There's a "children's fragrance" section on Amazon. What the fuck.

What's worse, a lot of the things listed are the same price as regular perfume/cologne.

In other news, I found my estranged Kashmir CD! Very happy! :D I missed them. Also, I have less than $50 to pay off on my credit card, and then I can get rid of it! Yes! I'm probably going to end up getting a new one, so I can use it to buy a laptop and so I have something to use in case of emergencies, but it will be something with a reward points system, and it will probably not be through a bank.

Fake? website update! Yeah! Apparently there is a new album coming out soon. taste_maximum has been abuzz lately, by which I mean there have been two posts a month. Exciting~

I didn't know about this interview until I read the comments as I was watching TDS tonight. I don't agree with her opinion at all, but I do think that Carrie Prejean was "set up" on the whole gay marriage issue (why is Perez Hilton allowed to judge anything outside the hottest TMZ clip of the week?). She doesn't make herself look particularly good in this interview. First and foremost, she makes herself look like a conservative extremist by citing Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann as good examples of female leadership and by not even outright denying that the right slanders the left but by pussy-footing around an actual answer. I can't fault her too much for this next one, because these days people will write an autobiography at the drop of a hat as long as there's some money in it for them, but most "authors" usually have at least some decency and do not incessantly push their product every second of an interview. And why would you waste time sitting there if you were so offended, if not for the publicity? There's no reason why she shouldn't have just taken off her mic and left the studios; she may as well have. I don't watch Larry King often, but he seems to have the same habit as one of my professors (who is also an older man): he is frequently pig-headed and politically incorrect. But, seriously. Jesus. That was a little harsh.

We had our first bout of setting up for the show this afternoon. This woman, who is apparently a Fibers instructor, came in and proceeded to micromanage things for forty-five minutes before I finally left. I had never met this woman before in my life, and she thought it was her place to rudely order me around for no particular reason. I'd like to reiterate that I am not one of this woman's students, I had never met her acquaintance, and there was no forewarning that she was going to have anything whatsoever to do with our show. I seriously wanted to yell at her. She basically treated all of the printmakers like dirt, did not even bother to ask any of our names, and basically acted as if it was her show she was setting up for. She set up fabrics pieces with very little regard to where anyone wanted anything, least of all where the printmakers wanted things. Even the fabric students seemed overwhelmed and frustrated by her. It was beyond annoying. I hope she doesn't come back. If she does, I am not going to respond to her in any way whatsoever.

I hope this list is not ordered according to greatness, because there is no way Kelly Clarkson should ever top Neil Young. I haven't heard his new album, but I don't even care. Also, I don't really think Neko Case's work belongs at the top of the list.

CRISTI. YOU HAVE PROBABLY ALREADY SEEN THIS SINCE IT WAS ON ONTD, BUT:
DISNEY PRINCES

Thank you, Stephen. By the time I got to Gaston I was crying, I was laughing so hard. I also love the really obviously shopped-on faces for Prince Edward, Will Turner, and Zac Effron. Stephen, I agree, the Kuzco one is really inappropriate (BUT AWESOME). I AM DISAPPOINTED BY THE LACK OF CLOPIN FROM THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. I am sure Kassy would agree with me. I am going to go watch that movie and pass out, now.

Hey, urrbody -

So, I am contending in a "design" competition for iPhone and iPod skins. I submitted three "designs" (apparently, the goal of the contest was not actually to create a design, but rather, to submit a piece of artwork, and the contest-holders would leave it to their trusted staff to make an actual layout for the product, which is why I keep putting the word design in quotation marks), and two are up now for voting. It also does not help that they had me send them PSD files, but then proceeded to compress the shit out of the images, so despite their smaller resolution, they somehow look much worse than the originals. This is especially sad, since for one of the images, I enlarged a JPG of something I had done on Tegaki. Mine are "apples" in group 5 and "Whitney" in group 6 (since the title I submitted, 'Beelzebub', is inappropriate, I guess). Mostly, I am doing this because I can potentially win a laptop, which I both want and need. So, vote for me so I can win a laptop, and I will love you forever.

Also, if you are in the Phoenix area and you feel like seeing student artwork, I am going to be part of a group show at Gallery 100 in Tempe starting next Monday and ending next Friday. I'm planning on putting in four prints. It is going to be a total disaster, because my group is the most dysfunctional, unorganized piece of shit ever. I have to start somewhere.

GREAT, YOU SHATTERED THE MACAROONS!



P.S. My favorite person ever, Alan Tudyk, is in an episode of SWC!

I love Paul Dinello and I want to marry him. :D

Gasp, Strangers with Candy is available on Comedy Central's website. I have been wanting to watch this for such a long time! Exciting~

Also, GLENN BECK HAS WRITTEN A CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS PICTURE BOOK. NO JOKE. There is a companion novel. We have a display for it at customer service at work.

The Colbert Report was awesome last night. It had some of my favorite things: awesome opening, Olympics, books about the Cold War, the Netherlands, and news anchors fucking up peoples' names.

I am going to have to donate some cheddar toward the US speedskating cause. It will make me even more excited about watching the Olympics! Yeah!

Apparently, a student committed suicide this morning in the Design South building on Tempe campus. I was in the litho studio this morning working on stuff, and one of the MFA printmakers came in and told us about it. Design South is right next to the art building, and the window of the litho studio faces it, so we could see a couple of news vans parked in the lot behind the art warehouse. I couldn't see any cops from the studio (which is on the fourth floor), and none of the people walking past the building seemed to realize anything was going on. I'm sure everyone was just on the other side of the building in the breezeway between Designs North and South, but it was still just kind of weird. I'm not really sure how to react to it. Obviously, it's very sad, but otherwise, it's just...surreal. I almost thought it was a bad joke at first, but I'm not really sure why anyone would joke about that kind of stuff.

As far as I know, there hasn't been any information released describing the circumstances surrounding the situation, beyond this. As a side note, I'm glad that ASU's exceptionally intelligent student body is put in the spotlight once again, for all the world to see. I'm sure the girl they "interview" in the video was kind of at a loss for words, but I also find it very hard to believe that half a semester in the architecture program at ASU would drive anyone to suicide without some kind of outside assistance. Oh yeah, 98% acceptance rate! Very happy I'm done in a few weeks.

There is a ten-page history of Kaizers Orchestra (in English!) on their new site. I am way more excited about this than any normal human being should be about something like this. I am all over this shit tomorrow. I was a little annoyed that there is no longer an English news section (I'm hoping this is temporary), but this kind of makes up for it. The picture of Terje for the individual biographies is also hilarious. It's yet another in a long line of pictures where he tries to look super hardcore but fails miserably because he is so adorable. Now that I'm reading them, all of these bios are hilarious and completely retarded, in typical Kaizers fashion. I don't even know.

Also, what the fuck, Gogol Bordello played here, like, two days ago, but I am a loser and I completely missed them. Lame. I did discover that two of my co-workers like them a lot. I am still shocked when I find other people who like this kind of music, but I guess it's getting kind of popular. Apparently the Gogol Bordello show was packed. But then, so was Dir en Grey filled The Marquee, but while they're probably the most popular Japanese band in the U.S., I still wouldn't call them popular by normal standards. Anyway, I am bummed. I need to go to a good concert. I went to see the ASU sinfonietta perform a few weeks ago, and that was cool, but it's been forever since I went to a rock concert, and the atmosphere is obviously different.

One of my cats seems to have some kind of major gum infection. I feel like an idiot and a failure for not noticing it sooner. I've thought his jaw area felt swollen for the past day or two, but I blew it off as me just imagining things since he's so skinny. He's also been kind of drooling for a little while, but he also has developed a habit of not wiping his face after he drinks water, so it just kind of hangs out on his chin, so I didn't actually think he was drooling until today. Today, when I was sitting on the couch with him, I noticed that there was a little bit of blood or something around the side of his mouth, and when I finally got him to stop squirming around so much, I found that the gums along one side of his mouth are very inflamed.

I don't really know what to do. My mom and brother just left this morning for a trip, and I have a midterm portfolio due on Wednesday. I am going to take him to the vet some time within the next few days, but the reason I mention the two prior things is, I think I am going to ask them whether or not they think I should have him euthanized. I have been trying not to even consider this option for over two years, now, but I don't think I can keep denying the option. I guess it will just depend on what happens at the vet, but Tiger has been sick (or, in declining health, at least) for a long time, now, and I suspect that they will recommend I have him put to sleep. If that happens, I know I will not be able to bring myself to even attend class, and I do not want to be at the house alone.

I have had this cat for almost nineteen years. The reason I have held off on considering euthanasia is that, even though I know it's stupid and illogical, I feel like I am thinking about killing a friend, and I cannot deal with that. Also, I am afraid of how his sister will react. They don't spend as much time together as they used to, since Brownie refuses to leave my room unless it's to eat or use the litter box, but I am still worried. Even though I have been trying to prepare myself for what might happen all day, I cannot even think about it without bursting into tears. It's weird, but last week, I had a dream about something like this happening, before this whole infection think came to light. And he can't even eat, now, which is probably the most depressing thing, for the obvious reasons, but also because it's the thing he enjoys doing most, and I can't even give him a decent meal as a favor.

I am just going to stop, now, because I'm sure no one wants to hear this shit, and I can't keep writing about it, anyway.

This is the first remotely good thing I've seen featured on Youtube in approximately five years.

WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

I just found out, from SongMeanings, of all places, that there is now apparently no prospect of Blur actually reuniting for any extended period of time. What the fuck. I have been excited about this for, like, a year, now. I am so disappointed right now. P.S.: Spin, where the fuck were you on this one? This happened, like, last week, and there's neither hide nor hair of it on the website. I've constructed a flowchart portraying my theory on the reason behind this tragedy:

Graham is an alcoholic > Graham gets kicked out of Blur > Graham gets sober, eventually > Blur gets back together > Alex introduces Graham to cocaine (there is an interview with Graham in the NME article, and Jesus, the number of times messes with his nose is astounding), even though Alex is now, like, the posterboy for cocaine rehab or whatever > Damon makes Graham sleep on the couch.

Also, "Good, Damon has more time for the third Gorillaz album." is not the appropriate answer to this, and pisses me off, even though it is completely ridiculous to get upset about something that petty. That does not change the fact that, although Gorillaz are a good group, they make very listenable and interesting music (although I know a couple of people who spent six hours in a car with Frank who would not agree with me), they do not come close to Blur. I think it's pretty rare, especially now, to find a group that can present social and political commentary in the way that Blur did. This is probably a leap, but in my opinion, Blur did for contemporary music what Voltaire did for literature.

Also, Oasis officially broke up, and Nelly Furtado is apparently very depressed about that. I'm not sure why, since they are the most drama-fueled band in the history of mankind, and it was only a matter of time. That, and I'm sure they'll be back together again once they're done being hormonal.

I was listening to the radio the other day, and apparently, Thom Yorke is going to be on the soundtrack for the second Twilight movie. It is pretty depressing. I think it's one of the new songs he's purportedly been working on with his un-named band. It's definitely not on The Eraser, in any case. There will also be more Muse (although I'm pretty sure the song they chose is the one about Winston and Julia in 1984, which just makes it even more hilarious, because obviously, Stephanie Meyer's dreck is on par with Orwell), The Killers, Bon Iver, Ok Go, and a bunch of other trendy shit, some of which is sadly good. I still can't believe the amount of fanfare that accompanied the OMG PAPERBACK RELEASE OF NEW MOON!!!!!!!! It was disgusting and terrible and reinforced the idea that the majority of the American public have absolutely no taste in anything, including reading material. A guy I work with is more or less perpetually talking about how stupid people are and how almost everything we sell is total crap, etc., and most of the time, I just think he's overreacting, but sometimes I understand where he's coming from.

On a final note that doesn't have anything to do with anything, WHY WAS THIS SONG NOT ON THE TRAINSPOTTING SOUNDTRACK? I love both the soundtracks, but seriously, half of The Velvet Underground & Nico would have fit the bill perfectly, since they are all really obviously about heroin use. Too blunt, maybe. Instead, they just put a bunch of Blur/Damon Albarn shit on it. Come to think of it, it's a shame (if you could paint anything related to drug addiction in a positive light) 13 didn't come out until after Trainspotting was released. Swamp Song would fit perfectly, since it is really, really obviously about heroin use, and it carries, in a way, the same kind of double-edged sword message that Heroin does, with a comparable level of subtlety. Not that lyrical or musical tact really matters when it comes to something that would essentially be reduced to a backdrop.

I'm going to go continue reading my Phoenix Wright porn, now that I've just finished talking about how much shitty literature pisses me off.

Made ramen out of leftovers when I got home from work, and it is basically a miracle it came out all right. I just threw a brick of packaged ramen in a pot, tossed the flavoring, and added the dregs at the bottom of an old bottle of sobazuyu, soy sauce, sriracha, a tomato, some lettuce, a little bit of leftover pork roast, an egg, some red onion, and black sesame seeds. For such a random assortment of things, it tastes pretty okay. I normally am not a big fan of ramen (or most noodle dishes, really), so this is a little bit of a revelation for me.

And holy shit, what, there are different flavors of sriracha! I am definitely looking for that the next time I go to Lee Lee. Not that I need more sriracha, but whatever. I have had the same bottle for, like two years, and it is maybe half gone. I should probably throw it out...

Also, people on imeem are fucking retarded. HOW IS IT DIFFICULT TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PIANO AND A PIPE ORGAN? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? Although, a cello and an upright bass are totally the same thing, so I should probably know better. On a somewhat-related note, I am a huge dork and got into an epic argument with a co-worker about whether or not accordions are sweet. What can I say? I like to ponder those important life questions at every given opportunity.

The My Bob Bryar Romance fans have locked onto Kaizers. THANKS, RYAN ROSS! :DDDD YOU ARE MY HERO!

I have been on a huge stupid Smiths kick lately. I'm not really sure why. They're good and all, but I don't typically listen to them much. I played the fourth trial of Apollo Justice with Girlfriend in a Coma, just for Vera Misham. Now that I've finished AJ, I am kind of tempted to just import Gyakuten Kenji, because I am a loser and I can't wait until February. Not that I need video games to eat up more of my time, now that I've basically dedicated a week and a half to playing Phoenix Wright.

This is just like The Prestige! BUT WHO IS HUGH JACKMAN?

ETA: I'm done! I liked how they handled the ending, even though it was a little bit predictable. I STILL WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHERE PHOENIX WRIGHT'S HUSBAND IS, THOUGH. Off being fab and European somewhere, I bet.

P.S.: I found this on Tegaki-e last year and forgot how much it made me want to kill myself until I was going through a folder of ridiculous images on my computer a minute ago.



Not only is it furry Phoenix Wright fanart...'SCIENTIFICALY'. You would think spelling "scientifically" would be second nature after sitting through that case, since Ema says it after FUCKING EVERYTHING, not to mention if you had a basic command of the English language. But then again, I did overhear a girl complaining about all of the difficult vocabulary she encountered on some test as I was walking to the bus yesterday afternoon. I assumed it was some kind of technical jargon. The biggest offender was apparently "indigenous". Will wonders never cease?

Either way, it is still not quite as bad as the furry 28 Days Later fanfiction, which I just cannot think of any explanation for its existence, save for Rule 34.