a lefty’s log

Well, I just spent the last fifteen minutes trying to remember my login. I guess that’s a good enough reason to say this tiny, insignificant corner of the net is closed.

In the last year or so, life has changed significantly for me. So much so that my need to spool out in written form my thoughts and fears and whatever else has significantly abated.

Should circumstances change, well, I’m sure that there’d be a great open-source medium available to facilitate it. Until then, go visit YouTube or something.

See you around,

–Lefty

That’s what they say about love; infatuation is something else completely.

Yeah. So I haven’t written in a while. It isn’t because of a lack of ideas.

Here are a few things that have been rollin’ around my noggin for a while:

• This month’s news is aflame with reports of a modern day near race riot in the name of the so-called “Jena Six”: Who knew the 1960s were still alive well into the 21st century? Louisiana, you’re not doing much to show how much you’ve grown in the last few decades. Evolution is a concept a bit ahead of your time, isn’t it? A certain book by Howard Cruse may still be relevant.
• TPIR, the best game show on the planet, has chosen a new host, and a new look. I can withhold final judgment until the curtain rises on season 36 on 15 October 2007 with Mr Drew Carey as emcee. But I can say that what I see so far is way cool. (Can’t say the same for the re-recorded stereophonic theme.)
• Music and Language have an equally profound effect on the human experience. I was so astounded by the revelations described in this piece that I willingly gave up an hour of sleep time to listen to the whole thing. There is no better way to explain it but to let you listen to the original yourselves. Cantonese is the key to having “perfect pitch?” Spoken word as song? Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring has him the catalyst of a riot one sultry May day, then hero the next March with the same music?! Download the RadioLab podcast and be astounded. (Copyright held by wnyc. I’m merely providing this download as a service with my limited understanding of fair use. So there.)
• ‘NSFW: Buck Angel, adult film star’ A man is a man, even if he sounds funny and has girl parts:
NSFW / R-Rated material ahead: His name is Buck Angel. He discovered some time ago that even though he was born a she, he should be a he. He decided to undergo reassignment surgery, but decided not to have a boy part constructed. He kept his girl parts. Then, he decided to go into the Adult Film biz. He’s a brave soul. The very ideas involved blows my mind away, and reminds me a bit of one of my favorite book cycles. But I’ll keep my boy parts, thanks.

No, all of this stuff was merely rattling in my head. It’s been all but flushed because I’ve found a new infatuation, and he’s almost knocked me senseless.

I’m beside myself with worry, and guilt, and eros, and some things that are better left unsaid.

I’m not sure what the path forward is, I only hope he’s somewhere in it.

Sigh such is life.

Jack Chick tracts are one thing, but this is targeted marketing to a whole new level:

In the words of the friend who sent this to me:

You never know what you’ll find in The Auto Trader Magazines - Cars, trucks, boats, salvation… –KCK

Indeed.

The next day, she continues:

. . . I’m pretty sure it ran, why wouldn’t it? I think we should pray… Dear Lord, please protect us from the fanatics and all that is holy. Also, I need a new car, preferably a Nissan Sentra, could you help me out? Amen!

p.s. can i get it in pink with lots of crosses and hearts all over it?

I’m reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman right now. In the first chapter (I’m kinda stuck there right now), he makes mention of the classic video game Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?. In a wave of nostalgia-seeking, I immediately sought to find a copy to play for free online.

I didn’t succeed in that mission, though I did run across an interesting flash animation called Trichinosis:

image courtesy Trichinosis flash video.

With allusions to Orwell’s Animal Farm, it provides an interesting counterpoint to consumerism, conspicuous or otherwise.

Who needs to read a depressing issue of AdBusters Magazine when this flash video accomplished the same thing, and links to a New York Times article referencing the former UN president called “Kofi Annan’s Astonishing Facts”?

Now, the only question is, what to do about it?

Is Hillary or Obama or Edwards the answer? Or is it something else?

A way long time ago, I posted a story about Jesus Camp, a documentary film that purports to be a non-partisan look at how evangelicals spread their venom gospel through their children.

I was looking for information on Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. I’ve been reading it chapter by chapter whenever I find my way into a Borders. Thirty-some dollars just seems too rich to pay for a book just now. That pace seems to be just fine, for it’s a dense book that requires some time to digest. It requires some leavening, too, for I’ve read four or five other tomes while I’ve been hacking away on this heady piece.

By somewhere in the first chapter, he makes mention that he was presenter for a BBC piece called “The Root of All Evil” where he blames religion to be just that. Well, not quite, that’s just what Channel 4 wanted to call it. Anyway, he continues to say that while he’d like to get the piece on DVD distribution in the States, it’s already available bootleg via the ‘net. Indeed it is.

And so is Jesus Camp.