Friday, October 29, 2004

A Golden Apple Tarnished...

by the death of its creator, Bill Liebowitz. I just found out about his death and informed Writerboy.

Both of us are really saddened by this news. I first met Bill when I worked for the distribution side of Pacific Comics. His store, Golden Apple was THE comic store people in the biz recommended to their non-comics friends. Bill was one of the first retailers to recognize the appeal of cross-marketing. And with that insight, he made his store into a recognizable icon. I remember watching Melrose Place, just to see if they would show a shot of Golden Apple.

One of the last times I saw Bill was at a San Diego Comicon. Writerboy and I were outside the convention hall smoking, when he busted out laughing. I looked down the street in time to see a huffing yet elated guy successfully weaving a Trishaw (or bicycle peddlers) into a parking space. Sitting behind the sweaty man, were Bill and Sharon Liebowitz. As they clambered out of the Trishaw, Writerboy and I walked up to them laughing and asked how was the ride. Bill, knowing we meant "how the hell did you two talk this poor guy on this harrowing trip" (Let's just say both Bill and Sharon were not umm averaged sized) just laughed at us declaring "He insisted!" before disappearing into the convention hall.

Bill, Rest in Peace and know that YOUR efforts have helped bring comic books to be where it is today - a constant source of creative ideas for others. And by the way? Thank you for carrying Nobody. It was through Golden Apple that we got our first option on it. You are missed.

Filed under Facets & Galleries of Art.

Poor, no insurance, out of work, but don't let those gays near me

<Very very very disturbing.

I read today that black support for Bush has increased to 18%. How???? I screamed at my screen. How could it be that one of the largest group to be dissed by the president as in Hey, you get $200 back for your tax returns, isn't that great? Oh, btw sorry that you lost your job, your kids have no afterschool programs so it's that much harder for you to get a job, and no insurance so that interview you set up two weeks ago you can't go to cause Johnny still has his flu from two weeks ago. But hey! Don't worry, I'm going to make sure that no-good homo down the street can't marry his latino boyfriend.

Seems that black preachers are going on and on about this and it seems that blacks are buying into this.

WOW, just wow. You know, this is empowering me a tad? I never knew I could evoke such fears in the hearts of men and women. I wonder if I flashed a wedding ring around around Oakland, I can get people to give me their cars, their houses. After all, it's the EQUIVALENT OF VOTING FOR BUSH!!!!

Let me get this right. You are so afraid that I might marry my lover, that you are willing to TAKE IT UP THE ASS from the president? I'm sorry, but that's rather ironic isn't it. Think about it.

Filed under Politics & B.S.; Reveries & Paranoias and Scary Gay Stuff

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Anger Management

I see red when I get angry. I start holding in my breath; from my chest up, I feel a build-up of energy that drives my being into vibrating at a high intense frequency. Sometimes, when facing reason, I feel like an exhaust pipe gets shoved into me, and the energy is released safely.

However, more often than not, when faced with reason, my own reason takes over my emotions and what happens is I guess what shrinks call suppression. My brain takes over; the crisis is abated. But that energy is still within me, looking for a way out.

A lot of times, that energy doesn't dissapate like it's supposed to, instead, it germinates within my being, just waiting for that next opportunity to raise its head. And it feels awful. And I don't know how to stop.

Why am I talking about this? Cause lately, I find that my temper is getting shorter and I'm exploding more, and often with little cause. See, I lost my temper today with my girl. Apparently, it's due to a computer glitch. She accidentally shut her computer off at what was a not-so-satisfying end to our tiff. (She claims it wasn't an argument so I'm calling it a tiff here.) Since it wasn't satisfying, I hadn't felt that the conversation ended so feeling cut off, I lost it. I seriously lost it.

Right now, I'm feeling a tad foolish for having lost it. I'm feeling peevish cause I did lose it. AND I'm feeling angry that my previous anger wasn't fully justified so all this rage is still simmering inside me with no outlet. I'm hoping writing about it will abate it some.

This is why I won't allow real guns near me. I have a trigger temper and when I do lose it, all reason gets drowned out by the rush of emotion in my ears. I've looked back upon countless times where had a gun been nearby, I'm pretty sure the thought WILL cross my mind to use it. And I'm pretty sure I have NO clue as to whether I would actually use it. How scary is that?

I'm a pacifist at heart. I believe that with reason and compromise, all people can reach a modicum of happiness. (yes, those of you who've seen me happily snipe someone's head off in GTA games will attest to another side of me, but unlike our current president, I KNOW the difference between fantasy and reality) I know if I ever ever caused anyone's death, the guilt itself will literally drive me crazy. Yet, I DON'T know whether I have the self-control not to pull a trigger if a gun was handy right around the time I lost my temper. This is why I believe in gun control.

But I digress. I'm really worried about my temper. There's really little reason for me to be losing it so often and so violently. The only thing I can come up with is I'm trying to quit smoking. While I haven't quit yet, the reduced nicotine intake in me might be fucking around with my system enough. I really don't like losing my temper so much. I see myself becoming my mother... and I don't wish that upon anyone. Anyway, maybe now, I can go home and embrace my girl fully, sincerely, and with absolutely no resentment whatsoever.

Filed under Reveries & Paranoias and Filed under Bloodsport, err Relatives.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Excruciating Wait

I hate waiting. I've the most extreme patience DURING... but I've the worst patience when it comes to waiting to start. No no... trust me. It's true.

Examples of patience during - I will sit and untie fishing line knots. I will sit and untangle cheap jewelry chains. I will sit and methodically try out every combination possible to open a friggin safe in a RP game. I will reduce my enemies on Civilization down one by one, until each nation has one city left OR one nation is left with one city that's a square big. (Okay okay, I can see some of you mouthing the word "Anal" but I prefer to think of it as patience, okay?)

However, this... this is driving me nuts. I want to work on this story but because I'm honor-bound not to start until November 1st, I'm sitting on my hands. Well, actually, my hands are going to be gripping a controller cause we just got GTA: San Andreas. So, hopefully this new world I'm about to immerse myself will be just as fun and exciting as the world I'm about to create. Well, at least until November 1st.

Oh. Some of you may be wondering why I haven't bothered to post about the upcoming elections. I feel that most everything has been said by one pundit or another. And I think Jon Stewart spoke for a lot of us.

And I'm really grateful to NaMoWriMo and whoever else is responsible. I know the timing wasn't yours to decide, but man, thank you that I only have to obsess over the elections for two days and not be divided in my attentions for the rest of November.

And yes, the world does revolve around me. :)

Filed under Reveries & Paranoias.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Not Hearing is Believing - Lesson #1

Try this: Ask anyone how Coors is shipped when it is shipped by train.

(I know, I gotta stop picking on Coors, but geeze, I wish they'd stop making it so easy!)

My bet is, they're going to say by refrigerated cars. In fact, I'm betting that you either said refridgerated cars or you said who the hell cares.

Well, here's a reason to care - how do you think Karl Rove and those guys sold us on phony reasons to go to war? It's what advertisers do... they get you to think one way while saying something else and projecting something.

This is what I witnessed this past weekend. I saw a commercial for Coors Beer touting how it's brewed cold, and transported similarly. Actually, the term they used was "insulated cars" NOT REFRIDGERATED ONES. However, the imagery they used was, a speeding train, then frost speeding after the train, almost cracking the camera glass. So what does that imagery tell us? Frigid conditions, right?

So, insulation (though used for cold as well as heat) makes people think that if the car was hot to begin with, then the insulation would keep the beer hot, wouldn't it? Not exactly something that'll sell beers. So, they show you images of cold beer, then frost chasing after the train and voila, the american public thinks Coors cares enough about the consumer to purchase refridgerated cars at their own expense and ship them to us, cause, hey, Coors beer just cares that much for us.

All together now - BULLSHIT

Thank you. That's the end of lesson #1.

Filed under Reveries & Paranoias.

Something Novel?

Just decided to plunge "write" in and start a blog for a novel to celebrate National Novel Writing Month. Here's the link... nothing much yet, but if you want to check it out, here's The Three H Fellowship. Enjoy!

Filed under Facets & Galleries of Art.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Teens and manners

Had a nice visit from my nephew this weekend. Unfortunately, he brought in tow a 16 yr old girl. Granted, I didn't have much of a chance to speak with her but my first opinion of her is very low. What kind of person would use someone else's towel (to wipe off after a shower) without asking? What kind of person would occupy a single bathroom for close to two hours while there were only one bathroom available for four people?

Is this what today's youth is like? Wheeling on my lover, she shrugged and said "not my generation. I won't claim her." My nephew decided that it would be better coming from me, so I took this youngster aside, and kindly informed her that if she didn't want to wear out her welcome with other people (i don't think she got the implication that she had worn out her welcome at my house already) she might want to consider asking for permission before using. To her credit, she started to ask permission for everything (to the point where it seemed like parody, not respect).

My nephew at some point looked at me with surprise. "You're gay. I thought you liked girls." I corrected him. "I like women. I abhor girls." Especially girls who don't have enough self esteem to venture out into the world without an hour or so paint job on their face.

Filed under Bloodsport, err Relatives and Reveries & Paranoias.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Under Threat

Thank you Fafblog! Thank you for reminding me about the inanity of this question: "will our children and grandchildren ever live in a world as safe and secure as the world in which we grew up?"

Inanity you say? We didn't have people in airplanes blowing up buildings back then. True, but we did have the threat of nuclear annhilation. Who remembers hearing the siren in school and ducking under desks (as if that would stop a blast or radiation)?

When the moderator posed that question, my thought was, "The world I grew up in was safe?" My family talked about communist China and its imperialistic designs on all of Asia constantly. When I first immigrated here, it was in 1976 and I was living in a boarding school in La Canada/Flintridge, CA. Guess who was lurking around bushes at that time?

Let me refresh your memory. There were a bunch of girls missing from that area. One of them was my friend Sonia Johnson who was in the same class as me. She dropped out of the exclusive school I was in, and the next year, there were "missing" pamphlets of her all over our school. And later that year, her father - indignant over the lack of media coverage - helped ensure the safety of thousands of girls in our area. He made sure Los Angeles knew about the Hillside Strangler.

You know, maybe I'm a freak. But I feared for my life from 1977-1979; however, I don't fear my death by terrorists now. The chances of a terrorist getting me, who works for a small company, who rarely heads into large congregations of people is almost non-existent.

Filed under Politics & B.S. and Reveries & Paranoias.

A Cheap and Tawdry Trick

According to our VP's wife, the kind and loving Lynne Cheney, it was a cheap and tawdry political trick that John Kerry pulled, to mention their daughter Mary Cheney as a lesbian.

Okay. I just want to point out two things here. First off, Mary Cheney is an OUT lesbo. ANYONE who wants to, can find out that Mary Cheney is gay.

Secondly, let's play a substitution game. Let's just say that Mary Cheney is married to a rich white man instead of being queer. Hmm, if John Kerry were to point out Mary Cheney is married to a rich white man, would it be a cheap and tawdry political trick then?

Mary Cheney, listen to your mother's words carefully. What she is declaring here, is that while it's okay for you to be QUIETLY gay, it's not okay that OTHERS know you're gay.

Oh and Mary? Don't let your mother know that the novel she wrote in the 50's about the wild west, y'know the one, the one with the strong women and the lesbo aunt helped you figure out you're gay.

Filed under Politics & B.S. and Scary Gay Stuff.

Friday, October 08, 2004

Stupidity of Pundits

OMFG!!!!! This is one of the editorials from Washington Post today and I QUOTE:
Mr. Kerry said in the first debate that "Iraq was not even close to the center
of the war on terror before the president invaded it." So why did he vote to
give President Bush the authority to go to war at all --

Umm HELLO? Anyone inside?

If someone comes up to you and says, "We gotta go beat up this guy two neighborhoods over! He's got an Uzi and he's crazy and we gotta take it away from him before he hurts anyone!" If you're any kind of person, you'd say, okay, us and what army? If that guy says "I got the U.S. Army with us," you're going to say, "Yes, let's take that guy out before he harms anyone."

Sheesh. Stop asking stupid questions press. Your audience is smarter than that. Treat us with more respect, okay? It WILL be appreciated.



Filed under Politics & B.S..

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Rewarding Inconsideration

I have been waging a war. No, not against terrorism or terrorists. I have been waging a war against Inconsideration and Inconsiderates.

In my neighborhood, there is limited parking due to a combination of apartment buildings and houses, Bay Area guilt (well, if we don't provide enough parking spaces within the building, then maybe they won't get a car or two), and the pure fact that there are more vehicles in California than there are people.

Thus, street parking has the value of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (and often times just as elusive.)

In front of my building, there is enough space for four economy-sized cars, OR three cars of any combination size. Therefore, if only two vehicles can park there, one or both vehicles are guilty of inconsideration.

My weapons of choice are: Old pepsi or lipstick. I'm now seriously considering liquid paper pens.

If I see a car or truck leaving more than 12 inches from the red curb parked there, I dash upstairs to find an old stick of lipstick. (Having NOT worn lipstick in over 10 years, all my lipsticks are old. I've demolished all of them with this war I'm waging so I'm having to buy my first lipstick in a decade.) I then scrawl all over the DRIVER'S side window, "Please leave more room next time" or something similar. Why the nice language? Cause if I call him/her a name, that'll be all that person will focus on, not the message itself.

The old pepsi is used by splashing the driver's door handle as well as the entire length of the driver side. However, this method doesn't teach as effectively as the other.

As for the liquid paper pen, I'm thinking that should be reserved for repeat offenders, what do you think?

My lover asked why I was waging this war. I said I believe in the "broken windows" theory. (I'm assuming most of you know what I'm talking about.) Thus, if people are bullies in ordinary ways (and SERIOUSLY FOLKS, THAT'S WHAT INCONSIDERATION REALLY IS, BULLYING!) and we LET them continue in their bullying way, then everyone around (including our government) will just continue to bully us and take advantage.

So just call me Parking Space Gal!

Filed under Reveries & Paranoias

How's the View from Up Here? Cynical, thank you very much.

How many Californians remember that WE voted for the deregulation of the energy industry? Okay, how many take responsibility for that? It's sort of like leaving your car unlocked. Do we blame the thief or ourselves?

I am just as guilty as the next Californian. I skim propositions. I vote more or less along party lines. I pay little attention to the fine print, so am I a dope for being duped? Well yeah.

I'm 40 years old, and this is what I see. I saw an American public believing the Reagan administration when they spelled out the trickle down theory, despite the evidence of homelessness spreading throughout the country. I saw a report that gee, this country doesn't need to build any more bombs cause we have more than enough, then six months later, witnessed the public hunched over TVs watching the U.S. military drop bomb after bomb. And surprise! We're short on bombs now and we need to budget umpteen billions of dollars to replace those we dropped. But hey, we were there to repulse Iraqi forces gathering on the Saudi border. (Hmm, subsequent Soviet satellite photos showed NO FORCES GATHERING there. What? Bush Sr. could've distorted the truth to sell Desert Storm? *gasp* No way!)

I see an adminstration currently in office, who firmly believes that the American public is at best inattentive with a short attention span, at worst, just plain stupid and apathetic. This administration also believes that in general, mankind is selfish and will only take care of its own. This myopic viewpoint is sustainable simply because the person in charge IS this image.

Beware folks. If we vote this administration back into office, it validates their world view. See, these folks think that all we need is HDTV, satellite radio, Tivo, Xbox and other entertainments delivered right to our doorstep. We need not concern ourselves with other matters nor do we wish to, cause the proof is right there. WE FELL FOR THEIR LIES.

If we fell for it the first time and we fell for it the second time, what are they going to think. That we magically gained sense?

Look, the game isn't a game of winning or losing. The people in charge already won, what do they care about winning or losing? How did they win, you ask? Simple, they won by recognizing the game for what it is: A game of advantage.

What happened to us Californians with the energy rape of a few years ago is that we got taken advantage of on the legal side, then on the practical side. "You guys want to make sure prices on electricity is COMPETITIVE, right?" So we pass the proposition, rather like lemmings. And wow, who'd have thunk that these fierce competitors, would actually team up to fleece the public? Certainly NOT the Californian public.

So, for those of you who don't think the Administration is lying to us, oh excuse me, *ahem* misleading us... be aware that at some point the advantages they're scoring for themselves will skewer us, bit by bit, freedom by freedom, until we're all what they want us to be. Zombies in front of entertainment units.



Filed under Politics & B.S..

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Links and such

I've been meaning to put up links to other blogs that I read. For some reason, I don't mind posting, but I'm so rusty on my html, that I need to spend time over a weekend to add those links. (I post from work).

So, here are some links just to tide people over until I get off my ass on weekends.


  • Fafblog: See below for why this is my favorite.
  • Washington Monthly: Writing is crisp and posts are often. I'm checking this one several times a day and I TOTALLY enjoyed refreshing the pages during the VP debate live-blogging.
  • Hullabaloo: It took me a few days to get used to his site (I think it's the way he indents his quotes or how his posts mostly consists of quotes). But I find that Hullabaloo is a great source of references.
  • Alas, a Blog: This is the only site that I've actually posted comments on. Perhaps it's cause this site is one quarter about politics, one quarter about gay rights, one quarter about feminism, and one quarter about artists and rights.
  • Hugoboy: A male feminist if I ever saw one. His insights are fairly original and he loves to have ongoing discussions on his site. In fact, one of his posts got me and my lover talking about returning men's smiles and the dangers thereof.
  • Yglesias: I just started reading this blog. So far, pretty impressive.

Well, that's it for now. Most of these are political links. I'll post some other links another day.



Filed under Ms. Cell Annie.

Giggles

Since discovering this site, I have gleefully forwarded Fafblog to everyone I know. I summarized it to Writerboy as such: Fafblog's mix of satire, social commentary, irony, and just good ol' absurdism with a dash of pretension really hits the spot for me.

Somehow, Giblet has morphed into a Japanese Anime figure for me. Read and enjoy folks.

Filed under Bwahahahaha

My God! That Puppet is Baring its ... Woody?

Don't look now, but apparently American youngsters cannot be exposed to... exposed wood.

The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, came to a decision with the MPAA. By removing some visuals from puppets having sex (yes, you heard that right, puppets), Team America can get a "R" rating instead of a "NC-17" rating.

I suggest a protest. I suggest that everyone who goes to see Team America bring a Barbie and Ken (or substitute any action hero figure. After all, I heard Barbie broke it off with Ken this past summer after 40 years or something like that). Then during those puppet sex scenes, show your neighbor what was edited out.

Hmm, maybe this was a ploy by the MPAA to get people to use their imaginations..... Nahhhhh!

Filed under Bwahahahaha.