Erase Your Head

Yesterday, my much-coveted DVD of Eraserhead 2000 arrived via UPS. Last night I sat in front of my computer and enjoyed it. Kind of like reliving the 70s, but better. For one thing, I didn't need to watch it at midnight at the pot-choked Strand Theater in OB.

The film stands the test of time. Of course it's crude effects-wise, although that worm baby crying in the night still manages to send chills up and down the spine. The movie is an effective nightmare--comical, disturbing, vivid like a fever dream.

The "extras" on the DVD consisted of a rambling narrative by David Lynch. It was black and white, with a big, old-fashioned microphone the only prop at first. Then he started talking into a speaker phone with the disembodied voice of a woman who worked on the film. It seemed like Lynch did anything to avoid revealing the secrets of the movie. The one thing he did say was that no critic has ever come up with an interpretation that matched his own. Oh--and the Girl in the Radiator was not in the original script.

"In Heaven, everything is fine," sings the Girl in the Radiator.

Is it?

Spam Musubi

Sunday was Father's Day, and my parents and I accompanied the Cazins to Callahan's in Mira Mesa. Callahan's is our place to go on Father's or Mother's Day, because it's fun and less crowded than Mimi's.

I gave my dad a PS2 game--God of War--which I'm not sure he'll keep. It's a bit too mature to play with Nathon and Matthew. For dinner, I had my favorite, Bangers and Mash. The Cazins talked about their recent vacation in France, which was interesting in that we could compare notes. They went to Paris and the Bordeaux region, whereas I've always stuck to the north, with my friends the Charpentiers in Haute Marne.

Later that night, Harold and I made our usual midnight run to Ralphs. Talk about a ghetto for lonely bachelors... It looked like a scene from Dawn of the Dead, with a few dishevelled zombies shuffling along behind shopping carts, their eyes glazed over and drops of slobber seeping from their gaping mouths.... But we have met the zombies, and they are US!

This week, work has been light, and I'm enjoying the break while I can. I'm positive it'll pick up soon. Minda brought me a box of Spam Musubi tonight. I wanted to try it ever since Flying Hawaiian recommended it. It's from L&L in town. Funny how Hawaiians and Native Alaskans are the two biggest (and I mean literally) consumers of Spam. I personally haven't touched the stuff since Tia used to make me fried Spam sandwiches.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to catch up on my WoW playing and my writing. And my girls, Oceana and Jessi. Donna remains my buddy in chat and RL, fortunately. She's one smart cookie, and patient too!

Impeach Bush!

Hey hey, ho ho! Bush and Cheney got to go!!

What more can we say? Condi Rice can hit the bricks, too. If she can climb out from under Bush's desk long enough. These guys have led the country to the brink of total disaster.

Once I warned that Bush would break our army in Iraq, like Valens did the Roman army at Adrianople. It seems I was close to the truth.

Speaking of the truth, we have Olbermann, Colbert, and Stewart to keep "telling it like it is," as the hipsters used to proclaim in the 60s.

Dull, Bloated, and Feculent

Last night I rolled Clarence out the door and made a beeline for the movie theater, where we watched Pirates of the Caribbean III on the big screen while munching mushy, fat-dripping nachos and drinking what Keith Olbermann might call "the worst coffee in the worlllllllldddd!!"
The movie gave me a chance to spend the night out, which was great. I've been cooped up all week working long and lonely hours on an editing project. Unfortunately, the movie itself was bloated, dull, and feculent. I use "feculent" here because at one point, in the pirate's den in Singapore, one of the pirates utters the word. At the time, I though, "Oh, cool, a movie with a vocabulary," but little did I realize that would be one of the two highlights of the film, the second being Keith Richards's cameo appearance.

Meanwhile, this past week, I got my new Gateway laptop computer, which is a very sweet machine. Now I can choose where I want to work; in my room on my desktop, or in the livingroom on my laptop. The advantage to the desktop is that it's faster, with a larger screen, and the advantage to the laptop is that it's in the livingroom, where I can watch my big HDTV while working.

The rest of this day, I'll finish working, and tonight I'll go shopping with Harold. My roommate finally paid me some of his back rent, $420 (which, if you knew him, you'd know was a wholly appropriate, if inadequate, amount.

Friday Night in Mira Mesa

After a day of slaving away over a hot FrameMaker file, I got the call from my parents and they came over. We enjoyed a pleasant Chinese take-out dinner and watched a movie called "Save the Last Dance 2." I was amazed to learn MTV Studios had actually produced a 1, much less a 2.
The thing had the word "dance" in the title, so my mom wanted to see it. The one strength in the otherwise bland film about a ballerina-cum-hip hop dancer was that the blonde chick who played the protagonist was reasonably hot.

I did enjoy LOST very much last Wednesday. Whenever the story takes a turn for the "dark side," I'm into it. Plus, they restrained their flashbacks to the previous 8 days on the Island. Unless they introduce some new characters, I really feel the writers have dwelt enough on the past lives of the "losties." Time to move the story relentlessly forward, or get off the writing pot!
Harold came over early tonight and is now fast asleep. Which is where I should be, but I must have that newly discovered "night owl" gene and only feel truly awake in the wee hours of the Nox Tenebrosa (Dark Night).

I'm stuck without a van this weekend, as it was hauled off Thursday night to Van Nuys for the Rehab-paid repairs to the back door and lift. I hope to get it returned before the big Mixer next Thursday.

Next Friday, assuming I have the van, I should be taking a class in Adobe Illustrator. It's one of those free adult education classes. Just right for Bonni to pay for, lol.

Maybe I'll go see Spidey 3 tomorrow, if the lines aren't too horrendous.

Saturday Night at the Grindhouse

Last weekend, Clarence and I went to see "Grindhouse" at the Mira Mesa theater. What a great film! Both the Rodrigues and Tarantino halves were excellent, and I loved the faux previews of movies like "Machete" and "Thanksgiving."

It's really hard to make a tribute to bad movies that doesn't just run over into simple-minded parody, but R and T managed to make the movies entertaining stories in themselves, and not just bad take-offs. Yes, "Grindhouse" was pulpy and violent and lurid, which is just the way a 70s Exploitation Flick should be! There were so many rich moments, great images, and little inside jokes. Every frame had a jewel in it for those who cared to look.

I can't wait for "Grindhouse" on DVD. Definitely a collector's item and a cult favorite for years to come.

The Rest of the Story

So, that night, I lay awake and got practically NO sleep, thinking about yet another van repair bill. And that very Sunday morning, I had been boasting to my parents that I had the van back in cherry shape for the first time since the accident. And that came at no small expense, either! Around $1500 by my reconing, plus another $250 the Dept. of Rehabilitation sank into it.

"Pride goeth before a fall," as the saying goes. But then Monday morning I had the brilliant idea of getting Rehab back involved. I called Cathleeen, the counselor, and she got back to me about 4:45. The next day I had my van towed to the garage, where, unfortunately, it has sat ever since.

The whole stinking job is just a bad alternator, which should take no more than three hours. But, the state's precious paperwork comes first. The result is that my van is sitting at the garage on Miramar Road, instead of my parking space at Esplanade. And I will be stuck inside my home all weekend.

Argh!! But even with all the frustrations, I'll take slow and free over fast and expensive.

Laissez les bons temps roulez, mon fils!

L'Ecume des jours

This has been an odd week. First, Harold and I drove to Ralphs in Mira Mesa to shop around 10:30 Sunday night. I've been going shopping with Harold lately, so I can get the food I want, rather than the generic crapola he usually buys on the cheap.

Oh, I should have known things were not about to go well, when we missed my tall red head at the cashier's. Yipes! Not looking good there, after 3 missed weeks. Anyway...

We left the store about midnight, groceries in tow. When we got into the van, we discovered it wouldn't start. The battery was as dead as King Tut's mother. While Harold went back to the store to see if anyone had jumper cables, I used my cell to call Western Towing. They promised me a tow truck within 35 minutes. By the time I hung up on Wester, Harold was back, so he tried starting the van again. And it cranked right over as though nothing had happened. "Yippee!" we thought.

Well, a block from Ralphs, at the light at Mira Mesa Blvd, the van started to stutter, lurch, and die. Somehow we got through the intersection in tact, then slunk our way home down the side streets to my complex. Lights off, rolling on momentum only, we dreaded every corner stop sign. Luckily, Mira Mesa at midnight Sunday is the Dead Zone. They roll up the sidewalks as soon as the Philipinos hit the sack (i.e., early).

Once we got home, we got Brad to jump my van enough to get the lift down and get my cold ass out....

-- More tomorrow.

David

Go Tell the Spartans...

... Their movie sucks! Actually Harold and I went to the Mira Mesa theater and watched 300 last night, at the late show. The movie didn't really "suck," but I was a little disappointed over it. I admired the graphical ingenuity and the way the "graphic novel" (i.e., comic book) was translated to the Big Screen. And Gerard Butler has been a favorite action star of mine since he played Atila the Hun on a USA Network movie a few years ago.

Overall, though, the characterization was flat. Leonidas, his wife, and everyone else pretty much played on a single emotional level. I, and most people, would like characters we can truly get involved with on MANY levels. We all are, when you consider it, personalities with more facets than a diamond.

300 was a good movie for the 13-year-old in all of us. That's why the Greeks ended up fighting Orcs and Ogres in the middle of the melee, and broke ranks in the heat of battle. I really would have liked to see Peter Jackson or Ridley Scott take on the subject matter.

Still, ancient and medieval history is a rich subject. I'd really like to see one of the above-named directors tackle the story of Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, or Clovis. Justinian and Theordora, with their fabled romance and historic struggle during the Nike riots would also serve as excellent subjects, as would Arminius's revolt of the Cherusci against the Romans.

Snoozefest

This week has been pretty good, in terms of work. I actually have put in near to fulltime hours, for the first time since last September. The work can't come too soon either, since I still have to pay off my damn dentist and car-repair bills.

My parents have been gone all week to Cabo. I haven't heard from them, but I'm assuming they're having a good time. :)

LOST was okay this week. It was good to get back into Hurley's life, and see Cheech Marin playing his dad. But, the VW Bus segment was unbelievable. After all those years lying on its side as a wreck, the van would have lost its gasoline and other fluids, and the engine would have been frozen up. Not to mention, the tires would have been very, very flat.

I know the island's supposed to work miracles, but the episode lacked credibility. We'll see what next week brings!

I missed ROME this week; it was a rerun. All the networks are afraid to run competition to the Academy Awards, though God only knows why they are afraid of that drab, long-winded snoozefest.

Off to See the Wizard

Tuesday I went to Sharp Hospital to see Doctor Landers for the usual trach change routine. He's a great guy, and we had fun chatting, as always. Funny, we even seem to agree on politics, e.g., the current mayor of San Diego is an incompetent idiot.

Harold went with with me this time, which made the trip much more enjoyable and laid back than when I go with "Joe and the Volcano," or "Joe the Volcano." On the way back, we stopped by my dentist to pick up a bottle of flouride moutwash.

As my van bumped down Kearny Villa's potholed lanes, I joked to Harold that the citizens of our fair city should "go medieval" on the municipal government's collective ass: tie them one by one to an oxcart and drag them over the crack-filled pavement until they agree to allocate money to road repair.

We need to quit letting Republicans and land developers run our city. Shortsighted government has pretty much wrecked the place, although Harold makes a good point that the weather will always draw folks nigh.

Meanwhile, my ups and downs with K continue, and I'm looking forward to O's visit on Thursday. :)

Tragicomic

Her actions were funny and sad at the same time, kind of like watching Bozo get struck by a bus. -- Random thought for the day...

The Baptism of Lucius Junius Brutus

OK, so this past Sunday's Rome was a little too homoerotic for my tastes. Two scenes of buggery, a naked guy wading into a river, Pullo and Vorenus wrestling on the floor.... It was a bit much!

I found it fascinating that the authors chose to have Brutus assume a Christlike figure in his self-baptism in the river. As he emerged in slow motion from the water, rivulets angling down his face and over his beard, I could not help but think of Christian baptism, and the whole John the Baptist in the River Jordan image.

What makes that Christlike image all the more fascinating is the total inversion of Brutus' historical role. Normally he represents the secular prefiguring of Judas, not Christ--"Et tu, Brute" forshadowing the betrayer's kiss.

I'll be interested in seeing how Rome's creators carry this part of the story forward.

The Decision Maker

Yesterday I saw our Moron-in-Chief on the news saying that "People are condemming my plan without even giving it a chance." Gee, King George, why would they do that? Hmm ... Let me think. How about these reasons:

• Your administration's utter and abject failure with previous initiatives in Iraq.
• The minor consideration that HUMAN LIVES ARE INVOLVED. Psst--Georgy Boy, running a war ain't like running a failing oil company into the ground. Real men, women, and children will loose their lives due to your faulty planning and execution.
• The idiots who can turn Saddam Hussein into a hero are truly unfit to govern the USA, much less Iraq.

Roma Invicta

Last week, HBO's "Rome" debuted its second season. I recorded it on my DVR and have enjoyed two remarkable episodes now. The character development, acting, and scene settings are all soar above the usual mediocre television fare. Bravo to HBO! It almost leads me to forgive you for cancelling "Carnivale."

I've also nearly finished Season 2 of "Lost." And just in time for the beginning of the new season in a couple of weeks. I noticed in the previews on ABC.com that the upcoming shows will explain Jack's experiences in Thailand to us. I'm curious to find out about the tattoo....

In other news, I started the Tech Comm II class at UCSD. It's a hybrid course, with 3 of the 7 meetings in the classroom--the rest online. I'm not a big fan of online classes, but this is the trend for the future, evidently. I can certainly see its uses in adult education. At any rate, I'll be glad to get the certificate finished. Then I can get back to my novel. Yay!

Until the next time, farewell!
David

The Beatific Smile of the Newly Dead

Against my better judgment, I watched that jerky cell phone video of Saddamn Hussein's hanging last week. Overall, it was highly distasteful, and showed just how much the United States and Iraqi "government" have bollixed up that country's future.

Saddam, as Don Imus said, "Went out like Jimmy Cagney." He was defiant, yet seemingly calm at the end. And the face, flushed with the last blood of life, looked almost happy as it dangled grotesquely from the end of the hangman's noose. His glassy eyes were half closed, and he almost seemed to be smiling, like a sailor might smile when viewing the shores of his home port after a long sea voyage.

I was discussing the whole thing with Clarence. He brought up how Saddam was a tyrant and mass murderer. "That's true," I replied, "but one man's bloody tyrant is another man's martyr." I reminded Clarence that like Braveheart, Saddamn had refused drugs before his execution. And like that famed Scottish hero, his hands had been bloodied by the deaths of the innocent.

History is not always fiction written by the victors. At least--not the short-term victors. Sometimes centuries will pass before the collective memory of mankind sorts out who were the heroes and who the villains.

Just my thoughts for today.

Bonne Année 2007!

New Year's Eve came and went without any fuss at my place. The Saturday before, I went to Bill and Vicki's place for a small party they held for Adam, their son. Adam was visiting from Washington, DC, where he works for a nonprofit progressive organization.

The Eve itself, my parents came over and we watched Ice Age II on DVD and ate pizza. They left about 11:00 pm. Nobody's into wild parties anymore! Getting old, I guess, though I certainly don't feel it in any other way.

Sci Fi had the usual Twilight Zone marathon going on Sunday and Monday. Even though I know every single episode by heart, I can't resist the old show's allure. What's more charming and fun-filled than a weekend in Black & White spent in the corpse-pale company of the late Rod Serling?

Finally, it took me all week, but I wended my way through Season I of Lost--Minda's great Xmas gift to me. It really helped me take my mind off stress and enjoy the mystery all over again. This being a slow TV weelk, it was even better to sit back and enjoy Kate, Jack, Hurley, Locke, and the rest. Better they suffer than I.... Isn't that the root of all dramatic fiction? The catharsis... purging of the emotions in a less harmful way.

Christmas Day 2006

Christmas Day 2006

My family does our Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. This allows us to just relax and enjoy the holiday stress free. This year was no different; everyone went to my parents' home in Mira Mesa for the festivities.

First, even before I went to my parents', the day got off to a great start when the Chargers pulled out a last-minute win over Seattle. I knew, from there the day could only get better.

Harold was with me, since his wife and kids were doing their own thin at the wife's brother-in-law's house. So, after he dropped his boys back off at home in North Park, he drove the van back to my place; we packed it full of presents and headed to my parents' house.

Dorene, Richard, and the boys were already at the house, as they have been staying there this week. Normally they live in Northern California. Tien and Alicia brought their brood down, and my uncle was in attendance as well.

My mom has grown quite skillful at planning small dinner parties without a lot of fuss n' muss. We dined on sandwiches from Albertson's, with deviled eggs, chips and salsa, and fresh veggies. For desert, we enjoyed Dutch Apple Pie and a "Birthday Cake for Jesus."

I got my parents a Playstation 2 for Christmas. I thought they could loosen up a little, and they'd have fun playing games with my nephews (whom I also bought PS2 games).

The Flemings and Hickmans each bought me Barnes & Noble gift cards, which I intend to put to good use. My parents generously bought me a new HP printer/fax/scanner. I was surprised to receive such an expensive gift from them this year; I do intend to put the scanner to good use, however.

My plan is to scan and archive all the old family photos, some of which date back to the 19th century, and keep them on DVDs. The best ones will be mounted on the Web, in a special home page I would like to construct.

The only person missing this year was Monica, who could not make it due to illness in her new family. I hope to catch up with her later! (

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!
David

Twas the Week before Christmas

'Twas the Week before Christmas

This past week, I got almost all my shopping done. I have been procrastinating on cards, though. Tonight I will work on getting those finished and out the door.

Currently the outside temperature at Miramar is a chilly 55 degrees. Heavy rain is expected to hit the area tonight and tomorrow. That makes me happy!

This morning Harold and I drove over to the Round Table Pizza in University City and I attended my company meeting, along with Bonni, Stef, Jane, and Jim. We all had some fun laughing at a certain product, while Stef gave a demo of it.

My plans for the upcoming week include some more work, plus wrapping presents and decorating the tree.  Donna and Tom were supposed to come over last week and help me decorate, but their dog Snappy needed surgery, so they had to postpone the visit. I bought Season 1 of Rocky and Bullwinkle on DVD and can't wait to crack it open with them.

Meanwhile, I watched The Lost Room on Sci Fi last week. It was good! So good, in fact, that Clarence actually STFU during most of it. The only thing about the show I didn't care for was the end. The part where the cop shoots the Occupant seemed contrived, and there really was no scientific or supernatural explanation of the "inciting incident" that set the whole sequence of events in motion in 1961. My original theory was that the room had migrated to our universe from a parallel universe. However, the comments about the Occupant--that he had suddenly disappeared from OUR timeline, seemed to contradict that notion. Still, they left enough open ends that there can easily be a sequel (i.e., the whole "Profit" thread with the bad guy, Ruber.).

Finally, Go Chargers!!

The Allure of Vampires

Vampires are attractive, erotic, exciting. Else Anne Rice wouldn’t have gotten rich writing about them, before she turned to the Dark Side (Born-Again Christianity). You know they’re draining you of your blood, but you open your neck to the same old seeping wound. The mark they leave brands your soul as theirs until you either fall into shadows or break the spell forever.

Friends can help you throw off the chains of enchantment. Everyone needs a personal Van Helsing to see them through the rough times. Some of us are lucky enough to have more than one guide over the dangerous passes and inside the darkest caverns. The only fear is, in grasping onto your friends, do not drag them into the abyss with you.