Reunited and it feels so good

Celebs and Media, Personal Bits

Sharkboy and I have decided to give it one more go. I am, of course, 25% relieved, 77% happy and 5% bad at math. I need to stop being so giving and more vocal when things start to pile up in the trash thats inside my head. We’re going slow. And we’re going the “open relationship” route, with parameters and paradigm in place. I figure if my brother can do it, so can I. I consider it something new and worth of an attempt and in accepting it, I am excited… like getting a new credit card with $1000 limit on it. I trust Sharkboy and if he can come back to me after the way I treated him during the last blow up, then I know without a doubt that he loves me.

Now to more trivial things: It would seem that George Lucas did something right.

I watched THX 1138 last night and was suitably impressed with the work Mr Lucas did on his film. THX is the perfect example of how going back into a technically flawed, yet interesting piece of work and digitally remastering it can create a superior product. I can feel some of you get your backs up as I type this, but its true. THX is light in story (Mr Lucas admits to not being able to write a script, in the DVD extras – Ha! He admits it! Now apologize for Episode I!!) and borrowsome from prefab ideas (Brave New World, 1984), yet the movie is so tactile and stark that you get the sense that you’re going to leave eyeprints on it if you watch it. Now it’s even moreso with the remastering. And Ive forgotten how creepy Donald Pleasance was.

The additions just work, not like the excessive reworking in Star Wars Episode IV. None of the additions feel like they were mechanically inserted for the sake of visiual masturbation (…if you’ve seen the remastered THX, you’ll get that joke) and mesh seamlessly. They actually advance and enhance the film to a respectable level, but the only people who will see this film will be geeky basement dwelving nerds and Klingon makeup wearing convention goers.

And me, of course.

I havent watched Episode IV yet and want to see if George has fixed that dreadful “Han Solo stepping on Jabba’s tail” scene. That stank in it’s execution in the first run. I could do a better mixing job with iMovie.

Peeing

General, Toronto

Im in a stall in Zipper’s washroom. Its country night dancing and some warbly music is blaring out of the sound system. I hear two guys talking outside my door:
Bitter #1: “Uh! Country music!”
Bitter #2: “You know what happens when you play country music backwards…”
Bitter #1: “No, what?”
Bitter #2: “You get your dog back, your house back and your wife back.”

I was trying really hard not to snicker out loud…

Stink Monkey

General

So I spend the hour last night getting XP SP2 (that’s Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 for you great unwashed) and install it. Hm. A firewall you say? No thank you. I dont go that deep into the web. Virus protection? No, I think Norton’s doing a fine job. Im left with a shield icon in my tray that basically says We’re there for you!. The only good thing is the Pack changed my network icon to a computer monitor with stink rays coming off it that glow when I send stuff out into the world. The bad part is there is a noticeable drop in speed as well as moronic “do you want…?” warning alerts when I visit pages with pop ups or java apps. How the hell do I revert back to SP1?!

I have noticed that I am starting to sound like “Invader Zim” in my head when I write.

DOOOM! DOOM FOR YOU AND ALL YOU STINK MONKEYS IF YOU DOWNLOAD XP SP2!!!! HAHAHAHAH!!

Cathartic

Personal Bits

Breaking up with someone sucks ass.

Okay lets jump past the whole drama singularity: the actual act of snapping your heart and theirs into 1 million unrecognizable pieces and look at post-breakup phenomeno… phenomanom… mystical stuff. What I like to call Emotional Land Mines. Its when you are constantly reminded of that person by small acts of memory triggers, such as a toy or a commercial or reaching across the couch and mistakenly, absent-mindedly taking your roommates hand while you watch TV. Yesterday I was walking through an emotional land mine field so dense that they were going off every minute or so, leaving me to sigh heavily and whispfully turn up my iPod to the saddest music I have (oh dont worry…I’ll post my song list when my emotional state gets worse…and it will). The Emotional Land Mine Fields size and density is proportional to the amount of time spent with your Ex. I suspect that since I was with mine for pretty much every day since Dec of last year, my Fields area will be small but the Mines will be extremely difficult to maneuver without blowing off my heart. The Triggers are like Viet Cong: blended well into the background that when you get close to one they jump out at you and plunge their pain encrusted dagger into your heart with a veracity that can rip tears from your eyes at the exact moment when your boss walks past your cube.

Whats even more pathetic is trying to use these emotional triggers again. I found myself typing an email yesterday and using a phrase that I would send my ex every so often and then writing out an explanation to the recipient as to why that phrase was funny. It sort of sounded like this blog post. Ah well…at least this is cathartic.

later that day…

Celebs and Media, Personal Bits

later that day…

Do you remember the 21st night of september?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away

Ba de ya – say do you remember
Ba de ya – dancing in september
Ba de ya – never was a cloudy day

My thoughts are with you
Holding hands with your heart to see you
Only blue talk and love,
Remember how we knew love was here to stay

Now december found the love that we shared in september.
Only blue talk and love,
Remember the true love we share today

Ba de ya – say do you remember
Ba de ya – dancing in september
Ba de ya – never was a cloudy day

Ba de ya – say do you remember
Ba de ya – dancing in september
Ba de ya – golden dreams were shiny days

Freedom

Celebs and Media, Distractions

Lets tear something apart! Let’s dick with George Michael’s “Freedom 90” lyrics!

I won’t let you down
I will not give you up
Gotta have some faith in the sound
It’s the one good thing that I’ve got
I won’t let you down
So please don’t give me up
Because I would really, really love to stick around

Okay the first chunk here is pretty self explanitory. Georgie is missing the fame that came with running around with Wham. Its a pretty straight forward plea to his fans (?) that he loves them.

Heaven knows I was just a young boy
Didn’t know what I wanted to be
I was every little hungry schoolgirl’s pride and joy
And I guess it was enough for me

George! How self indulgent! You forgot to mention many snickering young gay men.

To win the race? A prettier face!
Brand new clothes and a big fat place
On your rock and roll TV
But today the way I play the game is not the same
No wayThink I’m gonna get myself happy

or …gay?

I won’t let you down
I will not give you up
Gotta have some faith in the sound
It’s the one good thing that I’ve got

Okay he’s got a point. He does have a good voice. But that little glint of boasting just turns me off.

I won’t let you down
So please don’t give me up
Because I would really, really love to stick around

Read: I need money

I think there’s something you should know
I think it’s time I told you so
There’s something deep inside of me
There’s someone else I’ve got to be

“You’re coming out of the closet? Why do they always come out to me?” –Stewie Griffin

Take back your picture in a frame
Take back your singing in the rain
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man

Frankie say…Choose Life!

All we have to do now
Is take these lies and make them true somehow

Who is living a lie here, George?

All we have to see
Is that I don’t belong to you
And you don’t belong to me
Freedom
You’ve gotta give for what you take
Freedom
You’ve gotta give for what you take

At this point we’re pretty much set that George needs to confess something.

Heaven knows we sure had some fun boy
What a kick just a buddy and me
We had every big shot good-time band on the run boy
We were living in a fantasy

And you were the prototype for Back Street Boys, Nsync etc as manufactured pop bands. Cheers!

We won the race

You ran like a girl

Got out of the place

Pfft! Riiiiiight. You got into a bitch slapping session with Sony.

I went back home got a brand new face
For the boys on MTV

You took out your hoop earrings and grew scruffy facial hair. Best thing you did all through the 90s

But today the way I play the game has got to change

How is your whole “Sony” thing going, George?

Oh yeah
Now I’m gonna get myself happy

Or… some hot gay buttsex?

I think there’s something you should know
I think it’s time I stopped the show
There’s something deep inside of me
There’s someone I forgot to be

Subconciously you’re not forgetting. Nice shoes!

Take back your picture in a frame
Don’t think that I’ll be back again
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man

Here George is asking his teenybopper fanbase to “grow up” with him. Or just grow up. Not sure.

All we have to do now
Is take these lies and make them true somehow

This is the pivitol “cry for help” lyric in the whole song. Rumours were swirling for years about his sexuality since Day One. Right up to the arrest.

All we have to see
Is that I don’t belong to you
And you don’t belong to me

I beg to differ. When you’re a celebrity you become public property. You didnt magically wake up one day with the paparazzi outside your door, so quit yer bitchin.

Freedom
You’ve gotta give for what you take
Freedom
You’ve gotta give for what you take

Okay. Sure.

Well it looks like the road to heaven
But it feels like the road to hell
When I knew which side my bread was buttered
I took the knife as well
Posing for another picture
Everybody’s got to sell
But when you shake your ass
They notice fast
And some mistakes were built to last

I am assuming (ha! ass -u- me!) that he’s refering to the butt-shake in the Faith video. He sees that as a mistake? It make him money and got him past the “pretty boy” image of Wham (yes I am being quite sarcastic, thank you.)

That’s what you get
I say that’s what you get
That’s what you get for changing your mind

Again, not sure what this means. Dont know enough of George’s history to get this one.

And after all this time
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes
Do not make the man

Nope. Especially when they’re bunched up around your ankles in a washroom somewhere.

I’ll hold on to my freedom
May not be what you want from me
Just the way it’s got to be
Lose the face now
I’ve got to live

Read: Take me seriously!! (snicker)

Okay dont get me wrong, I like what he’s doing these days. he’s matured nicely and his voice has aged well (though I am not liking some of that weird LA-style facial hair scuplting), but you gotta laugh when someone you like confesses a lie and you go back and review everything they ever said with enlightenment. My friends did when I came out. They dragged me over the coals for dating Kim House, a cheerleader back in high school

I kid. I kid because I love.

Where’s Thomas Dolby?

General

some random thoughts:
• My god would never ask me to kill anyone for any reason.
• Someone needs to tell black teenagers that yelling the word “faggot” inside Wellesley subway station is going to offend someone and that if they want the respect that they sing about in so many rap songs they better learn to dish it out.
• Hey stinky TTC rider: Soap. Know it. Use it. Love it.
• Where the hell is Thomas Dolby these days? Is he Thomas Dolby 5.1?
• I love the following shows: Family Guy (cant wait for the new episodes, or American Dad), Harvey Birdman, The Amazing Race (the only reality tv show in the list), old Futurama (I think they fired some animators last season), Coronation Street.
• Must. Do. Laundry…

Two Tribes

General

we are kept in fear constantly. I would love to rip out the little thing that resides in our ape-grown hind-brain that makes us fearful of the most basic things. I guess without fear we wouldnt have comedy though. I mean look at Frankie Goes to Hollywood. In their big hit “Two Tribes”, who could forget the heavy wang wang guitars and disco beat as a highly concerned British-accented voice instructs us how to survive a nuclear attack as Holly Johnson croons out his hate for Regan. at the time, sure I was scared of nuclear attack. we’ve all had some sort of nightmare where the sky fills with a flash but I didnt once stop to think that I was hopping around to a disco song about survival tactics. in my approaching 40s the thought of even remotely enjoying a song like that now, is enough to make me laugh.

I’m currently re-reading The Fuck Up and one of the lead character states that the current generation has created no sub-culture since punk. The story is set in the mid-80s just as AIDS is starting and computers are contained to uber-nerds. I would venture to say that the only sub-culture this current generation has created is one of the internet. information readily available that may or may not be true. of course, just like punk, the information sub-culture has been sucked up, co-opted and spat back to the youthful masses as fast as you can say “512M of SDRAM“

Camping

General, Hobbies, Personal Bits

camping you say? why no thank you,
I’ve already been. pics of the labour day weekend are up and ready for your amusement. (ed – long since deleted – try the gallery upper right hand side…)

I’m also reinstating DEADROBOT for shits and giggles. a couple flash items take forever to load so be patient, they were my first try with streaming SWF stuff. dont expect any updates soon as that I dont have a 3D modeling program anymore and I dont want to reuse the only remaining renderings I have of Ix over and over again like “The Curse of the Pink Panther”. be patient. if anyone wants to give me a copy full version of 3D Studio Max, I will give them a kidney or testicle in return.

sharkboy and I did a switcheroo with iPods last week. I got him a pink mini and took back the 15G that I got for him originally. Kenny the friend went ballistic when we told him calling me a “native Canadian first nations spirited person-giver” (maybe not all those PC descriptive words, but you get the drift. Sharkboy was extremely happy with the trade so it was win/win.

man o man do I love iPods. not too sure if I can successfully operate the 4th gen click wheel yet though, sharkboy won’t let me play with his…