moved, officially

Kids, the party is at http://dorknation.wordpress.com now.

Ooo! Scary! The MARK of the beast. ha.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MY REIGN IS UPON US! KNEEL BEFORE ME, PUNY HUMANS! Yes, my birthday carries the mark of the beast. So does that of many millions of others. Still, people recoil in fear when they see my I.D (and not from the photo . . . I think.) On this day of the beast, it is appropriate to address some blasphemy about horror films from some puny human, Brittney. Most of them, let's be honest, are waste of celluloid. No, really, let’s be honest. Waste? Where’s Mr. Pink when you need him? Back me up, cuzzin! (actually he’s probably working like I should be) What about movies like: The 70’s era post Vietnam, post Watergate national paranoia zeitgeist-ers like: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (orig) NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD DAWN OF THE DEAD (orig) THE SHINING THE EXORCIST ROSEMARY’S BABY DEAD ZONE (and SCANNERS and all the other Cronenbergs from this period) ALIEN THE THING (a remake that was as good as the original) THE OMEN WICKER MAN INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS The 80’s brought Regan era hedonism backlash slasher flicks: FRIDAY the 13th HALLOWEEN NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET APRIL FOOLS DAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME THE STEPFATHER HELLRAISER The Mavericks: EVIL DEAD SUSPIRIA PHENOMENA PHANTASM CANDYMAN SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW Camp Camp: AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON SCREAM EVIL DEAD 2 NIGHT OF THE CREEPS RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM FRIGHT NIGHT THE GREEN SLIME Meta: DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN’S DIARY To the East, Blackwards RINGU UZUMAKI AUDITION GOZU KWAIDAN CURE MEMENTO MORI (Korea) VITAL EVIL DEAD TRAP TETSUO TAIL OF TWO SISTERS GOJIRA THE UNTOLD STORY The classics: Do I really need to list them? In this new century, more than ever the Wu-Tang’s C.R.E.A.M. doctrine applies to Hollywoof. So, we get remakes and sequels and the remakes get their own sequels. Even the most inventive, like Wong’s FINAL DESTINATION or Roth’s HOSTEL are based on tried and true formulas slightly updated to showcase the “talents” of the UPN actors that populate horror flicks. Victor Salva, turning his personal demons into decent films, could continue to create interesting work.

Happy Birthday Dear Gandalf, Happy Birthday to meeeeee

HAHA! Tomorrow’s my birthday! I turn . . . OLD. It is a milestone, though I will be celebrating most likely by watching TV or something. However, if you want to make a dork happy, here are some birthday present suggestions: Adidas originals old school Japan soccer team jersey. Number 7 or 10. Matching track jacket would be nice . . . Okay, don’t want to spend dollars on Nip-pon? How about this snazzy retro Netherlands world cup t? Of course, Tar Heels Represent! Wow, this DVD box set of Japanese classic films looks damn good. Maybe you can get one for yourself, too! That is, if you have a region free DVD player. I’m pretty happy with mine, however, I could always use a new player . . . especially if someone got me a new TV! Okay, those are pipe dreams, mostly. Not even Santy Claus brought me a new TV. But I will need something to eat in front of my plain old tiny little miserable flat tube. I like popcorn. I really like caramel corn even though my dentist made me swear off it. Maybe this kettle corn would be a good substitute? Or really, ANY kettle corn that is not from Pop Secret or Orville Reddenbloogledongle. Anything you don’t have to microwave. I tend to get music free. So CDs are kinda out, unless you have a pipeline to Japan and can shuttle me over, oh, this, or this, or maybe that. Ooh, or this! However, I do need a place to keep my 500 plus and growing collection, not to mention all the DVDs I have. Somehow a huge box of VHS cassettes got lost when I moved a couple of years ago. Actually, the best birthday present would be for someone to come over to my place and empty all the boxes in my new apartment . . . . talk about a pipe dream . . .

Steroids Schmeroids

It was always a guessing game as to who was on steroids when I was in college. The testing policy was just around the corner in those days, and IIRC it was nothing like the one in place today when it was implemented. I can remember the huge brows and bloated heads of those we suspected, and the girl friend punching rage of those who were easy guesses. I’m fairly sure that the guy ahead of me in my position was juiced. I sucked, so it didn’t really matter. But you know what? I don’t care. I don’t care about players taking ‘roids. If they want to risk having testicles the size of chick peas when they get old, if they want to walk around looking like Lurch’s broke ass cousin, if the ladies wish to develop a jaw line like the dude who played the bounty hunter on the X-Files, that’s fine with me. A bout with cancer is apparently a decent trade for a shot at immortality (Lyle Alzado). What I don’t get is all the hemming and hawing over Bonds (and lets not forget McGuire, if we believe everything we read then we should be all over him, too) by netnerds who have never played a down, taken a swing, shot on goal, thrown a body check, broken the tape. What possible concern is it of yours? Oh, he’s cheating! Christ, it isn’t like the Babe was a model citizen. It isn’t like there weren’t things like shine balls, bat tar, cocaine abuse, alcoholism, and all manner of ills during sports in the days before the miracles of modern science. Were major league ball integrated during the 30’s, we’d be talking about Josh Gibson, not Babe Ruth, anyway. I don’ t know if there’s enough steroids in the world to catch Gibson. Integrity of the game? HA! Double HA! Did ANYONE see Eight Men Out? I saw an interesting interview with my grandad’s namesake, Willie Mays, a few weeks ago. Mays admitted that if ‘roids had been around in those days, he might have tried it. Mays, arguably the greatest, most gifted baseball player of all time, might have juiced. If someone so obviously better than 95% of the players in the game during his day thought he might need it, what about some hungry, ambitious kid looking one day to be a poster on some other kid’s wall? Maybe Bonds, who was already heading for Hall of Fame numbers, didn’t need juice (if he in fact did take something illegal). Perhaps he did need it if he wanted to catch our attention and respect. Ever listen to talk sports radio call in shows? All these experts, all these second string high school quarterbacks coming in with their wisdom and knowledge about the game. If someone like Bonds (or let us say the dirty word, Pacman) doesn’t perform to our standards, they’re a pariah. We’re all over them. We sports fans don’t give a shit about good. Sometimes we don’t really care about great. Show us the best, break all the records, be a winner. Then we might care. Then Jim Rome might shut up about you for five minutes and start riding your jock. What do we always hear? It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. You might think I’m going to say we don’t believe that, but we do – in context. It is how you play the game, meaning, if you play the game the way it is supposed to be played, you should win/excel. If you played, you understand what I’m saying, even if like me you were terrible. If you didn’t play, you can continue to stand on the side throwing stones at that glass stadium your tax dollars built and support. Athletes (usually) want to be the best, and also, they want to be recognized as the best. It isn’t about egotism. Everyone has some of that, don’t kid yourself. It’s the one thing everyone has in common with Trump and Spielberg. Sometimes, being great just isn’t good enough. So, athletes cheat, like high school kids on an algebra test. Wow. I’m saving my bitterness and complaints for Bush and Cheney and Rummy.  You?

Fun with the Aryan Nation!

My man Chris Wage got linked to by Stormfront, of all sites, and with great trepidation I followed that link to some inconsequential rantings of the type of racists almost everyone hates. Then out of train wreck curiosity, I perused the site more and found this discussion on how the “media” (that’s me!) brainwashes white girls. The commentary here is priceless. I don’t think I have ever seen a greater collection of the proof of the decline of education in America than I have seen here. Perhaps it dovetails nicely with AC’s thoughts on prison rape . . . This guy believes in himself to a fault: I've spent most of my youth missing out on opportunities to develop relationships with beautiful white girls, and I blame my above average intelligence. Oh, it’s probably that you keep having skid marks on your white sheet. However, he does seem to think he has areas where he needs work. But if I treat women like crap and make use of status symbols, I might become more competitive. So, any woman seeing a fat guy in a pointy white hood driving an Escalade and wearing an Iceberg sweater . . . RUN! Well . . . er . . . uh . . . The message to white girls is simple: "Black guys are studs. White guys are losers." I wonder if the programming he watches is part of some Gannett organization? ;) But lets be honest here.... is it really accurate to have Mr.Blacky appearing as a main character in EVERY SHOW on T.V.? When in some neighborhoods in the U.S. theres only just a very few number of African-Americans. This is a conspiracy to me...I await an all-Aryan Heaven And, who is this Mr. Blacky? Does he mean Mr. Belvedere? Of course, ultimately, the fault is THE JEWS: Yes, the add agencies are certainly heavily Jewish, maybe even more than most media companies. Ever notice how many hooked noses the actors have? And a lot of Jewish actors are selected out for not looking Jewish. . . . Hopefully the Jews are starting to ridicule white women (why for??) and then we can start pointing out to the gals how the've been doing it to us guys for years. Finally, one member thought this article was important to the story. Apparently, you all, listening to the jungle dance music, have been lowered to the level of the nigra: “When so-called rap and hip-hop began to be marketed to White adolescents in the early 1990s, Heather thought it was "cute." She imagined that she saw a harmless rebelliousness and innovation in her daughters' generation -- a reflection of her own generation's rebellion. She let Lauren and Diana watch all the "cool" TV shows with Black heroes and miscegenating stars, she let them "groove" to MTV videos glorifying non-Whites and racial mixing, and when many of the "boys" who started to become interested in them as they grew up turned out to be Black, well -- she showed how "good" she was by "accepting" them as no different from White boys, by treating them as "equals" and as legitimate suitors for Lauren and Diana's affections.” Okay. Even Japanophiles and American otaku aren’t immune to the pull of white supremacism (something I’ve known for some time, actually). Check out this post from “Aryan Ballerina:” Later, she claims: “Well, my shoes are made in Japan, ha! I guess it shouldn't be that big of a deal, I'm more of a National Socialist anyways, the Japanese of course aren't a problem in my book.” The rationalizations she must go through on a daily basis just to keep up her interest in the spikey haired, androgynous, male Japanese pop singer and her love for all things Nazi. Or maybe she thinks it’s 1941. And another rocket scientist posts: “Some east asians are obsessed with work. Some (if not all japanese) will not date outside there race.” BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Ahem. Sorry. Asians: The other white meat. Yes, why not! Because the asians like japanese, koreans and chinese do have a high average IQ about 103. Compared with our 100 in IQ scale for the average white there should be no problem with mixing in limited scale with them. . . . Unlike many White Nationalists, I can accept Oriental/White mixing in small numbers. This dude is hilarious. He is ASIAN. I'll be Frank i am Asian.. (looks like no more trolling around on these boards no more oh well..) however I've been browsing SF for a while now.. and have learnt quite alot about the Jews.. With his other comments he was reluctantly accepted by the Stormfront types. However, segregation is as segregation does. The moderator replied in part: However, you have to stay in General Rants from now on. Forum rules. Damn.

urban music post fixed . . . albeit elsewhere

I finally fixed the You Tube issues I was having with my post about urban music in Japan. I’m too busy to mess with it on the blogspot spot. Just go on over to the word press version of dork nation and check ‘em.

Picture louder than words and whatnot

A Prom photo. Thanks to BG for da tip.

Equal Rights and Justice?

I missed the book signing that prompted this discussion (and this one and this) on felony disenfranchisement for a couple of reasons, one being that the headlight on my car went dead and my attempts to fix it were for naught. I’m interested enough in the topic to keep the discussion among local bloggers going, however. Liz Garrigan has no compassion for ex-cons who are not allowed to vote. Cool. You don’t have to have compassion for them to believe they should have their rights to vote restored. However if passion must color your sense of justice, let’s look at it from an historical perspective. Chris Wage inserted the spectre of institutional discrimination into the discussion, and was of course attacked by the typical cast of characters. (You can count on it, if someone on the political left brings up racism, they will be there, protesting too much, like Queen Gertrude said). For this, he’s branded a wacko conspiracy theorist, and told, like a child, that this is not 1966. Thing is, Wage is right on point. Ya see kids, in this country, disenfranchisement has roots not in criminal jurisprudence, but in good old fashioned stop the darkies racial hatred. Sure, the practice has been around for eons, the idea being that the most egregious criminals should be banned from society. And smart racists know a good idea when they see one. After the freed slaves (men only) were allowed to vote, Southern heads commiserated on all sorts of ideas on how to turn back the clock. In many states, disenfranchisement laws were specifically tailored to catch Negroes, and if possible, exclude whites*. Call me a wacko conspiracy theorist, but to me it sounds a little suspicious. Am I arguing that felony disenfranchisement is some plot to keep people of color out of the voting booths? No, but it was. Now it is just left to hang, as useless as an appendix (that is, unless you are a Republican). And, like most issues with baggage from slavery and racism, it has residual effects. It is very un-ironic that felony disenfranchisement affects mostly men of color today, but then again that’s what The Man wanted. Nowadays, with our labyrinth of criminal laws and sentencing guidelines and war on drugs, some people get caught in the crossfire, like some 18 year old first time felony drug offender who pleas out to avoid jail time then finds he can’t vote. He could be white. He could be your cousin, your brother. Can you work up a couple of tears for that? There have been considerable efforts to abolish felony disenfranchisement. They are all likely to fail. What politician, especially in these times, wants to be seen as having sympathy for Mr. Felon? They’d never vote for a bill containing such a provision. Not even Jr., not even Obama (though they might speak platitudes to this in front of the proper audience).Were I in my old job, I’d likely advise them to do just that. What their party would stand to gain in votes would be minimal; being honest, it isn’t likely that a significant number of former felons would actually vote. Doesn’t mean they should have their right to vote kept from them.   Additionally: Coble sez: “What makes felonies less criminal (to my mind) is the degree of external violence they cause. How much external violence is caused by felony posession [sic] of narcotics?” Legalize it, don’t criticize it. (when in doubt, always quote Peter Tosh) *Alabama lawmakers are on record, there is a paper trail on what I’m saying, look it up.