and albums every day, would that hurt anyone? Probably not. When I first started this blog, I had intended for it to be something to keep in touch with people and let them know what I was up to. My life turned out to be not as exciting/glamorous as I had imagined it to be, and I soon learned that blogging about all the drama at work was not a good idea. Then it morphed into me suggesting a lot of music and movies to people that had otherwise not heard of it. Then it sort of moved into something that I am not sure how to place. Mostly I would talk about things from pop culture that I was interested in. I always kept it light, but at times I wanted to post things of a more serious nature, and it seemed really half-assed on my part. I started throwing up links and saying things like “this is stoopid” and not really being able to express myself. This is not meant to make some serious political statement, but my love for pop culture is based on how it reflects the ills of society, and if I can’t fully articulate those ills, I feel I’m not being effective.

Posting on this blog has been a great outlet for me and an enjoyable way to spend my time, but it does take up time. I am at a point in my life where I really need to sit down and get my shit together. And that requires a serious focus. I need to spend time sending out resumes and setting up interviews, going over my finances and looking into retirement funds, continue to stay active and stay on my rigorous exercise regimen, and some general for-real thinking about what the hell I want out of my future. You know, adult stuff.

So I’m taking a break. I am not giving this up forever. Right now I am going to step away for a couple of weeks while I take care of some other things. After that break, I am going to try to restructure things. I’d like to have more focus for this blog, maybe something more interesting than vomiting pop culture and music into posts. I’d also like to seek a wider audience with this. Not that I don’t love the fact that a lot of close friends read this, but it would be cool to reach a wider audience.

And to my loyal readers and dear friends who have been reading every day, I thank you for indulging me in my slef-centeredness. If not having this updated for a while is really going to get you down, here are some places to go.

• hotindieboyz: my other blog, which is self-explanatory. It’s the one where I perv out about guys in bands (at least more than I do on here).
• my del.ic.ious page: this is where I store whatever I am reading, and it is updated several times a day and I will continue to do so.
• My Multiply page: I will continue to post music here before they realize how illegal the site is. I love being able to introduce people to all types of music, so I will continue to keep that up.
• Andrew’s page: Andrew has great taste in British music and is a much better writer than I am. His music tastes have come a long way. I remember when his collection consisted of Westlife and The Little Mermaid. Now he is like the expert of Britpop.
• The Erin Q. Hammers Worship Page: to see updates between the Hollywood Feud between myself and Erin.
• Be My Netflix Friend: this is even better than spying on someone in the shower. See all the embarassing stuff I rent!

Hopefully when I return I will have at least half of my life figured out.

In the meantime, fight the Seasonal Affective Disorder!

[THE LONG BLONDES; Someone to Drive You Home] [mediafire][multiply]

I guess that it is National Show Your Bigotry Week at our nations’ colleges.

Yale U. Investigates Alleged Hazing of 2 Freshman Tennis Players

 

By BRAD WOLVERTON

 

Yale University is weighing whether to punish members of its men’s tennis team after reports surfaced this week about an alleged hazing incident that has riled gay and lesbian students.

 

Last fall during dinner hour, according to several students who witnessed the incident, a group of athletes escorted two freshman players dressed in women’s underwear into two campus dining halls, where the first-year students stood on tables and sang, “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.”

 

The players — Connor Dawson and Matt Schimmel — reportedly had homophobic slurs written on their bodies. According to witnesses, the athletes had words that included “I’m a faggot” written on them in marker, and an arrow drawn down their backs, along with the words “Insert here.”

 

Many gay, lesbian, and transgender students were offended by the team members’ actions, Ben Gonzalez, a Yale sophomore and coordinator of the campus’s Queer Resource Center, said in an interview on Thursday.

 

In response to the incident, several gay and lesbian students met on Monday with Betty G. Trachtenberg, the university’s dean of student affairs, who plans to help organize a forum between athletes and concerned students to raise awareness of gay and lesbian issues.

 

In an e-mail message sent to a gay and lesbian student group on Wednesday, Brandon Wai, captain of Yale’s tennis team, apologized for the incident, saying that he and his teammates “meant no harm to anyone” and that in hindsight, they believe their actions were inappropriate and harmful.

 

In a statement, Thomas A. Beckett, Yale’s athletics director, said that the university is “extremely disappointed” by the team’s actions, which he described as “inappropriate initiation” activities.

 

The university and athletics officials plan to investigate the matter further before deciding on any punishments. In the meantime, the team’s players will be allowed to keep competing.

 

Yale officials have avoided referring to the incident as hazing. But according to the university’s Student-Athlete Handbook, any activity that requires “indecent exposure of the body” is considered hazing.

Are you kidding me? That’s not an apolgy. That’s a “I’m sorry that I got caught” apology. The only thing that I hate more than groups that haze are people that willingly are hazed to belong to that group.

Oh, darn. Ewan McGregor partying in a kilt again.

As if today wasn’t crappy enough.

After just a little over five years together, punk band Pretty Girls Make Graves have announced that they are breaking up after one last tour. Citing the departure of drummer Nick Dewitt as the impetus behind the split, the Seattle group posted the following message on their website late Sunday night:

“We are sorry to announce that our upcoming tour in May will be our last. Nick quit the band and the rest of us feel like it wouldn’t be right to continue on without him. The 5 of us feel very lucky to have met and worked with some truly amazing people over the years. Thank you all so much…” The complete itinerary for PGMG’s final tour have yet to be announced.

source

Their last three albums are seriously the best music I’ve heard. Bummer.

Okay, I was gonna wait til tomorrow, but it got me all riled up. Is Baltar going to be tortured every episode?

Laura Roslin is like an evil dictator. First ordering genocide, then using torture methods on others. I wanted to see more of the scene where Sumber Six chews her a new one.

I’m glad the whole episode wasn’t about the Lee and Kara horseshit. Well, writers, I am actually glad you didn’t get them together. That would have been too easy. HOWEVER, how can Dually and Anders want them back? I didn’t get what Anders was saying. Did he wanted to be with Kara because of her destiny? Because he wanted in on the fame? And Lee telling Dee that he wanted her because she was good for him? WTF? That was such an selfish thing to say. Whatever, I’m no relationhsip expert. I’m glad that’s resolved and over with. Why is Anders so pretty?

When Lee asked the Chief if he could ask him a personal question, I thought he was going to say “why the hell did you marry Cally?”

Yea, Lee is annoying and other than his biceps has no appeal. That bar looked about as cool as a TGI Friday’s.

Were Kara and Anders doing it behind that curtain in the meeting room? No one needs to hear that.

I’m glad Baltar came clean about not having the intent to betray the human race, and that he was manipulated. He should have said that years ago.

Who were those moss-covered children? What the hell? I would have liked to have seen the casting call for those extras.

Next week: a trial episode! It’s like Law and Order meets Battlestar.

What’s all the buzz about this guy Mika? The hype is almost reaching Arctic Monkeys proportions. Also, the ScissorSisters called, they want their sound back.

• MIKA IS GRACING US WITH HIS NO1 SMASH
• Mika Rockets To Number One With Debut Single ‘Grace Kelly’
• Mika Set To Be The Biggest Music Sensation Since The Arctic Monkeys
• MIKA - MIKA I WONT TALK ABOUT MY SEXUALITY

The album is pretty good, check it.

[MIKA, Life in Cartoon Motion] [mediafire] [multiply]

Finally got to see Jesus Camp. I expected just to be disgusted and have a knee-jerk reaction by calling them “crazy fundamentalists”. That would be the easy criticism. I am more dumbfounded and confused.

Now, I am not going to sit here and criticize Christianity. I actually don’t really know enough about it to criticise. I am criticizing fundamentalism that fucks with children’s brains and targets groups and tells them they are going to hell. The ones that look to Bush to bring back God into government. So please don’t think I am cutting down anyone that has some sort of spiritual belief.

Now, the thing that most intrigues me is how someone can truly believe in Creationism. Not in the jeez-are-they-stupid way, but how can you live in the modern world, observe what you see, and just go on faith that it was created by some old man in the sky? I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around it.

Sometimes I have other thoughts about evangelical Christians. Not even about the religion but isn’t it…boring? No, seriously. It is so conformist. Everyone listens to the same thing, same music, everyone dresses similar. Maybe there is some comfort in that.

And this whole temptation of sexual thoughts…it is VIRTUNALLY impossible to not have “impure” thoughts. I was also fascinated with what people were wearing. If not to tempt each other with impure thoughts, shouldn’t they all just wear paper sacks all day? Why even put on lipstick and skirts? Isn’t that counter-productive?

I guess I will never understand. If I was born to an exteme-right wing evangelical family in an area of a country where I was surrounded by that community, am I so presumptuous to assume that I would see all through it and seek independence and think my own thoughts? Who knows? Which is why this is disturbing, because these are children and their whole world is their families and neighborhood. Even of they wanted to “break free”, how would one expect that they can do it?

• Reality Check for a Generation That Knows Best - New York Times

• NME.COM - News - The New Pornographers reveal album details

• My Year Of Flops, Case File 1: Elizabethtown: The Bataan Death March of Whimsy | The A.V. Club

• The Music Slut: We’re Awesome!: Keane’s ‘Private Info’ Stolen!

• The snide brilliance of Tina Fey on 30 Rock. - By Troy Patterson - Slate Magazine

  ; I still haven’t gotten a chance to watch it.

• The academy’s fatty problem. - By Timothy Noah - Slate Magazine

• Why The GAP Keeps Getting Crushed — Friday, Jan. 26, 2007 — Page 1 — TIME

  ; because they tried to go high-end. I liked it better when it was jeans and t-shirts.

• Toddler’s Temper Ousts Family From Plane | Chicago Tribune

  ; I side completely with the airline.

• Comics that reinvent the superhero genre. - By Dan Kois - Slate Magazine

• MTV News | Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta Speaks Out After Keytar Kerfuffle

  ; how junior high. The band sounds like assholes.

• Best Week Ever » Blog Archive » TOP CHEF INDIGESTION: Bullsh*t Tenderloin Topped With An Unfairness Foam Flambe

  My thoughts exactly on why I am not going to even bother watching the finale.

• toledoblade.com — Demonstrators protest ‘problem solved’ T-shirts

I’m…..intrigued.

From a graphic design standpoint, I love the poster. I can imgine having a black man dominate over a white woman in chains is going to stir some controversy. I think the movie will challenge a lot of conventions. And Justin Timberlake is in it too, fyi.

I just realized that the current space I live in is the place that I have lived the longest in my life since leaving for college. And I’ve only been here a year and secen months. No wonder I never want to settle down and decorate a place. And I’m about to move again in the summer.

I lived five places in college (okay, that’s kind of expected. After I graduated, I moved to Andover for the summer. Then to 16th street in DC for about a year and a half, then to Fairmont Street in DC for sixth months. After that, to Brooklyn for 10 months, then spent the summer is Baltimore (I actually moved once when I was there), then moved to Manhattan for another year. The summer after that I moved back to Brooklyn AGAIN, then to Connecticut, where I lived in an apartment for a year before moving to my current place. Holy shit if I have to load up a car one more time I’m going to die. This time I’m an adult, I can hire movers.

Although I am so excited to actually OWN my own place, I don’t want that to happen so soon because that means I’m permanently settled. It’s a Catch-22.

One of the best records in a while. No surprise they are British.

[THE KLAXONS, Myths of the Near Future][mediafire][multiply]

Klaxons Myspace

If this wasn’t enough, we also have law students doing it.

“I was aware of a pervasive lack of understanding between cultures,” he said. Greco believes that lack of understanding set the stage for what’s happening on campus right now. There has been tremendous fallout from an off-campus party this weekend. The theme was “Bullets and Bubbly” and people who went dressed in so-called hip-hop attire. “Bubble jackets with hoods, baggy jeans, doo-rags, basketball jerseys, medallions,” Greco said.

I think I am the ignorant one because I always assumed that everyone knows better than to “dress up” as the worst stereotypes and mock a group of people. How can someone actually do that on a weekend, then look their Black classmates in the face on Monday?

To John Mayer’s people: watch out, you have a potential obsessive fan. To think, when I lived in Manhattan, I would pass his condo every damn day and I didn’t care (He lived on 2nd Ave and 14th Street then, he may not anymore). Well, although all the pictures of him and Jessawhore Slutson (I’m so creative) surfaced, this news was promising.

At Nobu in Miami in Tuesday night, the pair “barely spoke” to each other, reports Page Six, and John “was extremely quiet and didn’t speak a lot.” Jessica, as is her wont, engaged in “a lot of puppy-dog looks and twirled and twisted her hair.” Sure, they were seen holding hands, but Simpson then left John all alone for 20 minutes at the table to get herself primped for cameras waiting outside.

I mean, how much is there left to say about lip gloss, Daddy, and boobs?

As usual, John is being extremely witty on his blog.

10. You turn 30 in October. What will be the worst part about seeing your 20s go away?

There are lots of very invasive tests that doctors like to administer to men in their thirties. These tests usually result in a ride home with the radio off and very little blinking.

Not that I listen to this stuff, but I can’t help but be affected by American Idol loser Katharine McPhee’s album cover.

Is that necessary? Call me prude, but spread-eagle is not the most classy position. This really bothers me. I guess recovering from bulimia makes you a bumble bee hooker.

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In fitting with what I was talking about the other day, I watched the documentary This Film is Not Yet Rated about the MPAA ratings board. Sure, it was set up in order to “avoid censorship” but the spirit of that idea is completely lost because the board is completely inconistent and hypocritical about what it gives NC-17 ratings to. Of course, extreme violence, misogyny, and male sexual pleasure is permissible for an R-rating. Gratuitous sex, “sodomy”, and gay physical contact are of course given NC-17. Even though it is not censoried, carrying that rating clearly hinders the movie from being shown in most places.

The most surprising thing is that Boys Don’t Cry was initially given an NC-17 rating, not for showing Brandon being shot in the head, brutally raped, or severely beaten, but for Lana’s orgasm. What the fuck?

The best parts of the film were hearing filmmakers give their thoughts on the board. My favorites John Waters, Matt Stone, and Kevin Smith were interviewed and are actually quite eloquent if given the chance for a serious interview. The rest of the movie deals with the filmmaker hiring private investigators to find out the names of the people on the board and making intimidating phonecalls to the MPAA. That was a bit overkill.

But, a good doc for those interested in the film industry and pop culture sociology.

It also validates my decision to go back to Netflix and cancel Blockbuster, who refuses to carry NC-17 films. But apparently carrying Grand Theft Auto is okay with them. Hypocrites.

It’s a fucking party.

It’s shit like this that makes me want to give up at my chosen career.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0125071mlk1.html