hussein

John Cole goes into depth on a subject I've been a little confused about. Why is it any sort of liability that Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein? Why should he run away from it? Are all "Jeffrey"'s somehow linked to Jeffrey Dahmer?

Cole writes:

Barack Obama's middle name is in honor of his grandfather, Hussein, a secular resident of Nairobi, Kenya. Americans may think of Saddam Hussein when they hear the name, but that is like thinking of Stalin when you hear the name Joseph. There have been lots of Husseins in history, from the grandson of the prophet Mohammed, a hero who touched the historian Gibbon, to King Hussein of Jordan, one of America's most steadfast allies in the 20th century. The author of the beloved American novel "The Kite Runner" is Khaled Hosseini.

Exactly. The shallow-minded, xenophobic stupidity of all this is highly depressing.

hd snob

Funny. A week ago I owned no hd or hd related products, and now a few days after having some, I'm incredibly irritated that every single program on every single channel is not in HD.

fun with yahoo messenger

God I love when scammers blindly IM me. Today's episode:

deemama1976 is currently not in your Messenger List.
Add to your Messenger List (Ctrl+Shift+A) Report as Spam (Alt+Shift+R)

deemama1976: H You there?
me: i am
deemama1976: Hi How are you doing?
me: eh, i'm alright, and yourself?
deemama1976: that sound great. i'm also doing great too
deemama1976: my name is rose and how about you
me: Biff
me: do I know you rose?
deemama1976: Nope
me: ooooh
me: cool
deemama1976: Biff nice to meet Rose
deemama1976: you are the first person that I will chat with!
me: where are you from?
deemama1976: I'm originally from west africa but I was born in San Diego
deemama1976: U?
me: san diego
deemama1976: Have you meet anyone in west africa?
me: no not yet
deemama1976: oh alright
deemama1976: where in san diego u from?
me: la jolla
deemama1976: that's great!
deemama1976: do you have pictures to share?
me: just the one in the corner
deemama1976: what do u do ?
me: I own a couple of car dealerships
deemama1976: that's great!
deemama1976: are you married
me: no
deemama1976: same here too!
deemama1976: i'm interested getting to know you more anyway!.If you are interested let's continue and if you are not interested no problem
me: so what would you like to know
deemama1976: everything about you
me: like?
deemama1976: probably it's will leads to marrage
me: you want to get married
deemama1976: yes ofcourse
me: okay
deemama1976: i'm tired of single life!
me: meet me in vegas
deemama1976: yes and you?
me: we'll get married
deemama1976: ok are you interested in long distance?
me: no, you'd have to move here
me: because i want lots and lots of kids.
me: you'd probably always be pregnant
me: but i'm rich, so you don't have to worry
me: hello?

obama rage

Oh talk radio, you make me sick. And yet, I can't quit you.

I was flipping around this morning and heard Bill O'Reilly talking about how Obama is an empty suit, all rhetoric and no solutions. And that continues a trend I've noticed recently. All I keep hearing from these pea-brained mofos is about how Obama just gives good speeches, that he lacks any substance. Well yeah, I guess if you willfully choose to only listen to a couple of speeches, that might be true (actually, it isn't true, Obama has given a plethora of policy oriented speeches). To say that Obama has no policy proposals is proven wrong in about ten seconds with a few quick mouse clicks. Google "Barack Obama" + whatever issue you want. See? Or go to BarackObama.com and look under issues. IT'S ALL RIGHT THERE. You can even download a pdf. You just have to actually *gasp* take ten seconds to look for it.

Saying and repeating that he "has no substance" doesn't make it true. Is it seriously too much to ask that you actually, you know, check before you start spouting this bullshit? These must be the same people too lazy to check snopes before emailing me about the coming jenkem epidemic.

By the way, what is so wrong about giving a good speech? Someone has managed to actually inspire my cynical, jaded ass, and that's a bad thing? What do you want him to do, read his policy papers verbatim out loud? You want him to crunch budget numbers in front of you? Al Gore already tried that, and you mocked him for that. That did the country a lot of good. Assholes.

san diego food tour '08: bronx pizza

Mmmm, Bronx Pizza. I've never been to New York, so I can't personally vouch for its authenticity. But I can tell you, when the Padres played the Yankees in the 1998 World Series, some New Yorkers who happened to be there swore it was the real deal. Who am I to argue?

the tetherballs of bougainville

Oh, man. I just read The Tetherballs of Bougainville by Mark Leyner. I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud so many times from a book. The book is way too absurd to try and summarize, but Leyner is like the bastard child (or maybe father to be more accurate) of George Saunders and John Hodgeman. I'm so glad I gave Leyner another chance, as I didn't like my first encounter with him, My Cousin My Gastroenterologist, which seemed to be weird just for the sake of being weird. But Tetherballs, man, it's just brilliant.

To wit:

"Any asshole with a Masters in Social Work can put on a turban and start issuing fatwas about whom you can and whom you can't mail meat to, but it takes real balls to turn a brunette without a cranium into a blond."

"I don't know about you, but I hate the goddamn beach. I lie there, I feel like a fucking cutlet- drenched in oil, coated in sand, and frying. That's a vacation?"

"Maybe you don't really appreciate your father until he has huge tits".

there will be blood

I finally went to see There Will Be Blood and, I liked it a lot. Like most PT Anderson movies, it's going to take a few viewings to really understand what the movie was "really" about.

DeNiro may be my favorite actor, but I don't think there is much debate that Daniel Day-Lewis is probably the best actor out there. He's simply amazing. He now has three of the most memorable roles I've ever seen (My Left Foot and his role in Gangs of New York being the others).

I do have one MAJOR complaint. The soundtrack. Simply awful. In my opinion, silence would have been the way to go. There were some shots where it the soundtrack worked, such as the opening scene, but generally, it just got in the way and became a distraction. I guess Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood is getting all sorts of praise for the soundtrack, but I found it to be the movies only flaw.

I'll put this at number three for 2007. Behind No Country For Old Men and King of Kong.

fear of success

I know I've hit on this theme a lot, but things and people I root for just do not win. Between the Chargers, Padres, Sacramento Kings, and Fresno State Bulldogs, I have a 1963 AFL Championship and a 1998 NCAA Softball championship. Thats about it.

This losing streak of mine extends to politics. In my voting life, I supported Jerry Brown in 1992, Bill Bradley in 2000, and Howard Dean in 2004 (yes I voted for Clinton in '92 and '96, but only after Brown dropped out in '92, and there was no legit Clinton opposition in '96). All of 'em, losers.

So, now that Barack Obama is having so much success, it makes me rather nervous. I don't know how to deal with it, to tell you the truth. When friends and family tell me how they now support Obama, I respond with "uh, thanks", like somehow they are doing me a favor.

How do Yankees fans, Patriots fans, USC fans, and the like deal with this? I almost feel bad that my guy is winning. This losers mentality I have makes me feel like a Red Sox fan in early October '04. With any luck, in November '08 I'll know what a Red Sox fan circa November '04 felt like.

Pixie is my Co-pilot

10:00 pm

6:00 am

Apologies for shitty camera phone.