Halloween Mix Tape!

Mix with equal parts Thriller and Screamin' Jay Hawkins!

Halloween Party!

You have to admit that hair-do is pretty great!

Thanks to everyone who came out to the halloween party! it was a good time with lots of great costumes! You can see the pics here: HALLOWEEN PICTURES! I swear that I would skip pretty much any other holiday if we coudl have Halloween twice!

#1 of fucking everything

we win.

Very Superstitious

AP released a poll about belief in the supernatural today. best line:

Those who dismissed the existence of ghosts include Morris Swadener, 66, a Navy retiree from Kingston, Wash. He says he shot one with his rifle when he was a child.

23% of americans have felt the presence of ghosts. Apparently, single people, Catholics, liberals, and those who never go to church are most likely to see ghosts, so i guess if i've got three out of four (more or less) than it makes sense that i conjured up Klamoswa, the Egyptian ghost in the basement of 809. A single heathen, even at 13.

Also of note: Young men are more likely to 'seek out luck,' but i think they might have confused this phrase with 'getting lucky.'

So, what about you? have you seen a ghost? a UFO? monsters under the bed? are you scared to say 'bloody mary' in the dark bathroom? take the poll! share it with the world in the comments. it's halloween people, get creeped out!

I am the condom friend ever useful to you

Nirodh, meaning "The Protector," is also the brand name for the prophylactics featured in this video. Other fun facts include the way South Indian languages adapt English words by adding "u" to the end, as in "lubricant-u."

As you make your way through the seven-minute clip, notice how it moves from a more educational tone to a more elderly tone of wisdom about the folly of youth, followed by a string of brutal realities. But brace yourself once you clear halfway; buried in the tail end of the clip is a deeply graphic image that, as far as I can tell, is the sole purpose of the video.

Enjoy the goofy sound effects, if nothing else!

My New Friends

As many of you are well aware, I love aquatic life, especially things with funny faces or tentacles. Some science guys discovered a bunch of RARE new species of friends from under the sea. Check it out!


CLICK HERE to see the slide show of ALL of the NEW Sea Creatures!

Scientists discover rare marine species
By OLIVER TEVES, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 16, 7:36 PM ET

MANILA, Philippines - Scientists exploring a deep ocean basin in search of species isolated for millions of years found marine life believed to be previously undiscovered, including a tentacled orange worm and an unusual black jellyfish.

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Project leader Dr. Larry Madin said Tuesday that U.S. and Philippine scientists collected about 100 different specimens in a search in the Celebes Sea south of the Philippines.

Madin, of the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said the sea is at the heart of the "coral triangle" bordered by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia — a region recognized by scientists as having a high degree of biological diversity.

The deepest part of the Celebes Sea is 16,500 feet. The team was able to explore to a depth of about 9,100 feet using a remotely operated camera.

"This is probably the center where many of the species evolved and spread to other parts of the ocean, so it's going back to the source in many ways," Madin told a group of journalists, government officials, students and U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney and her staff.

The project involved the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and National Geographic Magazine in cooperation with the Philippine government, which also provided the exploration ship.

The expedition was made up of more than two dozen scientists and a group from National Geographic, including Emory Kristof, the underwater photographer who was part of the team that found the wreckage of the Titanic in 1985.

The group returned to Manila on Tuesday after spending about two weeks in the Celebes Sea off Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines southernmost provincial archipelago nearly 700 miles south of Manila.

Madin said the specimens they collected included several possibly newly discovered species. One was a sea cucumber that is nearly transparent which could swim by bending its elongated body. Another was a black jellyfish found near the sea floor.

The most striking creature found was a spiny orange-colored worm that had 10 tentacles like a squid, Madin said. "We don't know what it is ... it might be something new," he said.

He said it would take "a few more weeks" of research to determine whether the species are newly discovered. He expects to release a report by early next month.

Madin said the Celebes Sea, being surrounded by islands and shallow reefs, is partially isolated now and may have been more isolated millions of years ago, leading scientists to believe that "there may be groups of organisms that have been contained and kept within" the basin since then.

"That makes it an interesting place to go and look to see what we might find," he said

Musick I'm Excited About

Currently there are actually a few thangs that are gittin me hawt n bothered, musick wise. Tha first is Ween's latest album, "La Cucaracha". It will be released on Tuesday, but you can listen to it here on myspace now! Ween is also on tour, which is awesome, and some tickets may er may nawt exist fer baltimore shows, among othas. Ah've bought tickets fer a Santa Cruz show, b/c that's how excited ah was.

Also, there's trailers being circulated (fer who knows how long, cuz ahm nawt really all THAT up w. this stuff) fer ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA ,live footage from Seattle/Portland shows last December. I saw this in Washington, DC last October and it was tha best musickal performance ahd evah seen. Ah may be biased, but these guys are rawkin tha hell out of some amazing tunes, and I can't help but advocate. They're also on tour, but won't be in Northern California so my loss could be yer gain....will be travelling to Australia as well, which has such a ring to it....

Checking out the Estradasphere Myspace page , ah see that they are releasing a dvd version of their most recent album "Palace Of Mirrors", which is totally fittin, as tha album feels like movie musick. Check out tha trailer, and then tha artsy write-up:



"Palace of Mirrors Live" is a psychedelic-sci-fi-gypsy-metal-jazz epic performed by the six musicians of Estradasphere, a live-cinema projectionist, and an innovative visual team. As the themes of the music associate with the enigmatic video projections, a dynamic film is created in which the members of Estradasphere are both the characters and the soundtrack orchestra. The mind melting Palace feature is counterbalanced by an entire opening set of 60's foreign/domestic film music, cartoon and bebop jazz, anachronistic Classical music interpretations, channeling of a non-existant American truck commercial, classic Estradasphere Gypsy Metal, and 50's Gospel favorites. Among the interpreted composers are Raymond Scott, Nino Rota, Frederic Chopin, Camille Saint-Saëns, Bud Powell, Sam Cooke, and Bernard Herrmann"

Estradasphere is also supposedly going to be opening up and supporting Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls sometime soon. Further investigation tells us some members are collaborating w. Secret Chiefs 3, who have affiliation w. John Zorn's Tzadik record label.... which is generally jewish folk/klezmer musick-on-drugs sounding musick. With a description like

" Spectacular arrangements of Masada compositions by mad alchemist Trey Spruance, mastermind of Secret Chiefs 3 and one of the most brilliant musicians around. Drawing upon an astonishing array of musical styles from Exotica and Surf to Ethiopian Funk and Gypsy Swing, Trey ’s colorful orchestral arrangements perfectly compliment the lyricism and dynamic rhythmic complexity of Zorn ’s evocative Book of Angels. Featuring some of the best musicians from the Bay Area, LA and Seattle scenes, this is one of the most compelling installments in the entire Masada series.",
can you help but be interested?

Apparently Breakdancing Godzilla benefits when I'm putting off packing.

get ready to fight, feminists!

Bush appointed anti-birth control advocate Susan Orr as acting deputy assistant
secretary for population affairs -overseeing the family planning unit of HHS Monday. She has railed against requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives, saying: “It’s not about choice,” said Orr. “It’s not about health care. It’s about making everyone collaborators with the culture of death,” and "fertility is not a disease." (Because health care is apparently all about diseases.)

Orr will oversee HHS’s $283 million reproductive-health program, a $30 million program that encourages abstinence among teenagers, and HHS’s Office of Population Affairs, which funds birth control, pregnancy tests, counseling, and screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

You can sign a Planned Parenthood petition against her, here, but note that she doesn't require a Senate Confirmation (for readers that actually have a senator), so you may just want to stock up... although hopefully she won't be 'acting' in this role very long. ugh.

prepare yourselves...

...for slutty-cat-nurses! look at how stroppy we will be!

wooo!! halloween costumes for everyone! did you vote for that?

seriously though, swan dress and occidental guest-geisha will make appearances at a party near you! if near is new york or a costume ball after thanksgiving in another city!

Please encourage dave to dress as Gary Gilmore from Cremaster Cycle. Also, kidnap him and bring him to the party near me.

Combat rigor mortis with Zombie Sutras

After all those years of shambling uncomfortably with stiff, deteriorating limbs, I've discovered that yoga is good for zombies too. Nothing's better after a rough night's sleep with your leg wrapped around your waist or a long day at the office with my head lopped over to one side than a soothing session of stretches to liberate the soul, the body, and of course the braaaaaaains. 

Of course, I always thought I was alone. But apparently, a film is in production about the growing zombie yoga community:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/taking-the-yoga-corpse-pose-literally/index.html?hp

So nice to find such warm, welcoming zombies. Even if their flesh is still cold.

"Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus"

ROME is the BEST show on television! I'm so hooked on this show. I just finished Season 2 on DVD. This action packed show is SO, SO GOOD! If you have cable, I think they are re-running season two on HBO now while they are preparing thie for the third season. I mean, you will already know the basic story line if you didn't sleep through history class, or ever read any Shakespeare, but, seeeeeriously guys, you should netflix this quick fast!

This show also brings to mind a plethora for excellent Halloween costumes! I love Nurse Ratched, but I wish I would have held out for Cleopatra... dang.

Old but interesting

A few people have been asking to see/hear me play a song so I put this on myspace, even though it's from the summer of 2006.

Although after spending a week in Nashville with bluegrass kids, I'd be lying if I didn't say my (lack of) guitar skill embarrasses me a bit. I guess I could practice...

Finally, a moral excuse for debauchery!

My seminarian friend pointed me here, as I'm sure he's aware that while I'm not a christian, I often wonder what kind of sexual acts really ARE appropriate for good-intentioned christians. Luckily, the authors of this website have done their homework, meaning EVERYBODY benefits! Anal Sex, BDSM, threesomes and much (much!) more have been been served up w. a side of holiness, and there's even bible quotes to back it up! Not for the easily embarassed! My favorite quote is currentely "There is no greater gift that a bride can give than to offer her pure, unsullied maidenhead to her husband on their wedding night." Classic insight indeed!

tiger beatdowns

shout-out to the newest member of the Tiger Beatdowns - the Brawling Barista! or, is it Eden Maya Dust? You decide with the poll at right. I love a poll!! don't you? (poll is non-binding)

PUPPIES

I think we all love puppies.

Ben.c's mother, Susanne, is a dog breeder--the legitimate kind. None of that puppy mill stuff.

Her dog, Jenn, is about 5 years old and reaching the end of her breeding time. She'd been having some reproductive issues, so Susanne had her artificially inseminated at Va Tech. When the vet checked in a few weeks later, there appeared to be TEN puppies baking in her doggy oven. As you can see by the picture there, she was quite a hairy pear.

Because Jenn is a little bit older, and the last of the line of Golden Retrievers that Susanne has been working on for some time, she wanted to ensure that she'd get the best chance of having a female puppy to carry on the line. So when the proper time rolled around, Jenn went away to the vet and had a C-section.

Ten happy, healthy, squirmy wormy puppies were born into the world, Jenn was stitched up, and everyone went home. After mom and babies were home for a while, Jenn started acting a little agitated. Susanne couldn't figure out what was wrong, and after a while, being awake for over 24 hours got to her, so she took a nap for an hour or two.

When she came back downstairs...there were ELEVEN puppies. The vet had apparently missed one and Jenn gave birth to it the old fashioned way, despite having had a C-section earlier in the day. Brave dog (and careless vet)! Luckily, all of the puppies are alive and well.

If you want more puppy pictures, Susanne updates this webpage every so often with pictures of the puppies. Check back for more cuteness.

Mobile Gem Sweater Museum

On this particularly beautiful but hopeless fall day I was feeling really down until I happened upon this:



Learn more about the mobile gem sweater museum and how to rock gold spandex pants at:
http://www.leslieandthelys.com/

Prison Tattoos

This is from Technibob.com
Back in 2001, the artists’ collective Temporary Services started a project with a prison inmate named Angelo in which they asked him to document how inmates adapt to their surroundings while confined.


The project, entitled Prisoners’ Inventions, resulted in this fascinating 119-page book of detailed drawings that explain exactly how prisoners build contrivances from all sorts of found materials.

The book documents everything from how to build an electric cigarette lighter out of paper clips, ice cream spoons and parts from a hot-pot, to an electric tattoo gun made from a bic pen, a walkman cassette player and a battery, to how to use your toilet to chill your soda.

This book, above all things, proves that necessity is truly the mother of invention. Maybe the best way to really get the most creative solution to technical problems would be to lock up engineers during the design phase of their projects.

The book can be ordered from the Giant Robot store for $12.00.

dear moustache

At least, if you've lost your mind, you've still got your moustache.

Mustache moustache mustasche

love,
moustache.

Nash Vegas

Well here I am at 5am (CDT) - didn't manage to make it to bed, which I knew was coming one of these nights.

The most recent hours of the morning were spent standing with a circle of musicians - strings, super fast fingers, faces contorting with out the usual permission or awareness of their owners.

Notes had colors - browns, reds, oranges - occasionally a green or purple would fly in, but few songs were in minor.

When the music paused between songs we just stood there looking at each other - tired, as if woken from a sleep. So enrapt with the being in the present that our minds cease to think ahead enough to put thoughts into sentences.

I need some breakfast.

jen

happy october everybohdy!

in honor of October and joining this fancy group of breakdancing godzillas, I'm unleashing a plethora of lazer kittens to save the world...