January 25th thru the 31st, 2004

The movies were pretty good. Spellbound is a documentary following a few of the kids who went to the National Spelling Bee contest in 1999. It didn't try to hand us a moral or even a perspective-- it just documented an American tradition. I like that sort of straightforward thing. The Safety of Objects was weird. There was a definite Happiness vibe, as well as an American Beauty vibe. In the cast is Patricia Clarkson who is 45 and so damn hot that I think I should start a "babes over 35" web page. Also Moira Kelly who should just fly up here and marry me.

Oh, almost forgot-- I returned Prince and picked up a game for the PS2 called Manhunt. I do not recommend this game. When I say it shows graphic depictions of ritualistic murder, I am not exaggerating. And not in a cartoony or goofy kind of way. I mean sneaking up behind someone, putting a bag over his head, and choking him to death while you stab him in the kidneys. Have they gone too far?

Okay, I might as well rant for a while. I was in the gym, running, and Jerry Springer was on one of the TVs. I had on my headphones but I could read the closed captioning. Basically, one woman was suspicious that her best friend was sleeping with her boyfriend. First it's just the one woman on stage. Then her friend came out, and immediately they started to fist fight, with the bouncers holding them back. And very soon, I swear I am not making this up, each woman ripped her own clothes off and kept fighting. They were both obviously angry, but I don't know WHY the clothes came off. These were not sexy ladies.

I don't believe in censorship. If people want to watch white trash fight naked on Jerry Springer, let 'em. If people want to play video games involving serial killing, let 'em. Just don't try to justify it. Don't tell me its about artistic integrity or freedom of speech or anything else attempting to be noble. It's crap. Its all a bunch of crap. And we let it exist because we do not want anyone to take our own crap away. But it's still crap.

Rant over. For now.

I went to SBC for the Tuesday Night Coffee thing. Some new people, which rocks. Some assholes tried to tell us we had to move the tables back when we left. I played it cool though, and didn't tell the guy off. I could have. But I am way too damn cool. Then we went to Rosita's and I had a taco. Afterwards I gave one of the new people a ride home, played some spades and backgammon with Pianoforte, and had me some Sleepy Time Tea. The end.

Shall I rant? I don't know. In my opinion, the kid was treated very unfairly. He's probably more "African" (the continent) then virtually anyone else at the school. If the school meant that award to be for people of a particular melanin-enhanced hue, they should have said so, and not suspended the kid for calling them out on their use of a particular word.

One time in my own high school a boy was called into the office for wearing a t-shirt that bore an advertisement: "Give me Rossignol or give me Head." They told him he had to go home and remove the shirt or face suspension. He asked them to explain why-- he was a skiing enthusiast, and Rossignol and Head are both names for ski equipment. They refused to tell him what they found offensive about the phrase, and so he refused to remove the shirt. When his parents were called in, they, too, insisted the school explain what was offensive about the phrase.

Everyone knows why the phrase is offensive. It was as if the school could not verbally articulate a particular sex act for fear of embarrasment. They would rather suspend someone than say out loud that oral sex exists. But the issue here was not that the phrase was offensive, but the way the school handled it. If the administrators had said "we think some people might not appreciate your shirt. Would you do us a favor?" I am sure the kid and his parents would have been more than happy to oblige. But they came across with threats, and so the kid was forced to fight back.

The other night at Seattle's Best some jerks told us we should put our chairs back, and we refused. If they has asked us to, we would have been quick to help. I believe that if the school in Omaha had asked the kid to withdraw his application for the award, the situation could have been dealt with in a less controversial manner. I guess my rant is about how people are too quick to make demands when appealing to person's desire for decency is much much easier.

In the evening I helped a friend put together furniture and ate chicken soft tacos which were damned good.