Happy New Year !

Globally -- I hope we (humanity) continue to make progress fixing our environment. There is so much great tech (as well as simplification processes) out there -- if people will be open-minded enough to try new (or old) things!

Locally -- Please let the U.S. elect an intelligent, articulate leader. We have been embarrassed enough. And the pure evil is irksome, too.

Really Locally -- Thank you to everyone in my life who digs me -- not despite my quirkiness, but because of my quirkiness! You make me greet each day with joy! It is so, so vitally important how people treat one another. It affects one's perceptions and one's world...
*+*+"Why march to your own drummer when you can dance to your own band?" --Me *+*+

Lucid dreaming...

(<- Here I am competing in

The Ultra X-treme Insomniacs

Cage Match Title Series)

Anyone else ever dream lucidly (you're dreaming and you know it's a dream -- and you try to control what happens)? I've been having a ton of lucid dreams lately where during my dream I will either:

(a)Dislike how things are going and tell myself to wake up -- then wake up
(b)Like how things are going and try to bring new people/things/places into it
(c)Think about why I'm dreaming this particular dream during the dream...dream analysis while dreaming...OMG

So it's kinda cool, kinda weird. Okay, really weird. I hate that I keep making myself wake up when I'm not happy or bored in my dream. Maybe I need to finish vakay so I am too tired to lucidly dream. Ummm...nah ;-)

New Year's Resolutions Time...

Here are some goodies from The Onion!!!

New Year's Resolutions

Every year, Americans celebrate the New Year by resolving to change some aspect of their lives. What is your New Year's resolution?

As for my resolutions...hmmm...speak French better, definitely. I have so many bi-lingual friends, my "traveler's French" is starting to make me feel like a completely lazy shiz. Oh yeah...remember to turn on my IM more as well as return my text messages in a more timely matter...those pretty much fall between "I hate typing" and lazy shiz, again.

However, I do love you all, and there are many things of which I am not a lazy shiz...check out the freakish genius of this band I love -- The Dilettantes -- in my updated vid :-D

Liqui-gate...or...tragic Christmas refreshers...

The Christmas Pack -- Jones Soda

Soda Flaves: Sugar Plum -- Hmm, okay, might be plummy and sweet. Egg Nog -- Uh, in a soda? Maybe tastes like a cream soda? Christmas Tree -- Oh, getting weird, as in swallowing-a-yule-log weird. Ham -- Hey, Jones Soda people --Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. Friends don't let friends drink meat.

NoNoNoNooo...

No more spoof comedies! These movies consist of mere references and contain no plot elements whatsoever. Arrrgh -- simplicity at its most banal!

I advise not supporting this tiresome tripe. However, if you choose to subject yourself to this -- afterwards I recommend scrubbing your skin all over with a chlorine-based abrasive cleanser. Then rinse your eyes thoroughly with warm saline solution, and play your favorite music cranked to "11" until you can no longer recall that traumatic experience. In the meantime, stay away from sharp objects and firearms. With a little luck, you will get past this, and one day be able to live a normal life again.

Piper Perabo -- have your people call my people so we can hook up for a fierce match of doppelganger.

I updated my vid with with a holiday message for all in our universe :-D

Tasty Grooves!


Green Day's side project, Foxboro Hot Tubs, has a homepage that lets you download their six-song EP for free! And it's magnifico! Different than Green Day in that its jams are 60's-inspired-psychedelic-pop-rock. Lots of fun!!! See if you find it tasty, too -- Foxboro Hot Tubs Homepage and MP3s

Check out the snap my sister sent me of my 8-month-old nephew wearing some Chuck Taylor kicks that I got for him!

He's a little rock star, man...

Chocolate-covered Tootsie Rolls exist...

File this under (a) redundant (b) frightening (c)offensively unnecessary (d) gahhh

I can't help but to think of the 2nd century Roman poet, Juvenal, who spoke of bread and circuses as symbols of the decadent and unnecessary desires of the masses taking the place of substantial things. I am bringing Tootsie Rolls to this lofty contention because:

* I thought Tootsie Rolls were already supposed to be chocolate-ish. Sort of.

* Food has become yet more vulnerable to marketing whims and fancies. I am now convinced that bacon-wrapped bacon will one day exist.

* Someone thought there would be for a market for this. But why? Even scarier...is there?

This TV writer strike...

OMG it's got to end soon. If I don't get a The Daily Show, The Colbert Report or Real Time with Bill Maher fix soon, I am going to have a grand mal knicker twist, subsequently complicated by random lashings-out.

I barely like TV, but damn, I miss shows that make me think, burning with satire that can be so ironic as to be disconcerting.

The complication of THE MAN needing to figure out what it owes TV writers for Internet download profits surely can't be that complex as to warrant the strike lingering for so long...can it? I mean, I'm not mathy and all...but still.

I fear more things lame and reality-driven, like, say, Are You Smarter Than Cheese? are going to be aired if this strike doesn't resolve soon.

The Beowulf movie is goood...

I freakin' loved Beowulf . Yeah, the story has been manipulated, but I don't know why people are hating on that. Robert Zemeckis made no secret of the screenwriters taking liberties with the original poem. Also, I once had a professor who told my class never to compare movies to the books upon which they are based. It will just frustrate the frick out of you since literature and cinema are two completely different mediums. Therefore, perceive the movie as simply based upon the book, and not necessarily an accurate telling of it.

That said, I could enjoy the movie in all its blasphemous-to-the-actual-story gloriousness. The action and suspense are fantastico and the cinematography blended with CGI keeps the viewer suspended in the freakish fantasy.

I heart the Irish!

So as an homage, I will share a method I learned about how to make your Irish name:

FIRST IRISH NAME = Last name (1st syllable) + "ers"

LAST IRISH NAME = "Mc" + First name + "Pants"

So with all the love for the Irish in the world... I am debuting my Irish self ...

I AM...Branners McJennyPants :-D

Thanksgiving gift from Joel Stein!

LA Times Op-Ed writer and funny liberal dude Joel Stein sent a "Liberals are Wusses" Mad Libs request to uber-conservative Ann Coulter. She emailed back the requested parts of speech, and now Stein has instant Coulter smack for the holidays. As outlandish and bizarre as her opinions usually sound (which Stein refers to as "Coultering" -- AWESOME!) -- at least she has a sense of humor about herself. See it here : Stein's Mad Lib to Coulter Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Not to be hatin' ...

I'm not really sure which one I'd actually be hatin' on by saying this, but...Posh Spice has been looking an awful lot like the "Leave Britney Alone" guy lately. See --

And may I bid you...GOOD DAY, SIR! :-P

I only have time to read before bed, and...

I am reading two most excellent books! May I recommend...

I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert. No one can deadpan satire like Colbert. No one. It's so very campy in its right-wing earnestness -- much like his show, but with no pesky censorship. A wild ride on the pseudo-conservative side...

Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
My first book by Hiaasen. He's like Chris Moore, but with the over-zealous, adventuresome backbone of Tim Sandlin. Simply blend the quirk of the two, shake, strain, add an olive, and enjoy... exquisitely funny and bizarre!

Make humanitarianism viral :-D

Humanitarianism is contagious...and it makes you feel healthy and happy! Have a simply smashing weekend, and see if you can do something snazzy -- no matter how small -- for someone!

Wired Mag's Saddest Cubes Link...

The world's most depressing workplaces...and comments on sidebar are GREAT!

Click Here For Saddest Cubes :-(

The Dandy Warhols
10/30/07Happy Add'l Hour Weekend (a.k.a. Daylight Savings)...

Besides gleefully running amok, what can one do with the extra hour?

The surprisingly awesome, yet decidedly nerdy, answer is to check out this interactive site on Nat'l Geographic. It is a 3-d tour-able brain which shows you how and where thought processes and memories are created and stored. You freaky brainiac, ya know ya wanna see...

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-11/memory/brain-interactive.html

Dandys Rule: OK -- more than the name of a cd...

So I'm walking along thinking, "Hey man, nothing can make me dig The Dandy Warhols more than I already do, right?"

Then I see them tear up The House of Blues-Dallas live. They jammed so hard --bolts of white hot thermonuclear percussion, keyboard, and shreds exploded from the stage...

So, yeah, now I love them more :-)