Short Rant.

Fuck You Roger Clemens. You've shown up once again your lack of class. You never should have left the Red Sox, however I was able to forgive you for that. Dan Duquette was an idiot, I would've left too. You never should have signed with the Yankees. How could you do that to the Red Sox faithful. It was such a stupid move. I kept your poster on my wall until about 2 years ago. That's right I had a Roger Clemens (in Red Sox uni) poster on my wall until recently. I even kept my Clemens jersey. They you "retired" only to come back with the Astros. Then you "retired" again, only to wait until May 31st to resign with the Astros. You should have come home to Boston. The Red Sox have a much better chance of making the playoffs than the Astros. You are wasting your time Mr. Clemens, the Astros will not even make the playoffs. You will be in the Hall of Fame, and you will be wearing a Red Sox hat, it was only appropriate that you finished your career here. It's a shame, I can only shake my head in disbelief.

Technical Help

I've noticed when I view this blog on a Mac (which is what I used to create it) all of the information of the side bar shows up near the top (where it is supposed to be). But, when I view this blog on a PC all of my info is down below the last post.

Can anyone advise me on a way to fix this? I went through the template and checked spacing, but I didn't see anything that looked out of place. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Internet Privacy.

I was reading a recent post over at March to the Sea's blog and it reminded me of a blog a friend showed me a while back. This blog is semi-pornographic, semi-voyeuristic, and is obviously run by a perv.

Over at Busty Webshots someone, or a group, has taken on the task of scouring the web for pictures of young girls (most are obviously under 18), and collecting them for their blog. The concept doesn't really bother me, nor do the photos, they are all non-nude. What bothers me is how care free people are about their privacy with the internet. Many of the people I encounter online don't ever reveal their first name, not to mention a photo. And yet, some other people are willing to reveal so much, be it name, address, phone number, or collections of semi-nude photos. As you can see from my user profile over there --->>>, I am willing to share my name and my town. You don't see my photo, you don't know my last name. You don't even know which Lars in Wallingford that I am. There are at least 4 of us in Wallingford last time I checked. If you're not careful with what you reveal online you could end up like this woman. Debbie, author of Fresh Air Lover, found out the hard way what could happen if you reveal too much online. Luckily for her she was only hurt emotionally, and not physically. Unfortunately it is the emotional scars that have the potential to last longer.

I don't have an agenda with this post. I just wanted to muse on the danger of being too open on line. Keep it safe people.

PS: I'm adding a link to both of the above mentioned blog. The first one because I know you're all perv's and are going to be visiting BustWebShots on a daily basis. The second one because I found her other posts to be amusing.

Bad News, Bad News & More Bad News

Let me start with the bad news.

Today I was driving along and got a flat tire. It was a massive hook of metal that I ran over. I've never seen anything like it. It was about 2" long and went right into my tire. I called AAA to come repair it, and it turned out patches aren't covered by AAA. I was given the choice of putting on the spare, but my tire was fine aside from this massive shark hook, so I paid $12 for it to be patched.

More bad news.

Three of my five siblings have lice. Yup, Lice. I don't have it.......yet. I've never had lice, nor do I ever plan on having lice. It is really gross, I've been making an effort only to sit on the leather furniture in the house. I'm avoiding cloth like the plague.

And the last bit of bad news.

I'm postponing my fast until after my vacation. I'm going to need all the energy I can muster for my vacation, and I don't want to weaken myself prior. That and this was memorial day weekend, and I just couldn't miss out on all the hot dogs, Red Hots and other picnic fair.

Let the Games Begin.

Tonight was my final meal before my endeavors in competitive non-eating. I went out to this great Tibetan restaurant called Little Tibet (how original). I've never had Tibetan food before, and this was amazing. I've never had anything like it, I absolutely loved it. It was definitely a great final meal. It shall be the last one I have for a long time. I'm going to go eat some ice cream and watch a movie now, then tomorrow it is all liquids all the time.

News & Stuff...

I was reading BBC News yesterday and I came across an article about the impending Papal visit to Poland. It turns out Poland has banned the sale of Ice Cream during his visit. Apparently ice cream will "go off" in the hot weather, which poses a health hazard. Would the ice cream melt long before it went bad? The state also banned television commercials featuring contraceptives, lingerie and tampons. Poland claims the faithful that have turned out for the papal visit will be "hurt" if they are watching a TV program about the Pope, and are forced to watch a commercial for tampons in the middle. Those crazy Poles.

In other news, a Nebraska man has been deemed too short to serve prison time for his sexual offenses. The judge decide the 5'1" man was too short to survive in the prison atmosphere. The most surprising thing I got from this news story was that they is a group called the "Nation Organization of Short Statured Adults." That is amazing, in fact it might the most important thing I've ever heard, ever. I do take an issue with this group. Their spokesman is 5'4", which to me seems a bit tall for the group. I would think to be a member of NOSSA you would have to be under 5'2". Five feet four inches just seems too damn tall.

I also wanted to let you know that I have added a counter to my site. This is the "& Stuff..."

I rejoice at the death of no man...

I rejoice at the death of no man, but damn am I glad its been ten years to the day since Brad Nowell of Sublime kicked the bucket. I hate Sublime's music, it's just so bad. It's a shame he died, but boy am I glad I haven't had to hear any new music from him over the last decade. I can hardly believe it's been 10 years since I was that 11 year old in 6th grade rockin' out to "Santaria" at basement spin the bottle parties. Time really flies. It's a real shame he never went on the write more lyrics like this: "So she told me to come over and I took that trip; And then then she pulled out my mushroom tip; And when it came out, it went drip drip drip; I didnt know she had the g.i. joe, kung foo grip." That my loyal readers is true genius. In honor of Mr. Nowell I will enjoy a nice 40oz this evenin'.

Soul Patrol.

Finally American Idol is over, the old man won and we are left with peace for the next 8-9 months. Huzzah. But, what I really want to comment on is Paula Abdul(?). That woman is a crack head. There is no way she is not high 95% of the time she is on TV. The woman's eyes are glossed over, her skin shines like a crack head on welfare day, and she acts insane. What's the deal with her dancing to every fucking song, even the songs that aren't exactly "danceable." She needs to sit her crack smoking ass down. She doesn't even dance well, she just sways back and forth with her arms in the air. If you've ever been to an Allman Bros. or Phish concert, that's pretty much the exact same way every single burnout there "dances." The comments she makes to the contestants are comical, at some point she stopped saying things and started gesturing. Someone needs to get her some help, she is spiraling out of control. May God-bless her SOUL PATROL.

Four Letter Word

I had written this up when it was still in the news, however, I didn't have internet access at the time.

I'm no fan of Hillary Clinton, I think her husband seems like a pretty cool dude, at least as far a politicians go, but she sucks. Apparently she doesn't appreciate my generation so much, according to her work is a four letter word to us. Technically it is a four letter word, count 'em W-O-R-K. But she didn't mean it literally, did she? I was thinking about some of the four letter words that kids (I guess I'm not really a kid, but whatever) these days enjoy, and I don't think she likes them. Fuck that is a four letter word, and from what we all know if she had done more of it her hubby probably wouldn't have strayed. Of course that's not what he was doing, what he was doing was Oral, there's another four letter word for you. Her husband admitted to using Weed, so one can only assume he wasn't the only one. I'm sure the two of them unjoyed some real fine Arkasas Grass. But, I guess it all boils down to the fact that HRC is nothing but a giant Cunt. Rant over.


CUNT

Sigur Ros. Boston 5/14/06

Sunday May 14th was perhaps the worst possible day for an “outdoor” concert ever. First Sigur Rós is not exactly an outdoor kind of band. They seem so much more at home playing in an old opera house or theatre. The Bank of America Pavilion (as it is currently called) doesn’t fit. Add to the fact that the venue wasn’t right, to the fact that the band was playing on Mother’s Day Sunday. Sunday’s are never good days for concerts. If you’ve never been to the Pavilion I’ll let you know about some of the venues lesser points. First, it is right on Boston harbor. Second, it is open on the sides to the elements. Third, the roof leaks. Fourth you have to leave the protection of the leaky roof anytime you wish to use the restroom, or go buy a coffee or hot chocolate to vainly attempt to raise your core body temperature as you slowly succumb to hypothermia. I almost forgot to mention Sunday the 14th was during the height of the flooding northern New England was experiencing, so the concert was occurring during a constant downpour.

It was cold when I got to the venue, I think it was upper 40s – mid 50s, and rainy. I was hoping that being in the 6th row I would feel some sort of residual heat from the stage. I assumed the band would get some sort of large space heater. They didn’t. I’m not going to tell you about the opener, Amiina. I don’t like their music, and don’t feel the desire to chronicle their highly repetitive set. Every time I see them it’s the same thing. Sigur Ros started as they always do, behind a curtain starting with Takk… and Glosoli. I have disliked the whole curtain thing since the beginning, and this show really made me hate it. The way the stage was set up didn’t lend itself to the curtain falling or rising at the end of Glosoli, so the band was forced to have a stagehand run across the stage left to right pulling the curtain to the side. To spare you any suspense the same thing happened in reverse at the end of the show.

The show was almost entirely free of any technical mishaps. During the second half of Sæglópur Kjartan lost something underneath his keyboard setup. It didn’t affect the song in any way, but it was entertaining to watch Kjartan and two tech’s scramble about under the keyboard. The band only played ONE song off Agætis Byrjun, and that was Olsen Olsen. I would love for the crowd to sing along to the end of this song, but I just can’t fathom the crowd ever giving into such tom foolery. Other than that they played four of the 8 songs off of ( ), and nine songs from Takk… which as great. The two songs they didn’t play are me two least favorite. Two of the songs off of ( ) I had never heard before so that that was a real treat, not to mention this was the first time I’d seen them play more than one song during the encore.

I wasn’t the only one that was cold during the show. The band were all wearing fingerless gloves, and overcoats (except Orri). It was funny, all the guys had nice overcoats to wear that looked really nice, except Jonsi, he looked like he bought his coat at the dingiest thrift store in Boston. Kjartan looked really cold, being seated and whatnot. While playing track 7 from ( ) he was really getting into the rhythm of the song, and stomping his feet along to the song. I don’t know if this was because he was cold, or just liked to stomp about during the song.

I wish the band had done something special for this show, it was their last North American show and whatnot. They could have played a couple of extra songs or something. The crowd really wanted it. At the end the band did their usual curtain call, only to be called back out two more times for a total of three curtain calls. The crowd wouldn’t stop, even after the house lights had gone up. The band didn’t give in though, all we got was a human pyramid.

1. takk...
2. glósóli
3. sæglópur
4. njósnavélin
5. e-bow
6. gong
7. andvari
8. hoppípolla
9. með bloðnasir
10. svo hljótt
11. heysátan
12. olsen olsen
13. smaskifa
---------------
14. dauðlagið
15. popplagið

Fasting

Hey I'm back and ready to challenge death.

The other day I was listening to the radio and some dude was talking about a 10 day fast he did, and it got me thinking. I wondered if I could fast for any major duration of time? After talking to my girlfriend about it, she doesn't think I can do it. So after a bit of back and forth we are going to have a "fast off" to see who can fast the longest. Starting Sunday May 28th we will be forgoing for 10, or until one of us succumbs to food. I don't think she can beat, I have an amazing ability to not eat, and block out the pain of hunger.

What I want from you, my trust reader(s) is advice of a healthy fast. I need to survive this, even if I go longer without food than Gabriel I loose if I die. I know none of you want that to happen. So, if you have any information on fasting please leave it in the comment box.

Wish me luck, and I'll be posting before and after photos, after its over.

No Internet.

The internet hasn't worked at my house since Monday morning. This has inhibited me from posting new blogtastic posts. I think my mom forgot to pay the internet bill, again. Anyway, once I have internet again I will be posting a review of the Sigur Ros show I attended on the Sunday night, as well as a dubious blog I discovered. Until then please click on my adds without ever buying anything. Please just click repeatedly and aimlessly. If you do so and mention it here, I will do the same for you.

Hello...

This post is for whomever it is that viewed my blog from the Churchill area of Manitoba. How are you? Who are you? How did you find my blog, and of what interest is it to you in your sub-arctic home? I only ask because when I look at my ClustrMaps you stick out like a sore thumb, and I'm fascinated by the northern regions of Canada.

Vinyl Update...

I got my Sigur Ros 7" today. It is really heavy for a 45. Typically 45's are flimsy shit, but this is hardcore. Maybe not hardcore, but it is nice. The A-side in hoppípolla and the B-side is heysátan. I got number 2,814 out of 3,000. I prefer lower numbers, but at least I got a copy.

Manners People, MANNERS.

Some people these days have no tact, no class, no respect and no manners. I just don't get it. Most acts of decency are nothing more than common sense, and should be automatic.

Tonight I stopped at a gas station to buy a pack of gum, and on my way out decided the hold the door open for some woman. She was some rich bitch driving a Ford Taurus, did I say Taurus I meant to say a Jaguar, but who can tell these days, Ford has completely fucked the entire marquee over. Anyway she was wearing a lab coat or something, she could have been a doctor or a nurse, but I have feeling she was some sort of lab technician. I went of my way to hold the door for her on my way out, and she ignored me. She walked right through without so much as a glance in my direction. I froze momentarily, I have never had someone disrespect me over something so trivial before. It is one thing to not say thank you when you are amongst a large group of people, but it was just me and her. Being the polite person I am I stood there, and before the door close I let out a nice loud "You're welcome" in the most asshole tone I could muster. And do you know what she did? She gave me a dirty look! She looked at me like I was some lowly piece of shit. I was infuriated, I had no idea how to react. How dare she look at my like that when I went out of my way to simply hold the door for her. All she had to do was say "thanks" or "thank you" or even smile at me. Hell she didn't even look at me. I knew the best thing to do would be to bite my lip, and go back to my car.

All I ask is that people be a little more respectful. It's not difficult, it is the kind of thing that should be automatic. I just don't get it.

Minorities

I just read this, and thought it was fascinating. I've known, as have many of you I would assume, for a long time that the fastest growing group in the US was the Lantino's. Also it's been widely reported that like Europe our population would be falling if it were not for immigrants, but check out these numbers. They really put it into perspective.

US population: 296.4 million people
White population: 195.5 million, with annual growth around 500k.
Latino population: 42.7 million, with annual growth of 3.3%
Black population: 39.7 million, with annual growth of 1.3%
Asian population: 14.4 million, with annual growth of 3%
Indians & Eskimos: 4.5 million, with annual growth of 1%
Native Hawaiians: 990,000, with annual growth of 1.5%

The youngest members of our population show the greatest disparity of population. Forty-Five percent of American preschoolers are non white. I don't really have an opinion on this, I just find the numbers extremely fascinating. You can read the article I got this from at the link below.

BBC News

New Vinyl

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I've got a thing for vinyl, 45's in particular. They are great little spinny things of joy, and today I got a new one. There is only one thing I love more than getting a new 45, and that is getting a new picture disc, which is what I got today. And there is only one thing I love more than getting a picture disc, and that is getting a limited edition picture disc. That was repetitive, and slightly incoherent, but I shall continue. Today in the mail arrived Weight of the World by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. This is a great song, and it has a great b-side, Feel it Now. I loved the last album, Howl, I thought it was the best album I bought last year, even better than the new Sigur Ros album.

You know what makes this Limited Edition Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 7" Picture Disc even more awesome? It is number 24 out of 465. Twenty-Four just happens to be my girlfriend's favorite number (I know it's an odd favorite number), and she may be so excited she'll fall in to a fellatious mood, one can hope. I should delete that, she does read this, but I won't.

Because of the fact it is a picture disc the thing sound like crap, they always do. But it looks super cool, and is a limited edition, so I don't care.

Later this week I should be receiving the new, and first ever, Sigur Ros 7", which also happens to be a limited edition. I can barely wait.

New Radiohead Songs

It's that time of year again. Radiohead is working on a new album, and gearing up for a (brief) summer tour. A few nights back, May 1st, Thom and Johnny played a set in London that included 3 new songs, "Bodysnatchers" "Cymbal Rush" & "Arpeggi." I've found a couple of videos for you to check out these new songs. I'm not to crazy about "Cymbal Rush", but "Bodysnatchers" is pretty good. They aren't complete songs, and the video is shit, but it is a chance to get a preview of the new album. I can just imagine how good these songs will sound with the full band. I can't wait for the new album next year. I saw a video for "Arpeggi" but I'm only going to include the other two videos.

Bodysnatchers


Cymbal Rush

I have found my purpose in life.

The Gumball 3000. I try to avoid talking about cars on this blog, because as much as I love them I don't know enough about them to articulate myself. This event, however, may change my life. It is a 3000 mile race, in stages, across Europe, Asia and the US. The first stage of the race should be finished or nearing its finish, it was London to Belgrade. The next stage is Phuket to Bangkok, and finally the race ends with a Salt Lake City to Los Angeles stage. This race (from what I have discovered) is not sanctioned by any actual racing body, and is illegal (or so it would seem) in most areas. A number of teams have been arrested, and have had their cars impounded in Germany, Belgium and other nations. The cars participating include Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, Ford GT's, Bentleys, and one Dodge SRT8 pickup truck (driven by Tony Hawk), amongst others. This is my current life goal. Drive in a super car in an illicit street race through Europe, Asia and the American west. Oh the wet dreams to be had tonight.

Update 1: Gumball 3000 Photo Gallery Here
Update 2: Running Commentary on the Gumball 3000 Here

Total Freak Show

I was watching TLC the other day, and they had a documentary about steroids, but the focus of the show was this guy. What a freak show. The guys arms are almost 28 inches around. I don't have time to go into detail, but if you get a chance to watch "The Man Whose Arms Exploded" you will see the horror that is this man. As the title implied his arms nearly exploded due to steroids, working out, and an infection. I might update this later, right now I just don't have the time.