More Great RenFestness...

Just in case you were jonesing for a fix of me and my wife in Renaissance garb, here I am to spread much merriment. She made both of these outfits (plus two more dresses and bodices) in under ten days. I also think she vowed never to work with textiles again, so that would be a downside.

Florida Community College of Jacksonville had a campus awareness day, and we wore these costumes to draw attention to the campus learning center and a new Shakespear class being offered next semester. I can say that we drew a lot of attention alright (she more than I).

Now we're itching for a renfest.
Or maybe that was just the fabric of my robe...

For Your Listening Pleasure...

Music Video Codes By VideoCodeZone.com



This is The Duhks. Purchasing of their album and listening to it repeatedly is purported to cause much happiness for folk who dig folk.

Utter Bullshit

Governor Schwarzenegger is vetoing the bill passed by both the California House and Senate that would legalize same-sex marriage. Governor Schwarzenegger claims that it is the will of the people that this not pass (according to a previous state proposition), and yet there is a fundamental flaw in this line of thought: The United States is a representative democracy, not a popular democracy. If the United States were a popular democracy, Bush would not have been able to have stolen the election as he did in 2000, since he lost the popular vote. The idea that the "majority rules" has never, EVER, been a cornerstone of American democracy. If it were, we'd still be an ass-backwards slave-holding nation that denied women the right to vote. Arnold has committed a grave mistake here by citing a popular-vote initiative as reason for his veto. This is politics at its worst, and a serious blow to a humane and just course of action. No true Christian or humanitarian would stand in the way of two adults in love choosing to commit one's life to each other.

Gott ist tot

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it?"

- Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra

Bill Moyer protects his ears...

So apparently this is Bill Moyer, a 71 year old veteran who carefully discerns just what exactly passes through his ears. I stumbled across this photo as I was browsing the Boing Boing feed on my Bloglines account and couldn't resist sharing him with you. I really wanted to let you know more about him, but an article on Canada's National Post site was all that my A9.com and Google searches could turn up. Instead, I now bring you replica ear covers, courtesy of The Talent Show. Just click on Bill's lovely ear-covered mug for a spiffy .pdf of the BS protectors.

Today's link-infested fun-filled post is brought to you courtesy of a rampant case of unmedicated Adult ADD.

Six Feet Under is now six feet under...

Some of you may know that I have no subscription to cable or satellite television. However, this has not stopped me from seeing every episode up through season three of the amazing and fantastic show, Six Feet Under on HBO. Granted, this has been through the miracle of DVD rather than as the episodes actually air. I am not sure if that is a good thing or not, seeing as how my wife and I have been known to pop in one of the discs and say, "OK, we should just watch one or two, but we really need to get to sleep before 4am this time". Sure enough, six hours later, we're half way through a season. The following night contains more of the same. We just can not stop. As Ralph Wiggum would say, it's unpossible. We heard about the show through my wife's sister, who watched it fanatically. We thought she was a little too nutty about the whole thing. Then I found the soundtrack. I needed a piece of music to represent visually for a design class project, and I stumbled across the Six Feet Under soundtrack in at the public library. I checked it out, popped it in, and was amazed at the incredible selection of great music. I listened to that CD on repeat for about a week. I thought that if the music was this good, I may as well give the show a shot. My sister-in-law's season one boxed set had been sitting on top of our TV for three weeks, untouched. Shame on me. Six Feet Under is one of the most brilliant shows I have ever watched. Most of the episodes are touching or meaningful, many are hilarious, some are almost too emotionally tough to sit through, and none of them have disappointed us. Oh sure, we didn't like what a character may or may not have done, but the show itself has yet to disappoint us. The writing by multiple authors, story lines, character development, and acting are top-notch. I have honestly never enjoyed a show as much as I have enjoyed Six Feet Under.

My wife and I are slightly more than halfway through the entire series. We have seen every episode through season three at least twice. We never watch it elsewhere lest we spoil a surprise by seeing things out of order. The worst moment of this sort came after a marathon viewing of season two. Unable to take the suspense of some event or another (most likely the outcome of the story about Nathan's head condition), my wife journeyed to HBO's official Six Feet Under website just to make sure Nathan was going to be ok. Lo and behold, we came across all sorts of info we didn't even know was a possibility, like Lisa's baby, Lisa's death, Brenda's help raising Lisa's baby... The Brenda thing didn't even happen in season three! We thought our heads were going to explode, it was just too much foreknowledge. That in itself is a testament to how incredible this series is, because I am the type of guy who asks how a movie ends because I'm going to see it anyway. Knowing stuff in advance never bothered me before, and it still doesn't bother me about any other show or movie. We have since steered clear of all the juicy goodness of which I am sure the website has to offer.

But now it's over.

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I say goodbye to our dear friend, Six feet Under. The very last episode aired on August 21st. Sadly, it may be a solid year or more before I ever have the chance of seeing it due to DVD release schedules. Thankfully, season four is being released way sooner in relation to season three than seasons three, two, and one were in relation to each other and their airing on HBO. Hopefully season five is already in the can. Or the casket.

Thanks for the great ride, Alan Ball & Friends!


Postscript:

We watch my sister-in-law's DVDs. She usually gets them from her parents as a birthday or Christmas gift. I see on Amazon.com that season four is already out. I can't believe we haven't seen it yet. At $70 (discounted) a pop for each season, we have yet to become the proud owners of our own Six Feet Under DVDs. If you want to snag a copy of your own, here is the Six Feet Under series page on Amazon.com.

Unshackled

Truth be told, the single-most reason why there are such long gaps between posts is because I don't feel like what I want to write is what I should write. Many, many times I have thought about writing on being an adult fan of Lego, a cool movie I saw, a crappy movie I saw, a relationship event, or any other countless topics that didn't seem to fit with the direction I thought this space was intended to take. Today I say: no more. I have a few things going on that have led to need to branch out in this space.

One: I have ADD and am possibly bipolar (we're checking on that one, honestly). My "enthusiasms" are very fluid. One week, all I can spew forth from my frothy thoughts is something about politics. Another week, I'd rather be building with Lego than listening to a single word from a news source. Still another week, I'm up to my eyeballs in table-top roleplaying games, metal miniatures, and polyhedral dice. And every once in a while I wish people would just leave me the hell alone (not this week, though). Naturally, none of this bodes well for a single-train-of-thought blog.

Two: I can't bring myself to cover political issues for every post because so many of the issues end up being such a load of crap it makes my head hurt. Of course, the original intent was to cover politics and religion, but what I post is a direct result of my faith in God and where I see God moving in the world.

Three: There are movements afoot, movements tapping in to who God is and what God is doing, movements that have almost everything and yet almost nothing to do with the face of modern, Western, Christianity. I have felt drawn into this for quite some time now, and as it flows over everything, seeping into every niche, crevice, and corner of our lives, I feel like returning here and just writing. I feel that writing about the things that occur in my life and the lives of others around me is a way of being in this occurrence.

Four: The only shackles I was bound by were of my own devise. Ultimately, this is my own area. The only reason there's an ad banner on the side of the page is to generate some extra spending money, whether it's for my own pleasure or to feed the man in front of the convenience store who applauds the empty sidewalk and makes grand, sweeping gestures while addressing an unseen crowd. Adsense promises "relevant ads" and I will be amused to see what a "relevant ad" looks like as this page winds down this new path.

If you were coming here for the commentary, it will continue. If you were coming here because of our friendship, it will continue. If you were coming here because I have an account with blog explosion or whatever that thing is called, it will continue. If you were coming here because I leave comments on your blog and you wanted to see what this was all about, sucker...no, wait... that will continue, too. Now, however, there is the added bonus of some extra diversions. Some of it you will like, some of it you will hate; but in the end, it will be a lot like me.

On the side: does Blogger support post tags? i think I'll need them...

Also: If you use bloglines or another blog subscriber account, feel free to add me to your list. I just discovered Blog Lines and it's pretty spiffy.