Actual Conversation
Anonymous: Isn't it amazing that here in the most powerful nation in history we have a peaceful transition of power?
X: I think it would be cooler if at every inauguration the new president held aloft the severed head of his predecessor.
Anonymous: Do we have to wait 2 years?
X: I think it would be cooler if at every inauguration the new president held aloft the severed head of his predecessor.
Anonymous: Do we have to wait 2 years?
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Wealth
So I'm thinking about the fucking shitty '80s. Then I start thinking about my kids, my rambunctious little boy and my sweet baby girl, and I'm thinking about how different their childhoods will be from my own. Mostly in a good way. Oh I'm sure they're going to feel all deprived because we won't ever live in a McMansion or give them a brand new Lexus for their birthday. I bet they'll complain that they're bored in a resort town with cafes, theaters, galleries, parks, 3 lakes, a river, miles of bike trails, free bus service, and surrounded by mountains. And I know that they sure as hell won't want to hear stories about how tough I had it growing up. But I really wonder what a comfortable middle class life will do to them.
I just can't imagine what kind of person I'd be were it not for poverty and social isolation. I remember dreading school every single day because of the inevitable ass-kicking I'd get. I remember hating to stand in line to get a free lunch ticket so much, that I used my paper route money to buy my own lunch. I remember my dad once getting paid in government cheese for repairing a piece of machinery for our neighbor. I remember watching farm after farm going on the auction block as prices plummeted while corporate logo signs grew like weeds along the rows of corn as their executives raked in the subsidies. I remember working all summer in the fields, not for extra money, but because my parents couldn't afford to buy me clothes. I remember my parents telling me to be careful when I went skiing because we had lost our health insurance. I remember being taken out of class to take yet another fucking hearing test - maybe I am half deaf, but I'm also really fucking bored. I remember waiting for hours to be picked up from band practice because our piece-of-shit old car broke down again. I remember scrubbing toilets, digging up broken sewage lines, cleaning up rotten grain, and doing - I still shudder to think of it - tech support to work my way through college. However, I also had the sweet solitude of the farm, and developed a healthy respect for honest work for honest pay. These types of things, for better or worse, made me me. My siblings all have college degrees and sucessful careers. My best friends, while appearing to be total weirdo freaks, are responsible adults. There's something to be said for how poverty can teach the value of hard work, thrift and determination, that is, if it doesn't crush you first.
My kids probably won't have these experiences, but adolescence is hell on most everyone. I know they'll have their own problems. Some of the most fucked up people I've known grew up in middle-class suburbia. I don't want them to think that a good job and nice things are entitlements. I want them to be skeptical of authority, even if they don't experience first hand the the negative effects of police/nanny state policies. But I like to think that they won't have a lot of my bad traits. Maybe they won't be as stingy as me. Maybe they won't be as cynical. Maybe they'll be able to make friends more easily. Then again, maybe they'll take all they've been given for granted, piss away their opportunities and descend into a life of misery and desperation.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Gnostalgia
Does anyone who is embracing '80s nostalgia actually remember what a shitty decade that was?
Obsolescence
When I started this job I was the wiz-kid who could "do 3D". Most of the guys in the office had learned CAD on the job, and not very well in my opinion. Standard rendering practice was to draw an elevation or perspective and color it in with Prismacolor markers. A nice looking technique to be sure, but slow and inflexible. I came in with my portfolio of models rendered in 3D Studio (3.0 I think, only available in DOS at the time). Anyway, I was the go-to-guy for a 3D model. I quickly moved to Accurender, which is Windows-based and integrates pretty seamlessly with AutoCAD, eliminating the tedious export process. Over the next few years more and more guys were coming into the office with decent modeling skills, I still was king when it came to photo-real images (the secret is in post-production collage).
Unfortunately, I was also spending more time managing projects so that I had little time to do renderings and even less to keep up-to-date on software and techniques. In the last couple of years I've really noticed how far behind the curve I've fallen. I can still whip up a model in decent time, have compiled an excellent library of texture maps, and thanks to faster computers, ray-traces that would have taken all night are now complete in a matter of minutes. However, I'm still depending on software from the late '90s, while the new kids in the office can crank out models in SketchUp must faster than I can, models can then be shipped off to China at 5:00 and be back fully rendered in the office the next morning. All for a lot less money than they can get from my billable hours. There's no way I can compete with that. I'm not exactly a cooper or a wheelwright, but I now have some idea what it's like to not be at the head of the class.
Maybe If I didn't spend so much time surfing for Lithuanian mime porn on the internet...
Unfortunately, I was also spending more time managing projects so that I had little time to do renderings and even less to keep up-to-date on software and techniques. In the last couple of years I've really noticed how far behind the curve I've fallen. I can still whip up a model in decent time, have compiled an excellent library of texture maps, and thanks to faster computers, ray-traces that would have taken all night are now complete in a matter of minutes. However, I'm still depending on software from the late '90s, while the new kids in the office can crank out models in SketchUp must faster than I can, models can then be shipped off to China at 5:00 and be back fully rendered in the office the next morning. All for a lot less money than they can get from my billable hours. There's no way I can compete with that. I'm not exactly a cooper or a wheelwright, but I now have some idea what it's like to not be at the head of the class.
Maybe If I didn't spend so much time surfing for Lithuanian mime porn on the internet...
Friday, November 17, 2006
Started Recreational
Last night I stopped in at the Long Ear with a wallet full of cash fresh from the bank to see if they still had a copy of The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls In America. I had to special order Almost Killed Me. When Separation Sunday came out last year, they only had one copy in the bin, and the guy at the counter asked "Are they any good?" This time I found the bin full of B&GIA, as well as a couple copies each of the earlier releases. I walked up to the counter after pausing briefly to paw lustfully through some Flogging Molly. The clerk looks at my selection and says "These guys are great."Yeah, I know.
Anyway, I'm not going to attempt a review. I've got quite a bit of nerve damage in one ear, and the other one isn't so hot either, so a lot of musical subtleties are lost on me. But I do know good shit when I hear it, and this is their best effort yet in my opinion. Not to say it's perfect. The lyrics are a little heavy on the self reference, even for a guy that's been around the music scene for a couple decades, but considering how much Craig Finn quoted himself even back in the Lifter Puller days, that's to be expected. I guess if you mix your own words with enough pop culture references, you eventually become a part of pop culture yourself. Also, I could have died happy if I didn't have to listen to the ongoing saga of Holly and Charlemagne and Gideon, but considering that they went from bit characters in AKM to the becoming the stars of an entire concept album, and given the aforementioned lyrical approach, I suspect I'll be hearing about the lives of these crazy mixed up kids until we're all as old as Rod Stewart. But if that's the price to pay to listen to some those fine piano melodies and guitar licks, qualities which I thought were lost when rock and roll became a parody of itself a couple decades ago, then I think it's well worth it. Besides, even if you non-Minnesotans don't find the same nostalgic comfort in Finn's nasally Bob-Mould-meets-Bob-Dylan voice that I do, I suspect that it will eventually grow on you.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Turbulence
Alternative Death
Yesterday I caught the convergence of two gods of the alternative music scene on KEXP. Kevin Cole Interviewing Frank Black. For the next two weeks you can hear it on the streaming archive. Just select Nov. 13 2:44 PM, click "Go >" and pick your player.
Enjoy it, you old farts.
Enjoy it, you old farts.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Prophecy of Profligacy
Do I know how to pick 'em or what? Lieberman's victory in Connecticut is the perfect illustration that every politician, regardless of partisan or ideological classification, is at heart a meddling self-righteous turd. And that's exactly what most voters like about them.
And you suckers thought you were voting for change.
And you suckers thought you were voting for change.
Massive Throbbing Election
I don't know if you've been following the election news. I really tried avoiding it, but I broke down and looked at the results online. Bad news for those still clinging to the Reagan legacy, it looks like a big win for the leftists. That's right Daniel Ortega appears to be the big winner, garnering more than 50% of the vote and avoiding a runoff election.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Huge Election
I'm trying really hard to avoid the news today, but I'm not sure I can do it. I'm positively giddy with anticipation of the glorious clusterfuck that I sense looming on the horizon, blowing in about, say, 9:00 tonight. Here's my prediction. There will be accusations of fraud and corruption on both sides. Several races are going to be decided on razor thin margins. Enough that it could tip the balance to either party. You may think that this is where your vote counts. No, any race close enough that your vote would count will be decided by the courts anyway.
I make no predictions as to who will come out on top eventually in the next few weeks, but the possible results will be equally amusing. If the Democrats take control of one or both houses, then nothing will pass, and we'll get two years of bitter sniping as they take their revenge. People may get sick of that shit, blowing any chance of taking the White House in 2008. If the Republicans retain control, then they'll just dig themselves deeper into their fiscal and foreign policy shithole, possibly blowing their chances in 2008. However, one should never underestimate the Democrats' ability to fuck up a sure thing.
The whole thing is as rigged as Wrestlemania, but it's more entertaining to watch. And since I gotta pay for it anyway so I might as well enjoy it.
I make no predictions as to who will come out on top eventually in the next few weeks, but the possible results will be equally amusing. If the Democrats take control of one or both houses, then nothing will pass, and we'll get two years of bitter sniping as they take their revenge. People may get sick of that shit, blowing any chance of taking the White House in 2008. If the Republicans retain control, then they'll just dig themselves deeper into their fiscal and foreign policy shithole, possibly blowing their chances in 2008. However, one should never underestimate the Democrats' ability to fuck up a sure thing.
The whole thing is as rigged as Wrestlemania, but it's more entertaining to watch. And since I gotta pay for it anyway so I might as well enjoy it.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Hot Air
It's an ill wind that blows no good.
We have our first Chinook of the season. The cold snap of dry Canadian air last week was broken by a wet warm front moving in from the Pacific. Luckily, I was able to get my leaves raked and the wood stacked yesterday during a brief sunny spell before the winds picked up. Hopefully the leaves are wet enough that they won't end up blowing back into my yard before the city picks them up.
I hear tell that tomorrow millions of folks are going to go out and choose which gang of their fellow inmates gets to ass-fuck them for the next couple years. Good luck, kids. I hope your guys win. Just don't be too disappointed when they refuse to cuddle you afterwards like they promised.
I'll be in my happy place.
We have our first Chinook of the season. The cold snap of dry Canadian air last week was broken by a wet warm front moving in from the Pacific. Luckily, I was able to get my leaves raked and the wood stacked yesterday during a brief sunny spell before the winds picked up. Hopefully the leaves are wet enough that they won't end up blowing back into my yard before the city picks them up.
I hear tell that tomorrow millions of folks are going to go out and choose which gang of their fellow inmates gets to ass-fuck them for the next couple years. Good luck, kids. I hope your guys win. Just don't be too disappointed when they refuse to cuddle you afterwards like they promised.
I'll be in my happy place.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
DJ
I don't listen to the radio very often at work, but I've been drawing a lot of details lately, and my own playlist is feeling a little stale. So I'm listening to KEXP Seattle online, and the DJ comes on and says "This is Kevin Cole on the Mid-Day Show." So I go look him up online, and indeed, it's THE Kevin Cole of First Ave. and KJ104 fame. Back before the internet when the only source for decent eclectic music was a scratchy low-power FM station or warped dubbed tapes passed from dissaffected kid to disaffected kid across the freshly fertilized tundra of rural Minnesota. I'll be tuning in more often.