It’s a Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094. Cost me 600 bucks, 150 cheaper than at the regular price. I got to Best Buy this morning right as they opened, and felt sort of numb: About fifty people were lined up outside. I thought to myself, Shit, and glumly strode up to the entrance. People were going in, though. People other than those in line. Turned out my neighborhood electronics superstore had just gotten in a batch of Wiis, and that’s why people were lined up. Several long, tense moments later (There were a few people in front of me, also purchasing laptops; I thought I might have to murder a very nice lady who was torn between the laptop I was after and a different, cheaper Compaq) I strolled out, a brand new piece of hardware I didn’t really need clutched under one arm and a shit-eating grin on my face. Good times.
For those who care, here are some of the basic specs:
- Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2050
- DL DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
- 14.1″ widescreen
- 80GB hard drive
- 512MB PC4200 DDR2 SDRAM
- 5-in-1 bridge media adapter
Since this isn’t my primary computer, I didn’t really want a 15″ screen. I wanted something a little smaller, a little more portable. I missed this one on sale a few weeks back, and was fucking excited to see it in today’s ad. What amazes me is, compared to my other, four-year-old lappytop, just how much goddamn lighter this one is. I love it.
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I like the holiday, because I adore turkey and mashed potatoes, but otherwise it’s just another day — albeit one that I don’t have to work. So yeah, I guess I really dig Thanksgiving because of that. I didn’t get any extra days off, per se . . . but I worked half-days on Wednesday and Friday, out by noon, so I guess I should shut my fucking mouth and stop complaining.
It’s been a good few days. Just got back from Nate’s a bit ago. He, his girlfriend Michelle, and myself did some shopping (I got two shirts at Target!), then went back to his house and watched the newly purchased The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. It was enjoyable, in that corny sort of way the franchise is known for. The cars were sweet, and, of course, it didn’t have the most awkward-looking actor in Hollywood in it: Paul “Bro” Walker.
Speaking of movies, I also saw the new Bond movie earlier in the week. Casino Royale is for the most part a really cool movie. Daniel Craig makes a badass James Bond, though I’ll have to see what he’s like in at least another Bond movie before I can proclaim him my favorite. He’s a much more detached character, playing Bond early in his 007 career. Much less smooth and suave, a little more hard-nosed; by the end of the movie, however, you see the beginnings of the slow transformation into a Sean Connery-esque secret agent. The film itself, though a tad overlong, did a good job of setting the stage for some of the familiar Bond tropes: like why he’s such a goddamn womanizer and why he wears tuxedos. The movie’s worth seeing solely for the excellent foot chase that occurs towards the beginning. I saw it and I went, “Damn.”
Time to go pound away at Vengeance Interruptus a little more before bed.
I hate that there’s nothing interesting and nothing to do here, I hate that we don’t have a bookstore here because most of the residents are fucking illiterate retards, I hate whoever the hell allowed BW3′s to open in the tiny-ass plaza they’re at where there’s no fucking parking. I hate that the morons who run the Tim Horton’s in the same plaza are fucking cowards and refuse to do anything to BW3′s for using up ALL the goddamn parking — even the spots clearly marked “TIM HORTON”S CUSTOMERS ONLY.” I hate football, including Ohio State and Michigan, and every last one of the pathetic sons of bitches who descend to BW3′s to watch some stupid game. I hate BW3′s shitty atmosphere, their crappy, overpriced food, and their goddamn nickname “B-Dub’s.” And why the hell is it called “BW3′s” anyways? Shouldn’t it be BW2′s? Last time I checked it was called “Buffalo Wild Wings,” not “Buffalo Wild Wing Wackstravaganza,” or some other lame bullshit. Assholes.
And most of all, I hate the fact that I can’t do a goddamn thing about any of this shit — except move the hell away from Englewood, which I am in the near-future.
Sometimes I think there’s something wrong with me. Yeah, I know I’m setting myself up with this one, but I really do. For example, I was working on Vengeance Interruptus, and I was trying to think of a word to describe something as translucent . . . except “translucent” didn’t come to mind. “Diaphanous” did. Now I was fairly positive that diaphanous is a word, but I wasn’t sure of its meaning. I at least figured I was using it in the wrong context. So I looked it up on Dictionary.com — which along with Thesaurus.com make up two of my favorite web sites, I might add — and here’s what I got:
1. very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or translucent.
2. delicately hazy.
See? Who the fuck comes up with diaphanous first when trying to think of something transparent? Me, that’s who. It’s like I have some sort of nerd complex when it comes to my lexicon. Sheesh.
The pseudo-actual trailer for The Simpsons Movie has been released. (I say “pseudo” because there isn’t a whole lot more there than in the teaser.) You may have already seen it if you watched this past Sunday’s episode. I don’t know this first-hand, of course; I wouldn’t because I forgot to record the episode. But I do have it on reliable authority (read: the Internet) that it aired then.
There isn’t much substance to the trailer, but it’s pretty clever and did put a smile on my face. I like that it’s so proud of its 2D status, and rightfully so. It seems goddamn CGI movies are everywhere these days. And besides, a 3D Simpsons movie would just be immoral; a crime against humanity, if you will.
You can watch the trailer here. Or here if you still have puny dial-up.
Moving on, the Washington Post has an interesting article up: “Democrats Find Lessons in GOP Reign.” It details how the new Democratic majority plans to be equal parts cautious and ambitious after coming into power, the latter being most prevalent in their planned first 100 hours:
House Democratic leaders have put forward an ambitious opening salvo for January, a 100-hour legislative blitz that includes raising the minimum wage, boosting alternative-energy research and repealing tax breaks for oil companies. They also want to beef up seaport screening, expand college tuition assistance, boost stem cell research and allow the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices under Medicare.
House Democrats also hope to approve rules changes to limit the influence of lobbyists, offer the minority party more input on legislation, curb home-state pet projects in spending bills and, possibly, give the District of Columbia voting rights on the House floor.
I have good feelings about the next two years. So long as the Democrats don’t go fucking batshit insano right off the bat and immediately alienate the moderate or more Republican-leaning citizens who helped get them into power, they might actually be able to start turning the country towards a better, more hopeful future.
Now that this election is behind (and thank Gods for it, too; I was already sick of all the campaign ads and rhetoric back in September), I’m starting to look towards the ’08 Presidential election. Currently, it seems Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham-Clinton are the front runners for the Democratic nomination, with John McCain leading the Republican nomination, but a whole lot can change in two years.
And now I’ll finish with some shameless self-promotion: Remember, in 2020, vote Josh Bales of the People’s Party For A United Earth for President.
I’m already starting to work on my stump speech. Here’s a rough excerpt:
“I will turn this planet into a Paradise, an Eden, not seen since two mythical celebrities never walked the Earth. And those who would oppose such a Paradise will be gently educated with harsh and punitive measures.”
Congratulations, Mister Ted Strickland — you are now the Governator of Ohio! Strickland seems to have won 60% of the vote, versus Blackwell’s puny 37%. These statistics are only projections, and may change slightly. The point, however, remains, that a majority of Ohioans — or at least those with the intelligence to vote — have removed their collective heads from their asses. Gods only hope that they had enough sense, an urge for change, to kick out DeWine. Guess we’ll know later tonight.
I don’t know about you all, but my polling place was packed. I meant to go early this morning before work, around 6:30 . . . a notion I remembered halfway to Huber Heights. So instead I went at about 5:45 pm, and had to wait in line for twenty minutes. It wasn’t too bad; I made small talk with a hot goth girl and watched in amazement as some guy bitched that he “didn’t know he had to have his ID to vote.” I mean, really. It’s only been publicized just about everywhere.
All said, it was nice to see a lot of people out voting, especially during a midterm election, when turnout is historically less than during a Presidential election year. I’ll be curious to see what the turnout was like compared with the shitty 2002 election. My thoughts then were a little bleak. I’m considerably more upbeat about the results this time around.
UPDATED 9:56 PM: Oooh! It looks like Sherrod Brown beat out Mike DeWine for Senator, 56% to 44%. That’s fucking awesome. Democrat candidates have apparently also won two other Senate races, in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Three more, and the Democrats will have a majority in the U.S. Senate for the first time in 12 years. Now that’s something to be excited about.
You know what I find really disturbing that people do on MySpace? (Aside from their total inability to use proper grammar and spelling.) When people list in their profile that their hero is “Jesus Christ,” that their favorite book is “the Bible.” How one of their interests is “growing my faith.” How “if you don’t know Jesus I would love to talk to you about him with you lol.” This apparent lack of regard for my delicate sensibilities when it comes to religion offends me.
I’m not sure why people being all up in my grill when it comes to their heathen gods bothers me so much, but it sure as hell does. After all, I don’t blatantly advertise on my profile that I’m an atheistic agnostic who thinks Jesus would be more into playing Tiger Woods golf with me on Nate’s 360 than in saving my immortal soul. Shit, I bet that cagey motherfucker could do both if he really wanted to. But if he did start bringing up religion with me, I’d be like, “Jesus Christ, man, not you too? Lay off that shit already.” And he’d raise his hands and say, “It’s cool, it’s cool, bro.” (In my mind, Jesus Christ talks like Paul Walker.) Then my Hulk Hogan character would proceed to beat the goddamn life out of his character, which would undoubtedly be a hot chick ’cause that’s how Jesus rolls. Of course, it stands to reason that his character would probably rise from the dead and ultimately win . . . not.
I know I’ve become more tolerant of such misplaced fervor over the last few years, but it’s still certainly off-putting when you check out someone’s profile and their first interest is “reading the Bible (even though i despise reading.” Actually, it does more than put me off — it pisses me off. The message here is that “purposeful and willing ignorance is teh rox0rs!” What kills me is that, sure, it’s okay to worship on the altar of a dead prophet and be ignorant and hate reading. Fine. But then these people gush about how much they love “Family Guy?” Where the fuck is the sense in that tangled web of stupidity?
The crowning touch for such people if they constantly refer to book, movies, and pretty much anything they don’t like as “gay.” I swear, this one kid’s profile referred to a number of things as “this gay book” and “this the gay movie.” Clearly such people are homophobes, which in itself is quite ironic, and never ceases to amaze me: Professing your undying love and fealty to a man who, according to pretty much every source, was probably one hell of a tolerant and peaceful guy . . . and then bitching about how fags disgust you. I think it lets you sum up most of the Western religions in one nice, neat word:
