Masculine Thoughts

I bought Sonboy The Dangerous Book for Boys (by the Iggulden brothers) for Christmas. There's something about the simple innocence of a 1920's style "boy's own" manual that makes me feel more masculine. I guess it says something about the nature of 21st century men that we need books like these to help us figure out who we are.

Having an 8 year-old I can cuddle, tickle, wrestle, play with, swim with, cook with, laugh with is a wonderful experience. I like being a father.

Dunno yet what I'm doing for new year. I'm either going into the city for a psytrance party - I may be DJing the morning after - or I'm just gonna have a quiet fire on the beach with a couple of family and friends. We'll see how I feel on the night.

I've been catching up on my rest; I fell asleep half way through "Ring", the original Japanese film. Perhaps I'll be awake enough to be scared tonight.

But for now, I'm off to the beach to kick sand in some wimp's face.

Spong Sung Blue

At the beach, doing busy, stressful-type things like play poker, watch Sonboy kayak, lie on the beach and read while Sonboy boogie-boards, and drink wine. And of course, read.

I've been neglecting the books I brought in favour of John Spong's áutobiography 'Here I Stand'. If you haven't heard of him, he's America's most famous liberal bishop in the Episcopalian (Anglican) church.

It's interesting. I haven't read much of his other works, but now I guess I''ll have to, to put flesh on the ideas he proposes, and see if there's any backbone to them.

Spong is wonderfully open to ideas of social justice while seeming to be oblivious to the inherent classism of the Anglican style of doing things. He seems, to this quasi anarchist, to be overly comfortable with hierarchy and power. It's not surprising he's so political when his church is so full of rich folks trying to be good.

He writes quite openly of the rudeness of others, notably the 'fundamentalists' both within and without his church. Yet he makes rude comments about them. Perhaps that's the result of years of being insulted for his beliefs. Nevertheless, one wishes for more graciousness from one who supposedly preaches grace. He also has an unsettling certainty he is right that smacks of a liberal fundamentalism in its own right.

Still, Judeo-churchianity - as any human group - has always had flawed leaders from Moses through Paul, Augustine, Luther, Martin Luther King et al.

He has lots of worthwhile insights into leadership, and i liked his ideas of church leadership thinking through issues in public rather than trying to pretend they have all the answers from day one.

One thing I identified with:

In my typical left-brained way I retreated to my library. I must master my inner debates intellectually before I can master them emotionally.

This indicates to me that on Enneagram terms, he's a typical 5. A healthy 5 moves to the leadership of the 8, which also makes sense of Spong's life.

Again, one wonders what differentiates him from the Glen Benton's of this world when one reads his "twelve theses", in an appendix - Spong does insist they be read in the context of the book they come from, which I shall do in due time.

Nevertheless, the first two being (in my words):

1. There is no theistic God
2. Jesus, as expression of said God, never existed.

It's hard, in the light of those two, and the rest of his theses to see how, in any sense, he can be called "christian". He insists he loves the "church", which I can only guess means a kind of social club for people who want to do social justice and be nice to others. Why not ditch the ecclesiology and just join Rotary then?




If I don't get back to the 'puter beforehand, Merry New Year, all.

Merry Crassmas / Canada The Warmonger

I've had a relaxing, lovely Christmas with my family which included exchanging presents (my son, of course getting the lion's share), playing cricket on the lawn, poker in the dining room, and much eating. Yum yum.

As usual, the adult presents were modest in line with our collective decision some years ago to avoid the hype and materialism of Crassmas. My personal favourite pressie was a Concise Oxford Dictionary (second hand) which I actually bought for myself. It feeds my writers' ego/lust. Cool word of the moment: pertinacious

Anyway, I thought after putting Lord of War in my top films for 2006 I would do some research to see if there's any investment in Hollywood studios by arms dealers. No results on that yet, but I did find some other fascinating - or disturbing - information.

Canada is a Warmonger

Now, I have several friends in Canada who i love dearly (hi guys), and I don't like pointing the finger at someone else's country. After all, there's enough wrong with my own to keep me busy ;-) Still, I was very surprised to discover that Canada - a country I perceived as 'nice' and 'peaceful' - is actually a major player in the global war industry.

This, from a much longer 2003 article by Paul Martin

CDIA [Canadian Defence Industries Association] figures show that Canadian 'defence' industry revenues grew 35% between 1998 and 2000, far outpacing growth of the rest of the economy, which grew at approximately 3%. Canada's 'defence' market grew from $3.7 billion in 1998 to $4.08 billion in 2000, up 22.6%. Exports to the USA grew by 17% from just under a billion to $1.25 billion. And our arms exports to the rest of the world grew a staggering 75% in the same period from $798 million to $1.5 billion.

Meet the Canada you never knew, the global arms dealer with a heart of gold.

Most Canadians don't know that much of the Canadian arms trade is guaranteed by the Canadian government through the Canadian Commercial Corporation (www.ccc.ca) and other government agencies. Our ignorance is the result of a total failure by the media to report basic facts about the Canadian arms economy.

The CCC, "Canada's export contracting agency" does more than $1.2 billion in business annually, approximately 70% of it weapons, weapons components and services to the Pentagon and NASA, just in case 'force must be used to resolve conflicts between states.' Making weapons is big business in this country. Canada's defence industry accounts for 650 firms, and 57,000 direct jobs, says the CCC, while the Canadian Defence Industries Association puts the figure at 1,559 firms. CDIA employment numbers roughly match those of the CCC. The Canadian defence industry sells about $5 billion dollars of goods and services per year, half of which are exported. Though weapons account for just over 1% of economic output, it is one of the most heavily subsidized and protected sectors of the Canadian economy. This reflects the political importance of arms, and their role as a bargaining chip in Canada US relations for the Canadian elite. It is also a reflection of the connection between militarism, imperialism and Canada's need to force weaker states to accept heavily subsidized Canadian exports.

It's worth reading the whole piece here http://paulmartintime.ca/mediacoverage/000008.html If you'd like another opinon, try this href="http://www.perc.ca/PEN/1995-10/s-bishop.html from 1995 about Canada's arms exports to Central America. And there's much more out there on the net just a few clicks of a search engine away.

According to this article in Wikipedia, Canada exported a greater value of arms in 2004 than either China or Israel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_trade#Top_Arms_Exporters

Not very Christmassy you might think? Think again. Y'shua of Nazareth, called the Christ, was born to a people oppressed in their own land which had been invaded by a global power some years before. This Middle Eastern province of an expanding empire harboured a lot of terrorist/resistance movements until long after Jesus' death some 33 years later. Shortly after his birth his parents were forced to flee with him after the government decided he was a political threat. He lived as a refugee in a neighbouring country for the first few years of his life. Less than forty years after his death the capital city would be razed to the ground in war and the diaspora begun.

So for all of us who wish for world peace at Christmas, perhaps we can start by calling our own goverments to account for their non-christlike war agendas. As the famous quote says, "Peace on earth to men and women on whom [God's] favour rests". (Luke 2:14 from the nude testament)

Shalom, peace to all, no matter what race, creed or religion.

xhile



listening to theme from The Phantom of the Opera ('cos the family are watching it on telly)

The Best Films of 2006 - Porn, Zombies and War

I was thunking about all the good movies I've seen this year, so, in no particular order, here's my top 13 for 2006:

As It Is In Heaven
A romantic, uplifting, redemptive film from Sweden. I especially related to the theme of being burned out and losing your creativity, as that's what happened to me over two and a half years ago. And the idea of finding your own voice... magical and healing.

Lord of War
Lord of War deserves an oscar. Why it came and went so quickly with barely a mention belongs in the realm of conspiracy theory, in spite of having Nicolas Cage starring. Perhaps one of the big film studios is financed by an arms company. If the world is anything like this film, we live in scary, scary times.

Brick
Man. What an amazingly good film. If you're a fan of 40's film noir, detective thrillers, murder mysteries or California youth culture see this. Great acting, great story, great filming, satisfying ending. The only imperfection I spotted was it's filmed on video instead of 35mm, hence grainy on the big screen. But that's being really picky.

Paradise Now
A movie about two Palestinian Arabs preparing for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. This is not a documentary and the film is sympathetic to their cause without promoting suicide bombing as the only answer. Very thought provoking, highly recommended for all to see no matter what political or religious persuasion you are, in a world where political fundamentalism has made it's mark.

Solaris
Solaris came out a few years ago, but is the best Sci-Fi film I've seen in ages. A psychological thriller investigating the nature of love, the alien and of humanity. A major reason I like this is for the soundtrack. It's beautiful, and the space photography is beautiful, evoking scenes from 2001.

Together
A Swedish comedy-drama about a commune trying to relate and keep it together. Especially relevant as I live in a tiny intentional community, so perhaps I found it funnier than others would. You'll only find this one in Videon, but it's worth hunting out.

American Hardcore
Documentary shown in the Film Festival featuring members of Blag Flag, Cro-Mags, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and many more. What was most poignant was the perspectives of various bands on the end of the 80's US hardcore movement. As one member says, 'punk is dead, hardcore is dead. The bands of today are a shallow copy of something that is no longer around.'

Princess
A violent Norwgian cartoon looking at the effect of the porn industry on one man, his sister and her child. Sobering, tragic and hopeful all at the same time.

Cabin Fever
Ah, yes. My obligatory zombie movie. Well, not exactly a zombie movie, more a moral warning about being nice people. Good gory effects, believeable story, obnoxious characters you WANT to see die, and an environmental subtext.

Akira
I saw it at the Bridgeway years ago when it first came out and watched it again not long ago with Felyne. Perhaps the first, and arguably still the best of the Anime movies. It has a story you can understand, characters you can empathise with, and the animation still stacks up. Plus lots of weirdness and ultraviolence.

An Inconvenient Truth
I was already a convert, but now I'm a follower of the gospel according to Gore. A little too US-American in places, particularly the hype at the end. But that's the audience he's trying to reach - the US, so in context it makes sense.

Thankyou For Smoking
The funniest movie of the year is not a hollywood canned laughter flick featuring Chevy Chase or the Winan brothers. No surprise there. TFS features moral ambiguity as comedy, is well acted and scripted. A wry laugh for hypocrites, and fans of hypocrisy, like myself.




listening to the Solaris soundtrack, in my head

The Dangers of Love

Moved rooms into my new separate bedroom and STUDIO! I LOVE it. Speaking of love, my old flatmates left this on the wall. No idea where it's from. I'm gonna leave it there.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to be sure of keeping your heart intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries. Avoid all entanglements with others. Lock it up safe in the casket or the coffin of your selfishness, but in that cold casket, safe dark, motionless, airless, it will change; it will not be broken, it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The only place out of heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all of the dangers of love, is hell.

listening to Sneaky Alien | The Lesson (Deep mix) on VINYL. I have decks set up to DJ again for the first time in nearly three years :D

Pink Moa Wants You!

Wow! There is a Burning Man-inspired festival on Waitangi weekend next year! Check out
www.kiwiburn.com

I am so there! I'm organising a theme camp:

Pink Moa

We aim to make a lush, comfortable space with everything in pink - preferably fluoro pink. Surrounding this will be our tents/dwellings.

We aim to have music - lots of house, uplifting trance and psy trance music, some industrial/ebm (by DJ Xhile) but other music/bands may be welcome - we have the amazing DJ Dee (Auck), DJ Maslow, DJ Helix (ex Welly) and DJ Qua May (Wellington) booked already.

We aim to give gifts to all who attend, we will dance, and generally be nice people.

We aim to dress up in fake fur, spangles, way-out hair, body paint, piercings, tattoos, and sexy costumes. As much pink as possible, of course.

We aim to welcome all who enter our magical pink space.

If you'd like to join us and camp together, post here, ask questions... or email jon.beza [at] ya hoo [dot] com


thinking about NIN | Closer

I Want To Draw You Like An Animal

So, Felyne alerted me to this


[Click to see it larger; Note the byline in the 'toon title]

This led to a little creative editing of one of my fave NIN songs (which the wonderful Tatsuda Ishiya is obviously referencing):

You let me illustrate you
You let me innovate you
You let me-create you
You let me generate you

Help me
I broke apart my pastels
Help me
I’ve got no ink at all
Help me
The only thing that works for me
Help me get away from myself

I want to draw you like an animal
I want to paint you from the in-side out
I wanna touch you in your ink well
…My whole canvas is flawed

You get me closer to God

(apologies to Trent Reznor)



listening to LTJ Bukem Our World

God Loses Out To Fame

From the Independent

[from research carried out through schools for National Kids' Day which was at the weekend.]



The children put God in tenth place of the best things in the world, the supreme being losing out to families, friends, pop music and watching films. He did, however, come first in the list of the most famous people, beating US President George W. Bush and Madonna into second and third place. Father Christmas is number five, with Jesus at number four.

Children may have relegated God for worldly pleasures but their parents haven't. Eight out of ten Britons believe that celebrating the birth of Christ is an integral part of Christmas, according to another poll.

And 90 per cent of those polled complained that Christmas has been too commercialised.

Nearly two thirds - 62 per cent - said that Christmas made them think about spiritual things, and 77 per cent said that Christmas made them think about what was important to them.

listening toBanco de Gaia | Coming Down the Mountain

Crazy World

You may have heard the Prodigy song Fire and wondered where the sample came from. It's from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's song Fire released in 1968.

"You fought hard and you saved and earned
But all of it's going to burn"

I like the way it brings reality to our chase for material possessions, it's one of the things i miss about the oh-so-brief hippy movment.

I am the god of hell fire, and I bring you
Fire, I'll take you to burn
Fire, I'll take you to learn
I'll see you burn

You fought hard and you saved and earned
But all of it's going to burn
And your mind, your tiny mind
You know you've really been so blind
Now 's your time, burn your mind
You're falling far too far behind
Oh no, oh no, oh no, you're gonna burn

Fire, to destroy all you've done
Fire, to end all you've become
I'll feel you burn

You've been living like a little girl
In the middle of your little world
And your mind, your tiny mind
You know you've really been so blind
Now 's your time, burn your mind
You're falling far too far behind

OOhhh

Fire, I'll take you to burn
Fire, I'll take you to learn
You're gonna burn, you're gonna burn
You're gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn

Fire, I'll take you to burn
Fire, I'll take you to learn
Fire, I'll take you to bed

listening to Faithless | Bombs (Benny Benassi mix)

End

It's the end of the week, the end of busy-ness, and the start of sleep. Yay!

I've just come home from the Deicide concert. It was good. Incomprehensible, but good. They created a wall of sound with deep grunting and screaming; I got thoroughly satiated with loud crunchy music. Bandmeister Glen Benton was mostly amiable, as were the rest of the band, smiling and interacting with the crowd. In fact, Benton looked a lot like Billy Connelly, which made it hard for me to take him seriously. I ended up beside the sound engineer and had a good chat to him between songs.

The highlight of the night was wandering past the ex-mercury theatre afterwards, hearing house music and wandering in. I got chatting to DJ FamilyGuy who was very nice and let me play a couple of tunes. We exchanged numbers and will be in touch again.


listening to The Cure | Lullaby

Sigh. Workmates.

So I work for a large corporate right? I'm employed mainly because of my expertise in things webby and IT-wise. So I heard we are about to host an outside reporter, who is very IT-savvy, to look at our not-quite-ready flagship system pre-launch. I thought it was prudent to ask a certain co-worker "Will you be asking him to leave his cellphone, ipod, USB memory stick and similar at the front desk?".

She kinda smiled at me in an "oh-you-can't-be-serious" sort of way. I felt humiliated for even daring to suggest that a complete stranger, who has published potentially damaging "unauthorised information" about us before, might try to take away information we don't want him to have.

Silly silly me.

I guess the kind of articles I've linked to below are just scaremongering, and IT experts should be ignored when talking about their field.

Sigh.

PC World, June 2006: The 10 Biggest Security Risks You Don't Know About
http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,126083/printable.html

Two security-related articles about portable storage devices
http://www.forensics-intl.com/art22.html

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/08/04/32OPsecadvise_1.html




listening to Laurie Anderson | Oh Superman (and remixes)

Sex and Hell

(click to enlarge)

from the wonderful Sinfest http://www.sinfest.net Can't remember where i first saw Sinfest - possibly in LA at Hazey's?

Testing the Blogger Beta

I've transformed my blog into the Beta. It got rid of a couple of third party add-ons - notably my "email this blog to me" option. But I expect to have normal service resumed soon enough. Initial verdict on the beta after a brief play: Hmmm... interesting, i think this could be good... show me more.

You'll notice some new features, like labels (aka tags).

listening to Jaques Deladde | Another Lonely Day

Saint Paul's Tomb Found

The present St Paul Outside-the-Walls was built in 1823 on the remains of earlier churches. The first was erected by the Emperor Constantine

The tomb of St Paul the Apostle has been found under one of Rome's largest churches and the stone coffin will shortly be raised to the surface to allow pilgrims to see it.

The remains of St Paul, one of the Christian Church's most important leaders and the supposed author of much of the New Testament, have been hidden under an altar at St Paul Outside-the-Walls for almost 200 years.

The present St Paul Outside-the-Walls was built in 1823 on the remains
of earlier churches. The first was erected by the Emperor Constantine

"I have no doubt that this is the tomb of St Paul, as revered by Christians in the fourth century," said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who made the discovery.

Dr Filippi will present the results of his scientific tests on the remains of the saint on Monday at the Vatican. St Paul's sarcophagus was found after five years of extensive excavations at the church, which is second only in size to St Peter's in Rome. Dr Filippi began looking for the tomb at the request of Archbishop Francesco Gioia, within whose jurisdiction the church falls. ...

St Paul Outside-the-Walls has been rebuilt several times since it was erected by the Emperor Constantine, most recently in 1823 following a fire.

The archaeologists had to descend into a series of tunnels and chambers that dated to the fourth century. There they found a marble plaque inscribed with "Paul the Apostle, Martyr". St Paul's remains lay underneath a stone slab ...

The sarcophagus is thought to date from AD390, when the Emperor Theodosius "saved" the remains and moved them to the site, near the Appian Way. St Paul, was born in Tarsus, a city that used to stand in the Mersin province of Turkey, shortly after Jesus.

Originally named Saul, and Jewish, he converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus. He was arrested in Jerusalem for being Christian and subsequently exercised his right as a Roman citizen to a trial in Rome.

According to the Bible, St Paul was imprisoned in Rome.

The traditional legend states that he was beheaded in the city around AD64. The head is not thought to be with the rest of the remains.

Instead, it is supposed to be located inside a silver bust at the St John Lateran church on the Celian hill. St Peter's head is also thought to be there.

from the Daily Telegraph, December 8 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/08/wstpaul08.xml

Wow. It's eerie for me to realise there may be actual physical remains of people who knew Y'shua. I remember feeling somewhat awed when visiting the Basilica San Marco in Venice (where the remains of Mark are). I had no idea Peter and Paul had been beheaded either. I have heard the tradition that Peter asked to be crucified upside down, because he didn't consider himself worthy to die in the same way as his master. The first inverted cross, perhaps.


listening to Metallica | Nothing Else Matters (in my head, 'cos i pulled out my battered old guitar and tried to play it)

Why Satanists Should Burn Churches

Now I am decided. I must go to Deicide to exorcise my demons. All my blogs for the past few days have been about Stantanism. I must resist!

(Stantanism being the worship of a mythical being called 'Stan'. Not to be confused with Santanism, which is a materialistic religion corrupted from churchianity, involving hedonistic orgies of buying stuff in preparation for the return at the winter solstice of an evil and ancient demigod in a red suit.)

Anyway, on to the issue at hand: Satanists SHOULD burn churches. If they won't, christians should.

A few Satanists have already tried it on, mainly in Scandanavia. Although it's likely that most of these burnings were simply bored teenagers trying to keep warm. It's freakin' cold up there.

I think church burning is a good thing. Apart from buildings with architectural/historical beauty which i kinda like, most of these buildings either have little utility or are easily replaceable. Note that burning churches with people still inside them is extremely bad form.

Churchianity has nothing to fear. If their g0d is real, they will survive and flourish. A buildingless faith will purge and improve churchianity. After all, it started as a buildingless faith, hovering around the temple of the 'old' faith and largely meeting in peoples' houses or catacombs full of dead bones (very satanic), until after a few hundred years churchianity became so successful that it took over state temples formerly dedicated to Roman gods. And speaking of which, "mergers and acquisitions" is another approach Satanists could take.

You see, i think this church burning thing is a form of jealousy. Satanists are a group of small, and kinda disenchanted cults infighting with each other. Just like any other religion. They're jealous 'cos they don't get to have cool buildings dedicated to the propagation of their worldview. Apart from the so-called "Hollywood Satanists" who follow Anton La Vey (R.I.UP.). Brian Warner (aka Marilyn Manson) is a Holywood Satanist. I think the H.S sect probably has enough money to have a building, or maybe a bookshop, or a cute little roadside shrine on Sunset Boulevard. But I digress. Again.

Taking over another religion's worship places is a well established g0d-thing to do, dating back thousands of years. Take, for example, the muslims. When violently conquering Byzantium (formerly Constantinople, now Istanbul in Turkey) they took over the Hagia Sofia basilica and turned it into a supermosque. Or the fanatical atheists running the USSR who turned many Russian Orthodox churches into museums or bingo halls. The hostile takeover has a proud and ancient precedent when it comes to competing religious business.

I mean, how cool would it be if in Scandanavia you could find a beautiful old church that's been painted entirely black and had all the crosses inverted? Hell, I'D go there to worship, and that's saying something.




===

[removed] In a massive cultural blunder - or was it? - a Japanese Santanist cult once produced plastic effigies of St Nick (aka 'old Nick') crucified - what more evidence do we need? After investigation, I discovered this is probably an urban myth, although strangely, Santa has been crucified on at least one occasion in the USA. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/crucified_santa


listening to Def Leppard | Animal !? Aargh! Felyne likes DL. Hmph. Changed the station to something playing Pink | It's Just You And Your Hand (All this in an attempt to get death metal out of my head. )

Fromage for Satan

I am going to write a satanic death metal song. It's going to be about cheese.

That's it. Tired.

Over and out.

listening to: Front Line Assembly : Vanished (Illusions of Grandeur Remix)

Anger Management

i don't know what it is... maybe it's seeing that Deicide are playing in Auckers on the 15th, but i was in a mood for INTENSE aggressive music when I arrived at work this AM.

So I listened to Slayer's latest album - Christ Illusion. Deicide may be interesting in their own genre, but Slayer kick their B*tt for sheer aggression any day imo.

It’s weird to be quietly calmly coding and testing web links to this kind of music. Especially as I consider myself a pacifist. Although I suppose personal anger and aggression don’t necessarily have a bearing on intra-country politics. Or do they?

I try to work out any aggression/anger i may feel in appropriate ways. And I’m basically not an angry person, more passive-aggressive.

I am a pacifist who likes energy. “Anger is an energy” sang PiL. I love paradoxes. Maybe i just need to go for a run. I have a badminton game booked for Sunday with EvolutionGuy.

And then after a while, I got tired of all the intensity, and elected a varied diet of Duran Duran, Deep Purple, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Iron Maiden, Eminem, Helmet, Jane’s Addiction and AfroCelt Sound System.

The whole interface between anger, violence and music is an interesting one – I did a study on it for my undergrad sociology degree, using Megadeth’s “Holy Wars” as a case study. Can’t remember much of what I concluded now. I do remember an interview on NZ TV with Dee Snider from Twisted Sister many years ago. He said he thought it was much healthier for a kid to go to a concert and punch their fist in the air, than to go punch somebody out.


was listening to Slayer | Jihad now listening to … Aaargh, my music hard drive has disappeared!

Decide - Deicide?

Wandering back from the train this arvo, I noticed again the sticker on the pole

The week before this Christmas
Christ Will
Die Again

At first glance i thought it was probably some weird christain sect's propaganda. But no - it's the venerable Glen Benton and the new version of his pals, Deicide, coming to our town to do their oh-we're-so-scary satanic death metal show. Given that I narrowly missed going to see them in Atlanta last year, I'm tempted (sic) to go.

Before I do, I want to read up a little more on them. (One can always start with our friend Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deicide_%28band%29)

Bands that do the Satanic thing both fascinate and bore me. They're kinda like teenagers who haven't grown up. And, for the record, I do know quite a bit more about Satanism than the average joe schmo.

They want to be taken so seriously. "We're so baaad, maaaaaan. We don't believe in god so much that all our songs are gonna be about hating his followers." Hmmm. If that isn't a religious obsession, I don't know what is.























Still, could be a fun show. Wonder if I can get myself kicked out?


listening to Deicide | Homage to Satan

Fun Links for Literate Geeks

Today's been a good day for dredging up cool stuff on the net.

While searching for evidence of the rumour i've heard that emitted light (from CRT screens) reduces our ability to concentrate, I found
Reflections on the Computer Screen
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/pmc/pmc-talk/essays/heim.pt1

The Feng Shui of Virtual Environments
http://dc-mrg.english.ucsb.edu/research/Heim.FengShuiVirtualEnviron.html

and - way cool! USB Rocket Launchers (thanks Felyne!) Dear Santa... i WANT one!
http://www.cherryflava.com/cherryflava/2006/12/nasa_staff_part.html























listening to System of a Down | Viscinity of Obscenity

LOL @ KoL

Found this link to Kingdom of Loathing on Radioguy's blog

http://www7.kingdomofloathing.com/static.php?id=whatiskol

The Kingdom of Loathing (or KoL, as it has come to be known by its player base) is a free, comical RPG...
An Adventurer is You!

Choose from one of six intoxicating character classes, including:

	The Seal Clubber Seal Clubbers hail from the frigid Northlands, because one character class always hails from the frigid Northlands. They rely on their Muscle to survive.
	The Accordion Thief The scourge of mariachis and polka bands, the Accordion Thieves have plied their malign craft since time out of mind. Their Moxie serves them well in both their adventures and their interactions with "the ladies."

...

...and there's much more.

I'm not a hardcore gamer, but used to play D&D when i was a spotty teenager and i am so tempted to play this. i'm afraid i might get addicted tho...



listening to AfroCelt Sound System | Sure As Knot

Happy Tuesday

Arrived at work today to find a small bottle of bubbly on my desk. This is to say I've been nominated for another well done award, which will be presented at our Christmas party if I win the overall award. Yay me, and yay for a nice workplace. A nice way to start the day.


listening to Rotor | Reel to Reel

The Spirituality of Dating

Reading the mystics can help us to understand the impermanence we sometimes experience from loving another, the insecurity, and the unfulfilled longing that accompany any relationship. But they also convince us that despite these difficulties, moments of love, however short or long they may last, are worth all the risks we take on their behalf. If we never open ourselves to the possibility of love, we will never experience the transformation possible when it walks in, and sometimes out, of our lives.

From http://www.beliefnet.com/story/160/story_16055.html channeled via GoodMateTim. Thanks!

Dreams

Good weekend in spite of having to spend a lot of it at work. Weird dreams tho' - I dreamed that Mr Foosball - the head of our section - had been fired. And then unrelated to that, i dreamed I had cut my right arm off, just below the shoulder, about the bicep level. And then sewn it back on, but the doctor wanted to remove it permanently. And i was really sad, 'cos i couldn't play guitar and do all kinds of things any more.

And then i seemed be wearing this weird, and very heavy frankenstein's monster suit.

Bizarrre.

Interpretations, anyone?


listening to Quench | Dreams (in my head - AWEsome classic trance track, must dig that out)

Nice people

I have some lovely friends. They are a large part of what makes life as good as it is. A long time ago I decided i would only deal with nice people in business, and even more so in life. This from Theatregirl in Chicago, who i haven't seen for 5 years. I'm a bit uncertain whether to share it, but it really made my day

I really believe you were blessed with an amazing gift of creativity! You are the most creative person I have met - always coming up with ideas whether it be for music, your writing, your thoughts ----- you have so much energy and enthusiasm, which I'm sure is contagious to others around you. :-)

Thanks gurl (blush).



listening to Motorhead | Killed By Death (live)

Single women - man drought in New Zealand

Is it a myth? I thought so, but for anecdotal evidence, check this out

Single women ask 'Where have the good fellas gone?'
Sunday December 3, 2006
By Jane Phare



Reannan Tyson is already lamenting the man drought - and she's only 22.

The MAC make-up artist, who turns heads when she poses for a photo in Auckland's Chancery courtyard, puts it in plain language.

"There are just no guys around. There's a definite drought."

The shortage of decent men to date is one of the most popular topics among the dozen women who work with Tyson. Eighty per cent of them are single, and they have all noticed the shortage of men.

"And they're all gorgeous, they're all smart," she says.

Tyson's ideal date would be in his late 20s or 30s, smack in the middle of the worst age group for the man drought. She admits she is picky. Many New Zealand men lacked style and confidence, she said. They weren't ambitious and didn't set goals.

And what else?

"They need to have good taste in music ... and shoes. They have to have the whole package, and they rarely do."

Forty-year-old Maree, a researcher, remembers being picky in her 20s. Now she looks at women in that age group and wants to advise them, "If you find someone, go for it. Don't muck about. Get in quick".

While Maree is now dating, she spent many years as a single woman hoping for Mr Right. The lack of eligible men was "a huge issue", she said.

"When I was young and in my 20s, I never thought I would end up like this. I always thought that finding the right person was only a couple of years away. Now I look back and wonder how I got to this point without meeting that person."

Maree and her many single girlfriends in their late 30s and early 40s have all noticed the shortage of eligible men.

"A lot of my single girlfriends are really beautiful, intelligent girls, nothing wrong with them. But they just can't find a man. [The men are] all taken or else total geeks."

Maree is currently dating a divorced man, something she had vowed she would not do when she was in her 20s.

"It's a terrible thing to say, but divorced men are a good thing. For us single older women, we'd be history if it wasn't for marriage breakups and divorced men, because there would be none there."

And foremost in many women's minds are their biological clocks. Says Maree: "Losing the chance of having children was a bigger deal for me than finding a man because I have a biological clock. I can still fall in love when I'm 50, but I can't have a child when I'm 50."

I was about to comment unkindly about the quality of single women out there, but will restrain my harsh tongue ;-)

===

Addendum:

Apparently her friends are "really beautiful, intelligent girls". I think the interviewees' (admittedly) picky stance betrays them. They'll be too busy checking the man's shoes to see if they match to notice if he's a nice guy. And don't they know "Blessed are the geek, for they shall inherit the earth"? Bill Gates - "Be nice to nerds. You never know, one day you may be employed by one."



listening to Buzzcocks : Orgasm Addict

Bad Sex Awards

Someting us aspiring writers can aspire to

Writers put brave face on bad sex awards
LONDON (Reuters) - There cannot be much good in bad sex, unless maybe it wins you a prize.

Two authors put on a brave face at being recognised for one of literatures most dubious accolades -- the Bad Sex in Fiction Award -- in a ceremony at In & Out Club in upmarket St. James's Square late on Wednesday.

The prize was presented by American singer Courtney Love.

What organisers call Britain's "most dreaded literary prize" went to first time novelist Iain Hollingshead and "Twentysomething" for the "passage considered to be the most redundant in an otherwise excellent novel"...

Past nominees and winners have included Irvine Welsh, Tom Wolfe and Sebastian Faulks.

more at http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1778852006


giving my brain a rest from loud music, headache coming on from too much sugar and wearing headphones

Paris Hilton Sex Tape Number 3 But...

Sex tapes no match for geeks in viral video stakes
article Wednesday November 29, 2006

Sex may sell, but geeks embarrassing themselves is the order of the day when it comes to viral videos.

American company The Viral Company has compiled a list of the top ten viral videos with some surprising results.

Paris Hilton's sex tape and Kylie Minogue's revealing Agent Provocateur advertisement both made the top five, but it was a Star Wars wannabe and a lip-synching nerd who claimed the top two spots.

With an estimated 900 million views, Canadian high school student Ghyslain Raza, aka Star Wars kid, topped the list with a video of him attempting to master the art of the jedi - using a golfball retriever as a stand in light sabre.

Best known as the 'Numa Numa' dance, 19-year-old Gary Brolsma's enthusiastic lip-synch and dance to Dragostea Din Tea, by Romanian pop band O-Zone, came in at number two with 700 million views.

Paris Hilton's infamous sex tape rounded out the top three videos with 400 million views, closely followed by Kylie Minogue's lingerie-clad romp on a mechanical bull, at 360 million views.

Check out the top ten videos below. No, we haven't linked to Hilton's sex tape but if you're one of the three people out there who hasn't seen it, one word: Google.

Warning: *** indicates viewer discrection advised

Top Ten Viral Videos:

1) Star Wars Kid (900 million)
2) Numa Numa (700 million)
3) One Night In Paris (400 million)
4) Kylie Minogue for Agent Provocateur*** (360 million)
5) The Exploding Whale (350 million)
6) John West ad (300 million)
7) Trojan Games ad***(300 million)
8) Kolla2001 (200 million)
9) AfroNinja (80 million)
10) Shining Redux (50 million)

- NZHERALD STAFF

PS: I'm one of the three people who hasn't seen Paris doing the wild thing. Thank God.

listening to Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds | Stagger Lee

He shaved others but cannot shave himself

I think this blog is in a very sad state of affairs when I am giving updates on the state of my facial hair. Still, that's all over for another year now, I did enjoy being Lemmy and raised approximately $130 for the NZ Prostate Cancer Foundation. Thanks to all who donated. Some people said I should keep the mo, they liked it. But nah.

I did get to go down to the Boardroom Club last night and have my beard shaved off by five gorgeous women, while sipping Jack Daniels. Oh, the trials us hirsute types have to go through. After that I watched episodes 2-4 of Extras series one at my place wiv a friend. Soooo funny.

It's an ecstatically happy Saturday morning. Sun is shining, life is good. I'm at work, working all this weekend (big deadline coming up), but we're gonna have pizza and foosball for lunch. I've got free tickets to MINT tonight at Calibre (nightclub) so am trying to find someone to go with.



listening to Solar Stone vs Scott Bond | 3t

sooooo beautiful. Good trance ROCKS.

The Priorities of a Dictator - Rugby (Racing?) and Beer

This, from the NZ Herald today, says SO much about Fiji (ahahaha)

Fiji coup delayed for rugby match

2.30pm Friday December 1, 2006


SUVA - The Army will not seize power in Fiji this afternoon because of a rugby match with the police.

A midday deadline (1.00pm NZT) imposed by Army Commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, to agree to the military's demands has passed quietly and the Commodore has said he will not extend the deadline.

Cdr Bainimarama has told fijivillage.com that now the deadline has passed he intends to begin a "clean up" campaign of Government and he will now decide what steps to take.

However, he told the website that the clean up would not happen this afternoon as his soldiers were getting ready for the big Army v Police Sukuna Bowl rugby match.

According to fijivillage.com: "He also added that the military will host the Police tonight at the Officers Mess and have a few bowls of grog in what he believes is the only way that will bring the two forces together."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10413232


listening to Deep Purple | Child in Time (live)