Being 23:

Survived 5 years of legal alcohol consumption.

Gone 6 years without learning to drive.

Same age as Scott Pilgrim circa volumes 1-4.

Only voted once.

Lived in 4 (soon 5) different houses.

Visited more than 10 countries

Spent 17 years in full time education

Had more than 10 jobs

Been on LJ for four years

Should be old enough to know better

Still too young to care.

I should be doing some French or working out or something but blah. Meme.

( also )

So today Jack Jones died, and the news is full of this kind of shit:



Hilarious. Somehow I don't recall Hitler burning too many American white anglo-saxon protestants, you ignorant pricks.

Here's what the always awesome Kris Kristofferson has to say to the likes of you:

Up from the basement came one of country music's brightest stars (who shall remain nameless). At that moment in time, the Star had a monster radio hit about bombing America's enemies back into the Stone Age.

"Happy birthday," the Star said to Willie, breezing by us. As he passed Kristofferson in one long, confident stride, out of the corner of his mouth came "None of that lefty shit out there tonight, Kris."

"What the fuck did you just say to me?" Kris growled, stepping forward.

"Oh, no," groaned Willie under his breath. "Don't get Kris all riled up."

"You heard me," the Star said, walking away in the darkness.

"Don't turn your back to me, boy," Kristofferson shouted, not giving a shit that basically the entire music industry seemed to be flanking him.

The Star turned around: "I don't want any problems, Kris — I just want you to tone it down."

"You ever worn your country's uniform?" Kris asked rhetorically.

"What?"

"Don't 'What?' me, boy! You heard the question. You just don't like the answer." He paused just long enough to get a full chest of air. "I asked, 'Have you ever served your country?' The answer is, no, you have not. Have you ever killed another man? Huh? Have you ever taken another man's life and then cashed the check your country gave you for doing it? No, you have not. So shut the fuck up!" I could feel his body pulsing with anger next to me. "You don't know what the hell you are talking about!"

- The Last Outlaw Poet by Ethan Hawke, Rolling Stone magazine 1076

(also - holiday pay next month, woo!)

Tributes to union stalwart (and Spanish Civil War vet) Jones

Sometimes people make me physically fucking ill.

The last outlaw poet

It's time to wallow in nerdery, since my better half returns to the country in under a month and I'll probably have to rein that sort of thing in a bit after that.

here's what I think about... (spoilers ensue)

( New Red Dwarf )

Sorry Andy.

Then there's...

( Caprica )

Everyone fighting the fight in London this week; forget the filth, forget Russel Brand and the poser brigade, forget the propaganda of the tabloid headlines, just remember...

The Streets Are Ours

We stood in front of tanks at Tiananmen Square,

From Berlin to Chiapas we are everywhere,

And over the sirens of the police cars,

You can hear us shout “The streets are ours!”


'69 Chicago ushered in a new age,

We brought the war home with the days of rage,

And over the sirens of the police cars,

You can hear us shout “The streets are ours!”


In Seattle we chased out the World Trade Organisation,

On Mayday we gave Winston Churchill a mohican,

Kept the water for the people in Cochabamba,

Demanded autonomy on the dawn of NAFTA,

So send in the clowns, someone send in the clowns,

The black bloc, the antiFA and the undergrounds,

A big, pink, marching samba band,

And we'll take our own route that ain't pre-planned,


From the social centres and the Brighton Schnews,

From Indymedia reporting our own news,

Over the sirens of the police cars,

You can hear us shout “The streets are ours!”


We threw the bomb at Haymarket Square,

We fly the black flag everywhere,

And over the sirens of the police cars,

You can hear us shout “The streets are ours!”

Friday night: Frank Turner - Fucking amazing.
Saturday night: Roddy Doyle - Fucking amazing.
Sunday Night: Watchmen - Very good indeed.

After all that, I think I'm going to go back to Queens and do an MA. This real life shit doesn't seem to be working out all that well for me. Here's a meme from spookysaint121

( Yes I should be working on my application of course )

The reason why my country has been so plagued with terrorism for the past 40 years has now become clear. We do not ask the same sensible questions that the U.S Department of Homeland Security asks holiday-makers when they visit the country:

Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved , in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?

Some thoughts:

It may seem silly to you or I - but a lot of people visit America. maybe once in a while this catches a guy out -
"Well after I left the SS I worked for the Stasi for a number of years as part of the espionage and sabotage department and - wait. Shit. I mean... I'm visiting my Aunt Muriel in Topeka. Seriously this time."

What if you say "yes, I was the minister of Propoganda for the German National Socialist Party from 1933 until my death in 1945."
Answer: The next days Daily Mail headline reads "GOEBBELS CAUGHT AT O'HARE INTL. AIRPORT MASQUERADING AS 22 YEAR OLD IRISHMAN."

Sadly, I can actually see why they have to ask. Lets say they do let a genocidal Nazi super-spy terrorist sabateur in to the country, s/he will just be like, "well no one asked me if that's what I did. I just assumed you guys were cool with it."

Note to any DHS staff reading this: I am not a genocidal Nazi super-spy terrorist sabateur. Honestly.

The discovery of http://www.dasouth.com and http://www.p4cm.com has pretty much ruined my day.

It's not that I get overly upset about these kinds of things... it's just that I'm having kind of a slow day.

Seriously though - what the fuck is wrong with you people? Why can't you just live your life with some degree of moderation without having to paint the world in black and white?

This is all warren Ellis' fault for linking this:


Which is at least somewhat funny to look at, if somewhat disturbing.

Oh yeah and Thather's daughter called someone a Golliwog and then refused to apologise. My word.


Anyway. That's enough of that nonsense. New music for today!

The King Blues - Save The World, Get The Girl.
This is a fun album. I literally just finished listening to it for the first time. It's kind of like... Gogol Bordello via The Streets and Billy Bragg. Weird. But good weird. I think.

Rolo Tomassi - Hysterics
Hysterics is an excellent title for this album. I'm only four tracks in at the moment and oh my god it is insane. Rolo are another one of these hardcoresque bands that seem to be hip right now that I just can't seem to get in to at all. Maybe I'm getting old or something. Maybe it'll grow on me. Gallows grew on me, after all.

Important announcement:

I am officially gay for Frank Turner. Officially.

That is all.

I don't know why this just annoyed me all of a sudden, but I just saw a thing on someones blog and it pisses me off when people pretend that all the old classic landmark films like Birth of a Nation or Battleship Ptempkin are as good or actually better than most modern cinema.

Yes I have a film degree - yes I stand by this.

These films were revolutionary for their time; that's true. The idea of feature length narrative film, the use of visual montage, recreating history on screen - these things were all giant leaps forward in cinema, but we've leapt so much further since then!

Lets look at it this way - The Ford Model-T was a revolutionary car design. It was cheap, reliable (for its time) and easy to produce. The Bugatti race cars of the 1930s were technical marvels compared to anything else available at the time.

The model-T is so much shittier than the shittiest car that is made anywhere in the world, by anyone, today. There's 18 wheel trucks that go faster than any Bugatti.

God damnit people, you don't actually go driving around in these cars these days and try to tell people it's better than driving a Ford Focus, do you?

One film I think is an exception to this rule is Citizen Kane. You know why? Because Citizen Kane actually tells a good fucking story. The problem with all these early classics is that they might have been miles ahead of the competition in form or technique but they couldn't tell a story for dick.

I find it very difficult to give a shit about any of the characters in Nation or Ptempkin - and that's why they're boring to watch. Come on - it's okay - lets just admit it - they're boring to watch.

Look, fair enough - that bit with the pram falling down the stairs is groundbreaking - but I liked it better in The Untouchables when I actually cared about what else was going on in the film.

These films are interesting but they're not very entertaining. It's not that i'm even down on silent films - The General and Gold Rush are both awesome. I'm just down on films that are too long, have poor pacing, poor narrative structure, poor character development and yet are still supposedly better than say, Ghostbusters II.

Yes, they were revolutionary for their day, but their day was nearly a hundred years ago and I swear to god I'd rather watch the spongebob movie.


Sorry - I don't know where all that came from!

Hey kids! You just know it's going to be a good day when you send your girlfriend packing back to the other side of the planet and then hurry home just in time to cough up some blood and discover that there's a right wing tv station named after you! Good times!


Actually, i feel a lot better after coughing up all that gack, and I'm going to Chicago and Madison in like 4 weeks anyway so I guess things aren't all that bad.

That remidns me, does anyone on my flist live in Illinois or Wisconsin? And if not, why not? Except for the obvious fact that it seems to be ball-freezing like... all the time.

In other news...food!

( Food meme from spookysaint121 )

It's time for my musical rundown of 2008! It wont be as detailed as last years, as I have to go back to work soon.

( Ani Difranco - Red Letter Year )

( Flogging Molly - Float )

( Machinae Supremacy - Overworld )

( Immortal Technique - The 3rd World )

( Dan Le Sac vs Scroopius Pip - Angles )

( Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart )

( Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer? )

( Snow Patrol - A Hundred Thousand Suns )

( Rise Against - Appeal To Reason )

Hmm. Spose that was about as detailed as last years. And yes, before you ask, I should be writing. Shutup shutup shutup shutup!

Well it's christmas eve, and I have to go back to my dads house in an hour and make a cheesecake. Wish me luck!

Here's the christmas meme:

( Christmas stuff )

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! Last Friday I broke warren_ellis's X-Box (-12 points). In February I bought porn for brianwood (-10 points). Last Wednesday I committed genocide... Sorry about that, hey_friend (-5000 points). In January I ruled Canada as a cruel and heartless dictator (-700 points). In August I ate my brussel sprouts (1 points). Overall, I've been naughty (-5721 points). For Christmas I deserve a lump of coal! Sincerely, outboundlight

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

In my defence, Warren Ellis definetely had it coming. Also, if I had to buy porn for anyone - it would be Mr Wood. Randomly this app has chosen only comics related people from my flist and now I look like a huge nerd.

For a change.

So the two days I was expecting to work on the George Best film at the end of the week have fallen through. I'm kind of disapointed; I was really looking forward to catching up with some of the local freelancers before Christmas. I was also looking forward to 2 days pay at BBC daily rate. Alas.

I'll live.

I also got a lovely email from the chaps at Straandlooper, who had extremely nice things to say about the sample writing that I sent them. They want me to come in for a chat - but as far as I know the next commissioning rounds in this part of the world aren't for another few months (at least) so I'm not expecting much from them right away. It was still great to get such positive professional feedback. I'm almost starting to feel like a real writer!

Almost.

Still waiting to find out about penning an episode of Seacht. They've already postponed it once so I hope they're not fobbing me off...

Anyway - enough about me. Here's some thoughts about some media I consumed recently. Enjoy.
Or don't. I doubt anyone even reads these posts when they go over like... 10 lines.

( Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis )

( Californication Series 2 )

Goddamn it janey_27, you need to watch that shit right now. Callum Kieth Rennie, for gods sake woman! CKR!!

.

From http://www.thefword.org.uk via Warren Ellis:


Incredibly cool and beautiful singer Amanda Palmer (of Dresden Dolls fame) has been forced to search for a new record label after Roadrunner refused to promote her latest single, video and album. Why? Because she refused to let them remove shots of her “fat” belly from the video for Leeds United, and is therefore “uncommercial”.

No. Fucking. Words.

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,--
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.


A man fires a rifle for many years. and he goes to war. And afterwards he comes home, and he sees that whatever else he may do with his life - build a house, love a woman, change his son's diaper - he will always remain a jarhead. And all the jarheads killing and dying, they will always be me. We are still in the desert.

Just a little thing about the 40 woman protest... which I missed today because I waste all my time working on films that noone even watches.

tiptoeing through the used condoms
strewn on the piers
off the west side highway
sunset behind the skyline of jersey
walking towards the water
with a fetus holding court in my gut
my body highjacked
my tits swollen
I'm sore
the river has more colors
at sunset than my sock
drawer ever dreamed of
I could wake up screaming sometimes
but I don't
I could step off the end of this pier
but I've got shit to do
and I've an appointment on tuesday
to shed uninvited blood and tissue
I'll miss you I say to the river
to the water
to the son or
daughter I thought better of
I could fall in love with
jersey at sunset
but I leave
the view
to the rats
and tiptoe back

http://libcom.org/news/protests-belfast-support-womens-right-choose-15102008