Coolness

Spent the weekend watching the first two disks of Rome. Moved the rest up the netflix queue. Seriously cool. And I love the way they portray everyone too - especially Octavian whose watching everything and adding up all the odds. Favorite scene so far was the one with Atia being so proud of Octavian for seducing Uncle Julius. And then being disappointed when he denied it. THat's a mother-son conversation that you don't hear these days.

I also read the Hunters of Dune - yes, I'm reading the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson Dune books. Deal with it. Actually with Hunters, they didn't have to live up to too much since that's the sequel to Chapterhouse which most Dune Afficiandos hate. Actually I didn't mind the last two Herbert books. He'd pretty much lost all connection to the Atreides family when he killed off Leto II, but they worked on their own merits as stories within the same universe. And besides, he didn't repeat the God Emporer trap which was to have a big worm talking for 400 pages and then dying.

So I enjoyed Hunters. Enjoyable on its own merits. Lots of action. Some of the Herbert philosophy and religious material. BH/KJA couldn't do a 400 pages book with a worm talking but I don't think they want to.

An important date

It's been that long ago but it seems like only yesterday. It's hard to believe that Snape killed Dumbeldore.

Well that's news

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- The 20-year-old son of Anna Nicole Smith has been found dead in the Bahamas, where the former reality TV star and Playboy playmate gave birth to a baby girl days earlier.

Does anyone else read this as if she finally got a daughter so she could get rid of the son? Or am I the only person reading bad things into CNN's wording.

Architecture changes the language

You know I'm just fascinated by the fact that Gothic architecture singlehandedly changed the meaning of the word Goth. Simply because one generation saw those churches and thought "barbaric" and another one saw them and thought "spooky."

Second thought

I was talking to my friend Gabriel last night and we were talking about the Italian Renaissance and how the Germans would just keep marching into Italy and he corrected me somewhat by reminding me that it wasn't really Italy and Germany. It was the papal states and the Holy Roman Empire and a whole lot of fiefdoms in between held together barely by alliances and common languages.

It's just so strange talking about history and not being able to get out of the Nationalist mind set. So I will say that Germany spent about 1000 years walking into Italy to sort things out and then not quite understanding why it was impossible to impose the German model on the Italians. Yet, this is grossly inaccurate since this began as a series of Popes trying to get the Holy Roman Emporer to intervene on their behalf in the 10th century and ended in a truly Nationalistic power grab in post-Mussolini Italy as the Germans took over and began exporting Jews (fun historical fact: As long as Mussolini was alive the Jews of Italy were safe. He even had a Jewish mistress. It was only after his death that the deportations began. Ok that's not exactly fun, but is anything about history really fun. It's all a bit sordid and tragic. Although if you go back far enough you really can't get too choked up. Just think of all those descendents of those that escaped Pompey going back to Pompey - Pompeii? - and looking at the well preserved dead bodies and graffitti and going "COOL!") and can we really call the Ancient Romans Italians and the Ancient Barbaric Tribes (Huns, Goths, etc.) Germans? Or the Ancient Gauls French? Nothing that could define anyone as Goth, Roman or Gaul really applies today. Everyone moved around and had a lot of intertribal sex.

And for the past 200 years we've had Nation States and we've been defining everything based on these nations with clear borders. And we've been using Nationalism as a prejorative term even though the alternatives are tribalism, imperialism and general chaos.

Anyhow that's what I'm thinking about when I should be working.

Show of hands

Who got laid after 9/11?

I'm sad to say that I totally neglected to take advantage of post-9/11 anxiety and horniness. I was trying to be really frum. Geez. Not that I had any real possibilities at the time, but there were some cute girls at the local Hillel. I'm sure a couple of them were single.

The best way to observe 9/11's five year anniversary

Buy my book.



Because if you don't buy a collection of short stories featuring an evil Teddy Bear on the cover, then you're letting the terrorists (or George Bush) win. And you're also contributing to Nationalism and Fascism and all those nasty -isms (but not Communism. That fucker is dead.) And don't think that you can write a self-righteous post in your livejournal about how Bush is wrong (or right) and think that that's going to help matters. You must embrace the first book of Dybbuk Press.

On the other hand, purchasing BADASS HORROR might also combat the creeping fascism that the vast Right Wing (Left wing?) Conspiracy has in store for you. No really. I mean it.

Odd Headline

Florence Leaves Thousands without Power

Well, that's what comes with trying to follow Machiavelli in resisting the Medici brothers.

Good quote that I can't remember

Ok, I haven't listened to the Bob Dylan book today but there's this quote that he gets from his grandmother or mother that goes something like "Be kind to everyone, because everyone is fighting their own hurricane" or storm or...whatever.

And it's bugging me. Not for the usual reasons, but because it's true and it's something that I haven't been very good at following lately. Personal suffering (or worrying) can have so many affects. It can make you more compassionate or less compassionate. It can give you a chip on your shoulder or it can help you to let other people deal with their crap knowing what kind of crap you've dealt with.

Today I was in court. My landlord served eviction papers on me. I was going to get an Order to Show Cause. It took forever. A girl that came in after me and sat on the same bench was visibly upset about being in an eviction court. I almost told her that it was going to be ok and that this rarely turned out badly the first time out. I didn't want to. I resisted it. That was a small matter.

More damning is the fact that when I hear or see someone suffering I don't believe them. I've been conned before. I also have been through more. So my default reaction seems to be "oh stop your crying you baby." which might be helpful SOMETIMES but certainly not all the time, and I fuck that up more often than not. And joking also sometimes works, but not all the time either. It's what I'm good at. A friend is going through shit, joke about it. I'm a laugh riot at funerals - unless someone else is repeating my jokes - badly. But that's another matter.

So when the local homeless guy comes up to me last night with his generalized tale of woe, I was nice to him. But I didn't believe him. I didn't believe him because a month ago he claimed to be working and just needed a little bit to get by. Now he's out of work and without a car (like he ever had one) so I ignore him. I don't think everyone that asks for help is a fucking con artist, but I know that guy is.

Still, I can't assume that everyone is a fucking con artist. Nor can I assume that everyone is just whining. I have my troubles but I deal with them more and I've dealt with them more. I've been poor all my life. It's not a big deal. Ok, it's a big deal when I'm stuck in housing court all morning and I can't get to work, but beyond that it's not a big deal.

Oh - and for anyone that might be worried about that - don't. I got the Order to Show Cause. I have to send two copies certified mail - one to the attorney for the landlord, one to the marshall (so my stuff isn't on the sidewalk next week) and I go in on Wednesday. Rather amusing that the judge told one woman that "you have to work to get evicted in my court." But I also mailed my last payment on Friday. That was a week and a day after I should have mailed it, but that's when I had the money. So now thanks to Student Loans, I'm paid up until October. I just wish my roommate hadn't seen that. Nothing like an eviction notice taped to one's door to panic a roommate.

Feh

New CD for artist formerly known as Cat Stevens
NEW YORK (AP) -- The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens will release his first pop album in 28 years this fall.

Stevens, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam after converting to Islam in the late 1970s, has signed with Atlantic Records in conjunction with his Ya Records label, it was announced Thursday.

"I feel right about making music and singing about life in this fragile world again," the 58-year-old singer-songwriter said in a statement. "It is important for me to be able to help bridge the cultural gaps others are sometimes frightened to cross."

The album, "An Other Cup," is set for release in November. His last studio album was 1978's "Back to Earth."

"Yusuf's new songs are as moving and timeless as the classics that inspired a generation," Atlantic Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman said in a statement. "His spiritual quest is one of the most extraordinary stories of our time -- a life journey marked by courage, devotion and transformation."

The London-born singer had a string of pop hits in the 1960s and '70s including "Here Comes My Baby," "Wild World," "Peace Train" and Moonshadow." After converting to Islam, he changed his name and left the music world.

His charity, Small Kindness, provides aid to orphans and families in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq, among other regions.

Songs on the new album will include "Fatwa is Good For You", "The Zionists Did It" and "It's Time to Smite Rushdie."