April 24, 2002
Let's Get Freaky

while i think it fascinating that an autistic man could ask a girl out on a date armed only with a pen, paper, and a movie schedule, i still haven't been able to locate the non-disordered man's guide to asking a girl out on a date. think this one might do, as long as he would spring for the LARGE popcorn and coke.

and speaking of dates, i'll never cap off a romantic evening watching deep throat again now that linda lovelace is dead.

Posted by ash at 02:59 PM

April 23, 2002
I'm Back

as i was driving in to work this morning the radio played a promo that went something like -

"I used to wonder what it was I hated about all those Classic Rock stations, and then I realised what it was: the music is OLD! Y100 plays the newest rock ALL THE TIME!"

and then they followed it up with "glycerine" by bush - circa 1994

rock on, everybody

Posted by ash at 11:48 AM

April 15, 2002
Bookworm

very good post today on bright cold day about books, which i know is a favorite topic of almost all five of us who read this site. mike is the only non-reader among us, really.

sample:
scientists say you can get high from reading old books
gov't asks bookstore what you've been reading

Posted by ash at 08:08 PM

April 14, 2002
Two Posts About Royalty In One Day

which children's storybook character are you?

this quiz was made by colleen

simon posted this quiz on tinka's site, where he is guest starring while she puts in the hard yards with her dissertation. the little prince is one of my favorite children's books. i think it is an even better book for grownups. i'm glad i am the little prince.

"here is my secret, a very simple secret: it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye" -from the little prince by antoine de saint-exupery

Posted by ash at 05:56 PM

Respec

this is a week late, but for those of you who didn't see it, i can't let it go by. via plasticbag.org - some very odd news about the late Queen Mum:

William said: "She loved a good laugh, even if the joke was about her."

The 19-year-old recalled the day the Queen Mother discovered Ali G - the TV and film character played by Sacha Baron Cohen - and learned how to mimic his trademark finger snap and "Respec" catchphrase.

"It was two or three Christmases ago, and we were sitting down watching Ali G on TV," said William.

"She saw Ali G click his fingers and say 'Respec', and Harry and I showed her what to do."

Prince Harry, 17, continued: "It was at the end of the meal, and she stood up and said: 'Darling, lunch was marvellous - respec,' and clicked her fingers."

Posted by ash at 05:31 PM

April 11, 2002
Warblogs R Us

as i was reading the journal of the highly respected journalist simon, of the simon and alex family of wellington, i happened to notice with some interest the following small but not insignificant bracketed note:

[Update: an interesting article by Andrew Sullivan on this very subject.]

yankiwi more

i looked again. andrew sullivan, yep. well, now. there's no other andrew sullivan, is there? i clicked on the link. nope, he was talking about the political and controversial and kind of conservative andrew sullivan that i was thinking about. interesting. so i commented thusly:

...you're a brave man simon! and reading andrew sullivan, too! what's happening? now the dam's broken, i have been too embarrassed to admit that i read conservative news sources.
Posted by ash at April 11, 2002 05:51 PM

What's there to be embarrassed about, Ash? I mean, Sullivan has a huge readership and all.. *curious*
Posted by T at April 11, 2002 06:39 PM

In my defense, I chanced upon Sullivan's site by accident. All that politics makes my poor little brain swirl - hell, I only read Christopher Hitchens for his use of the invective.
Posted by S at April 12, 2002 12:04 AM

i know, tinka, and i am part of it. i read instapundit and james lileks, too, but i'd never admit it in public. until now, that is. simon's broken the seal - it's all out now. i admit it. i am going to post something about this right now on my blog.
Posted by ash at April 12, 2002 08:33 AM

well, kids, here's the truth: i read this stuff all the time, even though some of it is wicked conservative. i mean, you can kind of give andrew sullivan a pass i guess, he's more libertarian or all over the place, but even a lot of younger conservatives aren't your average raving lunatic these days. these warbloggers are a hell of a lot more interesting than any of the real news - and actually, a hell of a lot smarter, too.

so anyhow, all this to say - although i read these things all the time, and many other things like them, i never include them on my links and rarely talk about items i find there. it all seems so out of character with everything else here. would anyone who likes this site even care about any of that? would anyone who likes that stuff even be reading this site? how are they related? and if they aren't related, how are they both me? doesn't that seem odd? i mean, if this is the story of my life, where's my life? or, which part of it is the part that's really me?

in the april 1 edition of the new york times adam gopnick wrote:

But what really underlay the contradiction between what he thought and what he was, I now think, after a quarter-century's reflection, is a perversity of human nature so deep that it is almost a law—the Law of the Mental Mirror Image. We write what we are not. It is not merely that we fail to live up to our best ideas but that our best ideas, and the tone that goes with them, tend to be the opposite of our natural temperament.

It is not so much that we are drawn to things that frighten us as that we are drawn to things that we can think of as things—as subjects that exist outside the boundaries of all that is just the way we are. It is not merely that we do not live up to our ideals but that we cannot, since our ideals are exactly the part of us that we do not instantly identify as just part of life. An original thought is like a death mask of a man, with the solids made hollow and the nose a cavity, a portrait pulled inside out. We are our ideas for they include everything we are—but turned right around to face us, and looking back at us in surprise.

Posted by ash at 04:18 PM

Good Dog

you know, when moose nipped that hvac guy in the nuts, i thought it was bad, but this puppy takes the cake. er, the beef.

Posted by ash at 10:43 AM

April 09, 2002
Doh!

this is mostly only relevant because you just came from there, fras, but brazil is pissed about how it was portrayed on a recent episode of everyone's favorite show, the simpsons. guess it's not just simon that gets stuffy about that irreverent american humor.

Posted by ash at 11:30 PM

Linkelicious

Click, you bastards!

sorry i have been kind of busy. every day i hear great things on npr that i think i should blog about, but by now they are all old news i guess. maybe you should all just start listening to npr. better yet, become a member of your local listener supported station.

the best thing i neglected from npr was this fresh air interview with michael pollan, a journalist who bought a cow and followed it from barn to belly. great article on the meat industry in the new york times. and yes, he still eats beef.

funny things i have seen today:
the irony plug-in- you idiots who can't understand my email should get this
kiss hank's ass - oh my god! hilarious!
strongbad's email - this is how i go through my inbox every morning

and not funny, just weird:
this guy (who i don't know, but nonetheless deserves the credit, apparently) reveals that he, dave, meg, and others had their passport photos lifted by a lazy ad designer.

Posted by ash at 10:49 PM

April 03, 2002
Give Peace A Chance

have been reading this blog that an israeli man has started, trying to work out what i think about it. for the extremely opposite experience, visit jak. he's canadian, but he could just as easily be holed up in the church of the nativity. somewhere in the middle is ha'aretz, an israeli newspaper. what am i talking about middle - far left. and...the opposite of that.

Posted by ash at 06:32 PM

Osbournes Part III

my guilty pleasure, the osbournes, continues to amuse. tonight, ozzy headed out - family in tow - on tour.

"we're not the fucking partridge family," mused sharon, but they didn't seem far off. ozzy lay under a down comforter with his two papillon dogs licking his face. his daughter rode a go-cart around the arena as the stage was being set up. a regular domestic scene. unfortunately, 15 year old jack had to stay behind, as he is starting his own record label. the pressures of being the osbournes.

the stress of being 52 and on the road began to show. ozzy fell off a chair. bickering broke out over sharon scheduling shows too close together. ozzy said he was too old - refused to show up! but the real hell broke loose when the set designers got down to business. ozzy seemed fine with the midgets and sexy models, and even relatively psyched when the huge cannons were lowered from the ceiling. but when they began to shoot foam rather than fire, he was pissed.

"bubbles!? come on sharon! i'm the prince of fucking darkness!"

he went on to inquire as to when the male models would be out to begin stroking him off onstage. sharon, like any wife of 23 years, just ignored him and clucked her tongue. indeed, the show ended with ozzy performing at all of the regularly scheduled shows, bubbles wafting gently across the stage. and the crowd went wild.

Posted by ash at 12:10 AM

April 02, 2002
Time Machine

today, the anniversary of a post that still makes me laugh.

the relationship between videos and chicken continues to elude me, but the mysterious advertisement never fails to inspire wonder and amusement. i only wish this was available in a large, glossy poster format.

Posted by ash at 12:01 AM