Thursday, June 29, 2006

Good plan, except that I already have Pitchfork tickets! They are somewhere in a box in the bedroom of my apartment which is being used as a gigantic walk-in closet while I sleep on my futon in the kitchen/living room.

Having a bedroom you don't really use except to store stuff you're too lazy to unpack: I dunno, prob'ly like an extra hundred bucks a month or something.

But really, I'm very much looking forward to seeing you.
posted by weiss @ 11:56 PM 0 comments

Okay, so now I'm all torn. I could maybe go see S-K on the first day of Lollapalooza. I wouldn't even have to leave work early, they play at 7:30. Though I could leave a bit early and catch Mr. Beam. And then afterwards there would be Death Cab and Ween. Urgh. I'm all torn up. I mean, the real question is whether this is worth a $75 one-day pass to Lolla. I'm looking for advice here. I mean, maybe I should give that kind of money to the homeless or something. Or maybe one of you is going that Friday so I'd have company?

Ultimately, the situation will probably resolve thusly: keep putting off buying tickets until Friday is sold out, neatly making my decision for me.

posted by weiss @ 8:11 PM 0 comments

Bored with your current web-walking?
I thought I'd give y'all a peek into some of the sites I frequent on the web. They come highly reccomended and are good for those of you with office jobs and bad for those of us desperatley seeking sleep.

daily games:

sudoku
setgame

dailies:

boingboing
makezine
marriedtothesea
copyranter

weeklies:

postsecret
galleryoftheabsurd

new york specialties (but good fun for all):

newyorkhack
overheardinnewyork
animalnewyork
gothamist

posted by meg @ 11:38 PM 0 comments

Crap! I think I have to go cry and make a shrine now.
posted by weiss @ 9:23 PM 0 comments

America inpires popular insurrection
Buried halfway down this Guardian article about the take over of Mogadishu by an Islamic coalition is a fascinating insight into what really inspired people to rise up against the warlords that have dominated the city for the last 14 years:

"The warlords made it very clear that they had taken money from the US and that they were looking for al-Qaida suspects on America's behalf," said Aini Abukar Ga'al, 46, a human rights officer for the Coalition for Grassroots Women's Organisations, in Mogadishu.

"This immediately gave birth to a popular insurrection against them. Ordinary people helped by blocking the roads, and even using their own weapons to fight. It's what we've been dreaming of for so long."

Its nice to see that people find America so inspiring. Maybe the CIA should publicly fund coalitions of repressive, power hungry despots more often.
posted by Unknown @ 5:13 PM 0 comments

need a houseguest?
hey, I'm visiting Goshen on Wednesday through Saturday to work on the South Africa documentary... and well, I need a place to stay. So if anyone has floor space, a couch.. or dare I say, a bed to spare.. that would rock and make my day (week rather). Please let me know ASAP! (erin c s AT goshen)
Thanks! (k, now to hide blog, so boss doesn't know I'm not really working)
posted by Erini CS @ 3:57 PM 0 comments

ok, you guessed it
last night I went out with some 'electric' friends. we downed two pitchers between 3 of us and played some drunken air hockey, where I ended up attacking some random guy with a renegade puck. I got home and was all "I love this business" which led to drunken editing, drunken editing can only lead to drunken blogging. And there you have it, my previous post:
posted by meg @ 6:48 AM 0 comments

little video
what I see on a film set everyday is a ittle bit out of the ordinary compared to what most people see. One dat I'm 130 feet high in a condor, the next day I'm 30 feet beow in a cave. One of my favorite things about my job is that I get to see al kinds of crazy things. I made a little snippet of the day-do-day life of a film electrician. I've put it to the song "afternoon delight" accompanied by will ferrel... because that's the only version I could get to load propery into iMovie. enjoy!


posted by meg @ 1:02 AM 0 comments

snapshots
Hey all,

It's been a while since I rapped at ya. Here's why:

My mother got married last weekend. Wonderful!

Such a beautiful service. So many good friends, and such quality families. It was a long time coming... and she couldn't have found a more upstanding and respectful fellow.

Clearly, I cried like a baby the whole way through.

Oh, and for the GCers out there: Don Blosser gave the meditation. It was a masterpeice of tact, love and plain-spoken truth. My grandfather performed the ceremony. Misha & I played some music at the reception.

She also sold her house!

And I have been helping empty it. It is full of objects, dust and memories (many of them neglected). It has been good work.

And then Misha got graduated!

After four years, he finally busted out of college and is ready to take on University. We'll see which ones want him the most. He (and his girlfriend) will celebrate by travelling through the south of France.

Oh, and the dude was Valedictorian! He gave a really funny, inclusive and inspiring speech that left them wanting more. I guess it runs in the family.

As for me, I finished my job at the mental health institution last week. It ended with a presentation on the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for the treatment of auditory hallucinations (mostly voices) in schizophrenic populations, which went pretty sweetly.

The house has also been getting ready to send off housemate D-M, who left yesterday to take over some of Tim's duties in London. She started a blog (who hasn't) to chronicle her adventures.

And of course, I've been watching the World Cup. Sometimes from the local coffeeshop, sometimes on the Internet and sometimes just by listening to the yells of my Portuguese neighbours. Golo!

Speaking of goals, my plan now is to spend the summer in DC working as a nurse extern. Experience, some money and hopefully good times! Maybe working at GWU Hospital? Maybe living with Lutherans? Maybe getting there by July 1st? We'll see!

Rocky, Tiburón? Baltimore is only an hour away...

Update: Portugal just beat the Netherlands and the horns are honking. It's going to be a party tonight!
posted by sasha @ 5:27 PM 1 comments

posted by weiss @ 10:14 AM 0 comments

Q: I've recently come across a lot of fresh spinach. Is there anything you could suggest that I do with it?

A: Yes! Recently I've been throwing spinach into my blender along with some butter and pureeing them both together, then pouring the puree into ice cube trays. Once the cubes freeze, I pop them in a freezer bag for storage. Now whenever I want a quick, tasty dinner fortified with lots of cholesterol, I can just toss a few cubes into a pan with whatever else I have on hand. Voila! Instant dinner!
posted by weiss @ 12:09 AM 0 comments

I've figured it out!
I used to think that it was good to get on a feature and work for a month with steady pay... but this last month I mosty worked day playing on tier 1 features, which was fun but exhausting. I didn't realize how truely awesome it was to day play (as opposed to working fu time) until I got a string of wrap parties all in a row! I didn't realize that you get invited to a wrap party, even if you work just one day! so I've been working during the day and then drinking for free at night for the past week and it's totally awesome... except that I learned the first day not to overdo it because then you end up tired and slightly hungver the next day, which kind of blows. but other than that, 2-3 drinks, good food, and some schmoozing = hella good time. Plus I get paid during the day! totally awesome. other good news. Kate gave me her od fied gear and I've been tooling around manhattan and brooklyn on it ever since! I've biked nearly 500 blocks in the past couple of days and I'm getting to know manhattan on a whole new level. on sundays, I can make it to the upper east side in about 20 minutes! that's better than a train, and sometimes better than a car! woot woot!
posted by meg @ 12:07 AM 0 comments

I take bar classes at Chicago-Kent, and usually spend my breaks dodging out of a wave of smoke and taking a brisk walk to the canal and back. As I was waiting for the light to change to cross the street a tall tanned blond guy walking backwards. Looked kind of like TimN. He was about to back into a pole, so I thought I'd watch him and see if he backed into the pole and have a little chuckle.

Interestingly enough, he didn't back into the pole. Rather, he turned around and was in fact TimN, having spotted me from afar and having been walking backwards to befuddle me. Well my my, I must say that was a good bit of whimsy! So we had a charming little chat for the rest of my break and then he ran off to catch the Mega Bus to St. Louis for a wedding.

This definintely became the highlight of my day, preempting the earlier highlight though that one did say something about the kinds of neighborhoods I've been living in. I went to Potbelly for lunch and they handed me my smoked ham sandwhich in a small brown bag. This totally cleared up for me what previously had been a major point of confusion: Why do so many professionally-dressed people in downtown Chicago make trips to the liquor store in the middle of the day?
posted by weiss @ 7:03 PM 0 comments

Simon wants us to fail
Derstine & the Boys.
posted by sasha @ 2:27 PM 0 comments

So much for Scotland Yard
This morning I lost any remaining respect I had for London cops for not carrying guns all the time and for being calmer at demos than Americans:

He looked at me and shot. As soon as he had eye contact, he shot me

From the article:

"As I took the first step down the stairs I turned around to look. I saw an orange spark and heard a big bang. I flew onto the wall and slipped down." He saw blood. "I could see the hole in my chest. At that moment I knew I was shot."

He said two officers came towards him. "There was an object flying right in my face. I didn't know what it was but I know now that it was the gun that they tried to hit me over the face with.

"I was begging the police 'please, please, I can't breathe'. He just kicked me in my face and kept on saying 'shut the fuck up'. One of the officers slapped me over the face. I thought they were either going to start shooting me again or were going to shoot my brother. I still didn't know that it was the police because they hadn't said a word about police."

That's right, they shot the guy in the shoulder, then tried to hit him in the face with a gun, told him to shut the fuck up and kicked him in the face while he was slumped on the floor bleeding.

Oh, and then when he turned out to be innocent. Whoops.
posted by Unknown @ 3:44 AM 0 comments

Okay, so I got internet set up at my house. Can't make the wireless router work. The RCN guy blames it on the router itself, which might in fact be the reason but also lets him go home for dinner. Can't blame him for wanting that. Maybe I'll try to bribe mennonot into getting it to work for me once he moves to town. Though if it really is broken, I should get on Netgear about the warranty.

Also, nice to know that I'm missed.

UPDATE:After five hours am I happier with the internet than without it but with $22 a month? Answer: Why do I sound more like John D. ever day?
posted by weiss @ 10:20 PM 0 comments

Colbert strikes again!
Stephen Colbert Commencement Address
Knox College, June 3, 2006.
posted by sasha @ 9:27 PM 0 comments

so that's how they'll take over the world... I found the link on channel frederator... a neat little cartoon site.
posted by meg @ 7:12 PM 0 comments

and now for some rum and carnival...


My Peace Corps saga is nearing an end, as yesterday I received an invitation to serve in the Eastern Caribbean. The PC works in six different countries, but due to their size they arrange the orientation a little differently. I will be on St. Lucia for the first three weeks, before being given a permanent assigment, which might be in St. Lucia, but could also be in Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, or St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I'm still doing Community Development, though it looks like the scope will be slightly different than in Timor, with everyone doing some HIV/AIDS awareness programming (apparently the Caribbean has the second-highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world, save only sub-saharan Africa), but also finding other projects.

It's feel a little funny after reading through some of the materials, because in East Timor I was planning to cook over a fire for every meal, live without electricity or indoor plumbing, but in the Caribbean, nearly everywhere has internet access and atm's, and I can bring a laptop if I want. Life is weird. I'm excited to go; I leave at the end of July now, instead of the beginning.
posted by Landon @ 12:17 PM 0 comments

Funny story:
Ok, so I'm sure most of you know my slight obsession with the film moulin rouge. It was an acquired obsession, brought on by numerous viewings. (at least more than 50... some speculate the count is nearing 100). Needless to say, I know the film forwards and backwards. So you'd think it was kind of odd that when the producer, John, strolled up and introduced himself, mentioned that he was also acting in the film, I was like, cool, and then continued to ham it up with him for a bit.. you'd think there would be something that clicked in my brain to say.. oh, you've seen this guy dozens of times. But no. Not even after a few minutes, not even after an hour, not ti I got home and ooked at the cal sheet. Not that I really care at all, I just wanted give fair warning to everyone that even if I've seen you a thousand times before, there's no guaranteeing I'll have any idea who you are. So don't be offended when I'm like, "Hey, nice to meet you." And you're like, "dude, we went to college together for 4 years!"

This wasn't the first time, I also did the same thing to Ajay a few days ago.

I'm going Face-Blind!!!!!!!!!!
posted by meg @ 1:10 PM 0 comments

Weiss Contact?
So, does anyone have any contact info for Weiss in Chicago? Philip and I are having a small apartment-warming and thought it would be fun to invite him. If you are reading, it is this Friday June 9th @ 9pm. email me at david@rossbay.net for details and addy.

DLT
posted by dlt @ 10:21 PM 0 comments

A Force more powerful: the Game
From the makers of the PBS documentary on succesful campaigns for regime change comes the first computer game to seriously explore the complexity and nuances of building a campaign of nonviolent direct action. Do everything from allocating resources for grassroots organising to directing the protestors to use a given tactic against a target.

The game site in itself is quite interesting. Make sure to check out the designer diaries which look at how the designers developed various elements of game play to most accurately reflect real life situations of nonviolent conflict.
posted by Unknown @ 7:22 PM 0 comments

Mac-ing Help!
k folks... opinions wanted here.
during the next school year I plan on ditching my sony viao for a mac.
I don't know which is the better option for me.. I do net stuff, photos and sometimes video stuff... and a damned a lot of writing. (plus, I like garageband, so that will be used a lot)... oh, and I dable in games.
but yeah... my choices are: MacBook 2.0 GHz White, MacBook 2.0GHz Black or th 17-inch iMac.
I use my current laptop like a desktop (but it also doesn't have wireless).. and I've got a 200GB external for extra storage...
Any thoughts or suggestions??
I'm hoping to whipe out my student account for this...
thanks.. (and now back to my job)
(thoughts can be sent to my gc account... erin christine s., no 2nd i on the first name)
posted by Erini CS @ 1:10 PM 0 comments

my personal savior: Shoup Radio
Oh Shoup Radio, I just want thank you for all that you've done for me. You're always there for me, Radio. Even when library work gets tedious and I think I can't carry on, you are there to get me through. Radio, you truly are the way, truth, the life.
Amen.
posted by julia @ 1:08 PM 0 comments

Myanmar party!
So Myanmar. Still repressive. Here's some news, a nifty extension to the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act and some political musings by none other than our own Htun Htun Soe, of GC 2001 fame.

Also, Dave Chapelle's Block Party. Awesome! Here's a download link: Block Party!
posted by sasha @ 5:27 PM 0 comments

So I'm sure all of you have checked out my recent pictures on flickr from this crazy shoot I was on in Wisconsin and I'm sure you're peeing your pants just to see a clip from this shoot. Well, good news, part of the film was shot with this crazy hi-8 camera with this crazy iris thing and instead of recording onto hi-8, they ran an S-video cable directly into Final Cut, which means INSTANT DALIES!! which means that I can share this clip with y'all even though we just wrapped a few days ago. So with out further ado, I give you:

BODY BUILDERS FIGHTING FAT LADIES

Director: Matt Kliegman ~|~ Director of Photography: Andrew Wonder ~|~ Steadi-Cam Operator: David Ellis
posted by meg @ 11:50 PM 0 comments

Lee Iacocca
"The drug powers are not consumerism gone awry but carried to its deadly conclusion. They are its shadow, mirror, and mime. We have only to recall the multinational corporate character of the powers - one that is born out at street level as well. Gangs in my own city, as elsewhere, mimic well-organized business formations. A [1992] of corporate gangs in Detroit found that members had never heard of Thurgood Marshall, but every last one of them knew of Lee Iacocca."

- Bill Wylie-Kellermann, "Shadow, Mirror, and Mime," Sojourners, June 1992

posted by celestial @ 4:28 PM 0 comments

Goodbye Apt. 11 Party!
So everyone in the vicinity of DC should be at 1620 C St's moving-away party this Thursday June 8th. We're trying to piss off as many neighorbors as possible the day before we clear out of the apartment, so it's guaranteed to be a fun time. The plans aren't entirely formalized as of yet, but you can be sure that there will be a lot of substances that can be consumed for amusement, lot of good music (DJing either by Teresa's friend Sam or by Kate's friend iPod), and some food. Also good possibilties include champagne for toasting (and for getting huggy-drunk), a painting wall, a bi-level party, and the presences of Meg and Tasara. Oh man, I'm salivating just thinking about it. If you want, bring some beer, bring some friends.

Call one of us for more details. Evites to come.
posted by julia @ 10:38 AM 0 comments