you can't disrespect the dark knight

i hope dc comics cleans this motherfucker out for this

resolution

i am going to be the worst teacher ever.

grokking laughter

here we go... p311

I've found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts... because it's the only thing that'll make it stop hurting.

I looked at a cageful of monkeys and suddenly I saw all the mean and cruel and utterly unexplainable things I've seen and heard and read about in the time I've been with my own people -- and suddenly it hurt so much I found myself laughing.

those are just the 2 parts i felt like typing here. from strange in a strange land, by the way, so no sueing me. the whole passage is worth reading.

i feel like this gives too much significance to gabi's posts (i'm not trying to offend here, truly). i don't think she's quite a microcosm of the human race, with war and death and starvation and so on, but she does suffer, unless i'm misinterpreting her posts. at least this makes me laughing at her blog less bad. right?

laugh it off, people, and it will be ok.

music

it really bothers me when i recognize a song in one movie from another one. i feel like the latecomer is trying to mooch or leech off of feelings inspired from the first movie, by association of music, and that's not right. i recognized that iggy pop song, the passenger in a trailor before the 40-year-old virgin, and i'm pretty sure it was in the trailer for in good company as well.

sidenote: i saw the trailer for serenity.

there are other cases that specifically bother me, but i can't remember them.

one association that i can't quite place is the opening theme to edward scissorhands. i'm not so mad because i think i recognize it from another tim burton movie, and directors can probably steal from themselves. but does anyone know what i'm talking about? is there some online database of movie soundtracks or themes and overlaps?

i was skimming through channels and there was a buffy the vampire slayer rerun, the one wherein dawn falls in love with the high school quarterback. and they're playing the shins during this one scene. i remember being a little miffed at garden state because, while i really liked the movie, i wasn't sure if maybe i just liked the soundtrack. but that's not fair, because it is a skill to pick the songs in the soundtrack. maybe. also, i remember being perturbed when the shins were playing at some venue when the gilmore girls went on spring break. way to become mainstream, playing live on the WB...

apropos of movies and soundtracks, go see the 40 year old virgin. it is amazing. is it a sleeper? what is a sleeper hit? i think it is one. and without any soundtrack at all, it would still be amazing, i'm just saying some of those songs are the icing on the fucking cake.

shit on

can anyone give me a job? i don't want mine anymore.

what does that mean, exactly?

i was reading gabi's blog, and i just started laughing uncontrollably. i'm still laughing now. it's this dry guffaw that comes straight from the diaphragm, and i can't stop. just thinking to myself what the fuck am i laughing for makes me laugh harder. wow. something is wrong, here. ow.

ash?

pom poko is out on dvd in the US.

bone - all the comics in one volume is out. i remember austin telling me about this. he was contemplating buying the limited edition hardcover for his collection, and the softcover for actual use. makes sense.

go here. watch the video til about halfway through. raj, this asian girl is a dead ringer for yuna, and she does the napoleon dynamite dance. in a ridiculously short skirt. it's not even a skirt it's so short. it's a shirt? no, that's taken. how about a skort? just watch it. over and over and over.

i just watched that part 3 more times, and the person with the mic says, "Hey, we're here with Lisa. She was Ash in the masquerade ball." who the hell is ash, and if the video game character is hotter than lisa, damn. goddamn.

anyone looking for a good read should find the riftwar saga by raymond e. feist. steiner turned me onto it. i just finished book 3, and the stupid holyoke barnes and noble didn't have book 4. i'll have to go to the enfield one tomorrow.

the simpsons: season 4

such great presentation.

such great episodes.

homer to bart - you couldn't fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine.

L - there's only one reasonable way to settle this: rock, paper, scissors.
L (thinking) - spoor, predictable bart. always takes rock.
B (thinking)- good old rock. nothin' beats that.

they pump twice and shoot.

B - rock.
L - paper.
B - doh!

stoops and tao know how this works. a true contest of champions will stalemate; rock pitted against rock for all eternity.

"well, i don't want to!"

jade and ivy are in my brother's room. he stepped out for a bit and he is logged into world of warcraft. he comes back and asks them to get out of his seat. they want to stay with him. they step on something, and it explodes? i think (his words)? he gets mad and orders them out of his room.

his room is disgusting. there is not a bare inch of floor. all around his desk and chair are coke cans and bottles strewn about. some in explosive condition. as in they still have disgusting days-old soda gunk in them. on the floor. in piles mixed with papers and clothes. what a sty. it's been like this for years.

"you really should clean up your room so your kids can hang out with you."
his answer...
given with all the authority of a 12-year old.

austin sucks

natalie, are you back from wherever? i assumed you and austin had gone on some sort of road trip dork conferences sort of deal. the resumption of commenting leads me to assume that you are returned from your endeavours.

how the heck do i get in touch with austin? he's become one of those guys that is, you know, kind of hard to get in touch with.

oh, if you're looking for a read, try the Amber series by Roger Zelazny. what a sweet name. zelazny, that is. not amber. amber's just ok.

sky high

disney needs to stop discovering these disturbingly hot girls under the age of 18. or girls under the age of 18 need to stop looking hot. it's messed up.

i liked it a lot. pretty trite and predictable over all, although a pretty decent twist near the end. kelly preston - no complaints. kurt russell - as super as ever. some unexpected but not unpleasant surprises were farva as the bus driver, bruce campbell as the gym teacher, the lead guy from newsradio as the "hero support" teacher, and that other kids in the hall guy whose name i don't know as the mad science teacher. it was interesting how the movie drew the not so subtle analogy between the popular kids and losers in everyday high school and the heros and sidekicks in sky high.

layla - way too hot. how old is she? i'm not going to check because i don't want to know. what a pretty name, too. i could see naming a daughter Layla. although i'd probably drown my daughter as soon as she was born, or lock her up in a floating castle guarded by manticores dragons sphinxes and chimeras. oh and griffins too. what other amalgamation creatures can i utilize to protect my daughter's -who will never please god exist - virtue? we'll say gorgons lamias centaurs and hippogryphs. and i'd be horrified of the imagined nicknames when if she sleeps with some jerk in high school who starts calling her easy lay-la or some such. however, that would justify my purchase of a shotgun and a hunting license and a grenade launcher when i blew up the fucker's house.

in short, i will never have kids. unless i can be sure they're boys with no virtue to speak of or protect.

new york and wildwood

i didn't post about new york at all. i'm lost as to what to post about here. ever since finding thesuperficial, i realized that the world has enough causticity even without my personal contribution. spit in the ocean, as they say, although i prefer pee in the ocean, in light of my past weekend at wildwood. and i hate those mundane day-to-day ramblings. those who write such always apologize for not having anything better; they _know_ that it's wrong. i liked expressing my feelings about movies i'd seen recently, but i've run out of steam. i wouldn't call them reviews either, and lately i haven't seen anything bad enough to warrant a rant, which is probably the only thing that would get me fired up enough to go at it again.

i haven't written about my week in new york from july 15-22. it was amazing. seeing my friends again... it's the only thing that has felt real since i moved back home in february. the rest of the time, i feel like i'm in a dream and i can't wake up. kind of like spike, in a not corny way, i hope. all of this... teaching, earning a masters in education, staying at home - it doesn't feel solid. there is so much i could post about that week that i was actually too busy at the time to do.

highlights -
going with rubes and judy to meet my mom at joe's shanghai ginger restaurant. i'm sorry i missed the mets game afterwards.
going to grimaldi's with rubes and judy and walking back into manhattan over the brooklyn bridge.
talking with krischelle
going to toast with zoe (she so nonchalantly suggested it)
going to dbq right before i left for home
the only thing i missed was a chance to see mary. my fault.

i finally watched all the way through cowboy bebop that week. not too happy about the ending, but i can't actually dislike it.

then wildwood. so much fun. right now i'm molting (do snakes do that? i'm not talking about the bird molting, i mean the snake kind). i was explaining to steiner how it's like having one's very own physiological bubble wrap, except more fun (i know, more fun than bubble wrap!) AND disgusting. giant strips come off every so often. they retain wrinkles and little holes (for hairs i think?) and everything.

the whole trip was a blast, minus carrying that fucking cooler! what the fuck, tao. that thing sucks. yun seems like a cool guy. he handled getting his nose broken pretty well. playing was fun, as was scoring. i even threw for one goal, never mind that it was a godawful throw and i was lucky that the person guarding kelsey whiffed it and kelsey somehow caught it blindly. 4 inches of water on the field = best tournament ever.

i finally finished that 2 foot tuna salad on tuesday. i purchased it sunday morning. that sandwich was a fucking beast.

oh, other minor gripes. the cops harassing me for being ageless. the fucking waitress at fucking tony's not serving me fucking beer, pitcher or pint. they don't want people to have fun in that town. or kill innocent pedestrians while driving drunk. either way - fucking fascists!

so i guess i did post about both trips. right now. here. eh... it was pretty much the only time of substance to my entire summer. maybe even year. not that i don't have fun with zhu back at home. but still, it's tough to spend 4 years with the same people and then - not.