Blogging un Cheval Mort: 05/01/2003

My Top 5 Cartoons of My Youth

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Battle of the Planets

Robotech (Macross)

Spider-Man (the 1967 series of 52 episodes)

Superfriends (the late 70s - Wonder Twins and the Legion of Doom)

Transformers

My Top 5 Film Kisses (dedicated to Jett Supper)

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Cinema Paradiso (during the rainstorm at the outdoor cinema)

Last of the Mohicans (in the fort's tower under the welling barrage of string instruments)

Snow Falling on Cedars (in the hollowed cedar during the rain as the children catch the water in their mouths)

Snow White (Prince Charming's rescue of the comatose White)

Spider-Man (during the rain when Spidey kisses MJ from above)

I don't know what it is about kisses in the rain as portrayed on the screen, but they just look way sexier than they likely are. Three of my choices occur during rainstorms and I nearly included Chasing Amy's crescendo lip-lock between comic artist Holden and lip-stick lesbian Alyssa (we can give it an honorary sixth place for now). I included Snow White because really, what's more psychologically complex than romantically kissing a stranger who is comatose and doing so with good intentions. Sounds like abusive harassment and advantage-taking to me, but the world ate it up for the sheer romance of it all. And really, how Disney was able to foist such a notion on an unsuspecting (and fundamentalist) 30s crowd. And on their children. So Snow White is included for its unadulterated revelling in subversion during a kiss.

My Top 5 Beloved Authors

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

~~Brian Michael Bendis~~

J.R.R. Tolkein

Kurt Vonnegut

Richard Adams

Roald Dahl

This was an incredibly difficult list and would probably be completely different in a week or in two days or maybe in fifteen minutes. I tried to use authors whose work I like on the whole of what I've read from them. I mean I love Pride and Prejudice, but that's the only bit of Jane Austen that really grabbed me (I can never get more than forty pages in any of her other books but P&P I've read four times now). I almost put Eco on the list and might in a week, but though The Name of the Rose and Baudolino were cool, Foucault's Pendulum was the only one that really grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and wrestled me into an adrenochromal stupor. But, hmm, now that I think about it, I like Raymond Chandler more better than Brian Michael Bendis. I'm pretty sure. So...

Raymond Chandler

In Honour of Jett Superiish
More mean doo doo.

Special Liner Notes: Meat Train is a verbal homage to the Mark Ryden painting of the same name (which clearly means the frog's a liar since no one is okay after having missed the Meat Train). Papa Surf is, of course homage to my now-quite-landlocked father. Ar F is homage to a visual idea brought on by Brandon's quick sketch of the cat he saw perfectly bifurcated on the road one morning (the cat looked very much like the bifurcated cat recreated in Macaroni). Left-Handed Drawing is indeed as the title indicates and was composed entirely with my left hand (which goes by the nickname "Stupid," since obviously, I am not ambidextrous). Out of all of this batch of doodles, my personal fav is LT Bug.

Thanks to some poor choices likely to be blamed upon unruly roommates, I have just lost everything on my computer. Thousands of hours worth of work—more than could possibly fit on ten backup disks—has just entered into agreement for eternal lodging in the netherworld. Indeed. Where have all the digital cowboys gone when they ought to have been wrangling nimdas and klezes and the whole multi-coloured galaxy of viral programming that has brought me to such a point of angst. That's it: new rule for prospective roommates. Nobody touches the computer (even to czech email).

Sorry kids. That last post was embarrassin'. I've never been any good at straight blogging. I think I'm no good at it because I can't generate any real interest in it for myself. The sites that do what I imagine blogs were originally intended to do, provide links, have never really lit my fire. If there isn't some opinion, commentary, or story attached, I can't say that I'll be back. It's too easy. It doesn't take a mind. It doesn't have that kind of spark that makes me wanna come back. And here I try and foist the same on you fellahs. I'm sorry. I apologize. No, I should continue to offer what you cats have come to expect. Not lazy links saying, "Hey. I'm too bored to give you my thoughts, so here: read someone else's." No, I'll continue you to tell you what I believe is right and good and true. And why. And maybe even why you're wrong for disagreeing with me—which you are. Yes, this is not the path of least resistance. This is not some soft and cozy, bedtime-story version of what is. This is the road to truth, justice, and beauty, and is a road cut only for those of true grit. And we are chock full of that, man!

An interesting tidbit on the quest for unconvential arms in Iraq. (obviously, I'm too busy to give you real meat like an interview with a famous national hero like I did a week and a half ago, but I really did find the article refreshing).

The most amusing reaction I've yet seen to Matrix Part Deux:

I feel that I must warn anyone who is planning on seeing [Matrix Reloaded] that, to my dismay, there was a scene which I would have thought would have merited at least an NC 17 rating. My husband and I were completely unprepared to see such graphic sexual content. There was a good plot (and of course, ended in a cliffhanger), but I became quickly bored with the redundant chase and fight scenes. At one point, I left to get popcorn and returned 10 minutes later to find the same chase still going on. All in all, with the pornography cut out, and the special effects extravaganza shortened to a reasonable percentage of the movie, this could have been a fantastic film. It was far less graphically voilent than the first, and does have a good plot line. Unfortunately, as it is, it's just another example of how immoral our society has become. My Ratings: [Extremely Offensive/ 3½] --Susie Paquet, age 35

Really, how queer. The scene of "such graphic sexual content" was somewhere between a hard PG-13 and a light R. My favourite part though was getting up for popcorn and returning ten minutes later and complaining about the action scene that went unseen. Who gets up for popcorn in the middle of a movie anyway? I'll tell you who: Philistines! That's who. Playa-hatin' lady like that shouldn't even be at the cinema.

Got Sore? Yup. I do. Went skimboarding yesterday for the first time since this whole back thing happened. I have overall body stiffness (understandable as skimboarding works muscles that wouldn't exist otherwise) and a sandrash behind my left shoulder (I only landed hard once, but once is enough it appears). But the worst of all comes from my neck which inexplicably has become a raging center of inflamed muscle-anger. I can't explain it either. I don't think any of my exploits would have worked my neck. Hmm, maybe I just slept on it wrong.

Also, after about thirty minutes of riding, I started to notice that some of the beach's foam was greenish. Instant horro and revulsion swept over me. Then I looked of the beach and notice some scattered yellow sign that upon inspection revealed a massive sewage contamination of all the beaches in the area. *sigh* I'll be pretty upset if I'm peeing blood by tomorrow.

Nooooooooooooooooooo! The hopes and fears of all my years have come crashing down in one fell blow.

My Top 5x5 Most Thoroughly Enjoyed Books

(in no order beyond alphabetical)

Beowulf — translated by Seamus Heaney

Cat's Cradle — by Kurt Vonnegut

The Chronicles of Narnia — by C.S. Lewis

The Count of Monte Cristo — by Alexander Dumas

Foucault's Pendulum — by Umberto Eco

Harry Potter (series) — by J.K. Rowling

High Fidelity — by Nick Hornby

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — by Douglas Adams

The Importance of Being Earnest — by Oscar Wilde