That which does not destroy me, just makes me more irritable.

-Peter Steele

…

…

The mind positively boggles. I watch this, and I feel like either I’m living in 1993 and didn’t realize it, or that there’s a Los Angeles, Iowa (population: 11) responsible for this.

If I don’t get laid, it’s the woman’s loss, not mine. It’s all women’s loss. What the fuck else are they going to talk about during Ladies Night? Their hopes and dreams? Isn’t that the same thing?

Oh, and there are top ten lists, too:

Whether or not you believe in Jesus, there is one fact you can’t argue with: he was a man. No religion anywhere has ever put a woman in charge of shit. That’s called dogma — man-dogma — and it means men are better than women.

I’ll leave it to you to decide whether I’m laughing or taking this seriously today (here’s a hint: don’t bother reading through any of the comments; men and women take themselves waaay too seriously).

Yes, I know his name is R. Lee Ermey. And if you imply otherwise, I’ll beat you to death with nothing more than a used newspaper and your own cirrhotic liver. Removing my watch first, I assure you.

For those seeking Harry Potter and the Deadly Hype Deathly Hallows spoilers:

1) People die. And by people, I mean Dobby, who is apparently not really a person. And Bellatrix Lestrange, who has a funny name but — Helena Bonham Carter!

And Alan Rickman. Poor guy.

2) “Magic” happens. Not the really fun kind that Penn and Teller do while making political commentary veiled as comedy, but more like that goofy Mindfreak Angel guy.

3) Ron and Hermione finally get it on. (Go, Weasley!)

4) Watching drunks willingly eat poorly considered jelly bean flavors makes me think that there might be a market for my line of alternative Schapps flavors after all.

What kind of chaser would go well with Greasy Pork Sandwich Schapps, anyway?

10 Reasons it Doesn’t Pay to be the Computer Guy.

Not all apply, but boy do I recognize more than a few.

Finally here!

This image and it’s brethren are all here.

One of the very few movies that I really regret having not seen at the theater. Of course, this is sight unseen…

In a better world, I would (as my initial gut reaction said to do) be aghast and ranting.

This, sadly, is not a better world, but rather one filled with wanna-be kings and old-west sheriffs who sit high above the laws they are charged with enforcing.

China executes ex-head of food and drug agency; Zheng sentenced to death in May for taking bribes to OK substandard drugs

…Such cases “have brought shame to our administration and revealed serious problems. We need to seriously reflect on what lessons we can draw from such cases…”

Zheng was sentenced to death in May for taking bribes to approve an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths and other substandard medicines.

And it’s sad that I find myself this morning wishing for this strong method of population control, one that would most certainly eradicate large chunks of our disproportionately wealthy…

Back from 72 hours away from the world. Well, my world, at least. No internet, no cell phone service, no radio or television for three days straight. Amazingly, I really liked it.

No stories to tell, really — it’s was joyously, invigoratingly uneventful. A few days with family, a night sky free of video pollution that aloowed me to see more stars than I’m used to, cows, a horseback ride, strange nighttime noises from the local fauna, and more cows.

Tons of boring pictures on my Flickr page.

Everyone needs a little time away, I heard her say…

Yeah, I went there.

Just finished reading Steven Hall’s Raw Shark Texts, probably the best book of this century. No kidding. Add it to your must read before you die list.

There are confluences surrounding you every day. Coincidence or kismet or destiny — who is to say what the truth behind these twisted path crossings really is?

Perhaps there is a point to finding out the truth behind these links — point of fact, it’s getting at the currents that run underneath the visible, tangible world that drive me to notice these things.

I find myself digging, stretching, reaching, and searching everywhere for these confluences, looking for the truth behind it all. Not so much the meaning of life — not really the meaning of anything, I suppose. The story of life, though. The way that everything comes together and enmeshes, reactions and repulsions.

In the same way that LOST throws out mysteries for which viewers scream for solutions, the universe has it’s own sequence of numbers, it’s own hatches and labyrinths of tunnels, it’s own Others. For me, there are no spoilers sites, no insider leaks, no guarantee, even, of a series conclusion that neatly wraps up the plotline and reveals all the answers.

There’s no guarantee of a prestige.

There is a thrill that comes with finding the connections, of pulling the important meeting out of the air, of recognizing that off all the puzzle pieces that you come across every minute of every day — that this is a piece of the puzzle you’re working on. And maybe you don’t see where the puzzle piece goes, or even have any idea what the overall image is, but you’ve got a piece, a new piece, and you’re one step closer to solution.

It’s tantalizing to find these fragments of the equations, but frustrating again when you realize that one step closer to the solution doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know how many steps away you are.

This week’s discovered connection, coincidentally, is some combination of Steven Hall’s The Raw Shark Texts, Christopher Hitchens’ God is Not Good, and The Prestige. Magic, untruth, and conceptual virii and creatures of idea. Where does it all lead?

To more reading and watching, if nothing else.