I’ve noticed that during this campaign quite a few self-identified republicans have spewed quite a bit of invective at democrats and Senator Obama. I don’t quite understand why it is they can never seem to at least be somewhat reasoned or least less frothy. Had it been the case that Senator McCain would have won the election, I wouldn’t be on message boards shouting from the rafters about my hate for the man (because I don’t hate him). It’s commonly known that the conservative base is primarily composed of evangelicals so I would think they’d at least try and live by the guidelines set out by the book that they proclaim to love. As an example, here are some examples of the posts from a video on Facebook posted by The New York Times:
A lot of these responses were phrased as an answer to the question: What is the first thing that President Obama should do when he gets into office? Note: I am printing the names of the owners of these statements. If you say it, you should be willing to stand by it.
Matt of West Boylston Junior High School wrote: kill himself How very mature?
Numerous people wrote:
Resign.
Quite a few included, that he should resign and appoint McCain as President. Article Two of the Constitution doesn’t really allow that.
Kevin of Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX wrote:
The first thing obama should do is admit he is a racist and resign
Racist in what way? Is he racist against white people? If so, then he must harbor some pretty intense identity issues.
Zach of Logan, UT wrote: what he is a murder and a liar and now i can officailly say that i hate the president of the united States and not feel bad about it… Keeping it classy, Utah.
Melissa of Wallace Community College wrote:
hes the worst candidate for the job and the beautiful nation that we know now will ceased to exist
It’s pretty hard for one man to completely destroy a Government. That takes an act of Congress.
And so on and so forth. It kind of makes me a bit ill.
I bought Operation Doomsday by MF Doom yesterday while at Newbury Comics. I was taken aback seeing it in the store, because the album hadn’t been pressed in a few years because of legal problems. The album uses clips from the Fantastic 4 cartoon during the skits so Marvel had sent Doom a Cease & Desist (or they got an injunction) or something that prevented them from selling the album for quite a while.
So by finding the album, I was certain I had struck gold. I was debating playing the lottery while I was out.Though, after doing a bit more research it appears that they’re repressing the album again. So now I’ve got a $150 vinyl pressing of Operation Doomsday that I feel a whole lot less special about.
This has been a fairly uneventful week. I watched a few movies and contracted a cold.
Movies: Burn After Reading – A comedy written by Joel and Ethan Coen of No Country for Old Men and The Ladykillers fame. A rather entertaining offering from the brothers which definitely draws from several of their past works and well as some of the works of others, like The Departed. I’m hardly a movie reviewer (plus it’s been a week since I’ve seen the movie and I didn’t exactly take notes … It’d have been kind of weird since I wasn’t alone) so I’m not going to try and write too much about it. Overall, if you like thrillers (and this one is definitely thrilling whilst fun) you should give it a viewing.
The Getaway – I recently signed up for Netflix and the first two months or so was watching seasons 1 through 4 of Entourage since I never had the opportunity to watch it when they were on television since I don’t have any desire to pay for HBO. I’ve gone through and added a bunch of movies that are related either to actors I like, or directors I like, or franchises that I like. I’ll probably chronicle what I watch as I go. Part of my motivation for doing this is that I would like to make a hobby/part-time career out of video production and I want to soak up as much great directing/acting/production as I can. I’d like to think of my self as a semi-cinephile in that I’m not an obsessive devotee to the art. I’m planning on getting a Panasonic DVX100 at some point, but that probably won’t be until next year at best.
Anyway, back to the movie, The Getaway (1972) staring Steve McQueen as ‘Doc’ McCoy and Ali McGraw as Carol McCoy, chronicles the adventures of Doc and Carol as they escape a crime boss, who gets Doc out of prison and tasks him with robbing a bank, a backstabbing cohort, and the law. An excellent flick all around. One of the things that I like the movie is that overall there is relatively little dialogue, but you don’t ever feel underwhelmed by it because there is generally always something going on when the characters aren’t directly relating to each other.
Toastmasters:
I was supposed to give a speech this past Wednesday, but I have had a hard time coming to grips with a topic that I really want to speak on.
Aside from that, I’ve mostly just been going to work and slowly putting my stuff away. I’ll be glad to get some kind of order to my apartment.
Well, I no longer live in Everett. I’m now a proud resident (so far anyway) of Medford, Massachusetts. It’s only been a few days, but so far I enjoy it. There are a bunch of stores in walking distance (most just across the street) and I’m now short walk to the train (thus making riding the bus a bonus rather than a necessity).
The new apartment is a bit smaller than my old space, but much nicer. Recently renovated kitchen, recessed lighting on dimmers, etc. A definite step in the right direction I feel. The kitchen pretty much sold it for me.
I’m still in the process of unpacking. A bunch of my stuff is still in boxes. I’m definitely going to wait until the weekend to put any serious though into the unpacking process. I simply don’t have the energy for it after work. Once, I’ve got myself settled in and I’ve got some seating, I no longer have a couch and the only chair I own is my computer chair, I’m going to have a housewarming get together.
I’m a terrible blogger. I haven’t written anything on here in over a month, and the last entry I wrote was a pretty half-hearted and short item on the Dark Knight.
Whilst I’m sure you don’t really care what goes on in particularly in my life over the last month or so, I’ve just been doing the same old things. A little volunteering over at the Arlington St. Church. I’m going to Six Flags for a Scion event this coming Friday, and I’m currently taking swimming lessons again since I pretty much just flail and inhale a lot of water, but I can get across a pool.
Any who, I’m going to make an attempt to keep this thing updated with at a minimum of a post a week, I just need to find a topic to write about besides me.
Awesome Song of the Moment: "Lost of Love" by The Bad Plus
I went to see The Dark Knight last night in Imax. It was a pretty fun experience. There was a ton of people there, as a matter of fact the were completely sold out. Those theatres hold quite a lot of people too.
Overall I’d suggest going, but be sure to get there early or wait for more of the interest to sure down some.
So last week I went to a Boston Young Professionals Association mixer that was being held at Croma over on Newbury St. It was a pretty good experience. We were introduced to a few of the people who run the organization and learned a little bit about it. Then basically we spent some time just going around the room introducing ourselves to other people there and just mixing.
All in all an interesting experience and I definitely recommend it. They have some other events going on this month that I’ll check out.
Awesome Song of the Moment: "Slash Dot Dash" by Fatboy Slim
So, I was listening to NPR on the way home today and there was an interesting story about the Library of Congress. They currently have an exhibit with Thomas Jefferson’s library. After the war of 1812 when the British burned down the Congressional Library, Jefferson sold his personal library to Congress. It was, at the time, the largest private collection in the US. It contained somewhere around 5500 books/pamphlets. Congress gave him $24,000 (about $330,000 in 2008 dollars). His collection had books in English, French, Latin and Italian and he could read in all of those languages.
In comparison, my current library is pretty poor. I haven’t even read everything that I own. The vast majority of the books that I own are textbooks that I kept from college. Of all the other books that I have, I think the coolest is the 1934 printing of Canterbury Tales. I’ll get around to reading it one of these days.
We’re a few days into Q2 2008. It’s time to reflect on my progress with my resolutions.
Bicycle 100 Miles: Well the weather has recently just broken. I haven’t yet started riding, but next weekend I plan to make my first bicycling excursion. I’ll update you on my riding progress. Learn to Sail and to achieve the Helmsman rating: The sailing season at CBI has just started (April 1st) so either next weekend or the weekend after I’m going to head over there and sign up. Read 50 Books: Unfortunately I haven’t completely read one new book this year so far. I don’t particularly foresee myself achieving this goal by the end of the year. Deliver 6 Toastmasters Speeches: I’ve only delivered one speech so far this year. I’m trying to come up with a topic for my second.
Awesome Song of the Moment: "Tomorrow Is My Turn" by Nina Simone
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