Chaos, hostility, and murder.

This was sort of a crazy weekend. I went over to The Turtle's place on Friday for a little get together, though I couldn't stay all that long because I had to get up a five freakin' thirty in the morning. More on that later. The party was pretty cool, especially the Cajun Pumpkin Seeds. People were making costumes and pumpkins and the like. I was doing neither, really, but I was pleasantly entertained watching others do so. The one crappy thing about the party was that I learned almost everyone I was counting on pulled out of the Oktoberfest extravaganza. Dang. It didn't happen after all. I suppose it's not all bad. I saved some money by not doing it, but it is too bad in a certain sense.

The next day I had to get up at the crack of to get to Northridge, CA in time to go to the Southern California Philosophy Conference. The conference was a lot of fun; I think my paper went over fairly well. But Northridge is just another one of those LA suburban wastelands. Not too unpleasant, but not too pleasant neither. I got lunch at some place called The Falafel Palace. They gave me a free lunch card, which for some reason I kept, although it's highly unlikely that I'll ever go there again. By the time I got home, I was freaking tired.

No Oktoberfest Sunday, so I did some grading and tried to get some work done, and failed. I did manage to watch Brian DePalma's Blow Out, which is another in a long line of DePalma Rips Off x Movies. This one ripped off Antonioni, for the most part, The Parallax View for a smaller part. It was decent as thrillers go, but if you've seen either one of the previous movies, you've seen this one. It has a decent, ironic ending, though, which might be worth sitting through it.

That is all.

So swollen it fills up my mouth.

I think "The Kiss" by The Cure contains probably the greatest guitar solo ever recorded. This thing so so massive. It's distorted in a particular way, with a wah pedal the last link in the insert-chain. It really screams, this solo. At parts, if you didn't know better, you'd think there was a talkbox attached to the signal, but it's merely the wah being used in really creative ways. It's also really really long, 3 minutes 51 seconds. One thing that's so great about it is that its length becomes almost part of the solo itself: you sort of wonder - is this when the vocals come in? - only to be disappointed at virtually every point. It's almost like the final, climactic showdown scene in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly in that way. It's drawn out for SOOO LOOONG, that its sheer length becomes part of the artistry. Unbelievable. I urge everyone to listen to this thing. This is what I mean by daring, courageousness in a recording; the thing the Cure's great albums has but that records like Wild Mood Swings don't.

That is all.

Sweet.

I received this email today:

You will be able to compete on all days for a chance to compete in the karoake finals.

Ring-a-Ding-Ding, baby.

Jungle love is driving me mad; making me crazy.

It's Tiger time, baby. Today, for the price of a burrito, ahem, borrowed All Black's copy of OSX Tiger, and installed that sumbitch. I'm extremely happy with it. I set about downloading a ton of widgets, including a Netflix widget, which gives you instant access to your queue (although it doesn't let you reorder your queue; that kinda' sucks). I also downloaded "Dashblog" that allows you, as I am now, to post without having to actually go to the www.blogger.com website. Sweet! I also like the new aesthetic - it's a little sharper. Now, if I can just keep my damn hands off the widgets and get some freakin' work done, I'll be golden.

I got some relatively disturbing news today. It's possible that the Karaoke competition will only be open to people who are competing on Saturday, rather than Sunday. I would go Saturday, except I'm going to be in Northridge giving a paper. It's a little snippet from my dissertation, but I think the argument is killer-sweet, so if you're going to be in Northridge on Saturday, I'd check it out. Another bit of disturbing news I got today was that apparently somebody, in the dustiness of my car, had scrawled "DIE" on both the passanger and driver's side windows. It was a little freaky. But I'm assuming that this is a prank, given that I don't actually think there's anyone out there who is interested in my death for any particular reason. But I'm going to be watchin' for dudes waiting to jack me with a sock full of pennies - you better believe that one.

For those of you interested, I thought I'd just give a little synopsis of the movies I've seen since I had that little hiatus:

1. Stroszek
2. Duel
3. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
4. Burden of Dreams
5. My Best Fiend
6. The Asphault Jungle
7. The Hitch-Hiker
8. Elevator to the Gallows
9. A History of Violence
10. 2001: A Space Oddessy
11. Just Like Heaven
12. Red-eye

Maybe that's it. Actually, that doesn't seem like that many. Oh well. I need to start watching more movies. Anyway, I would say that, with the exception of #s 11 and 12, basically all of these movies were really good. I especially recommend #s 1, 5, 7-9. Of course, 10 is the greatest film ever made, but that goes without much saying. The others you might not have had such a great impression of.

Am I happy the White Sox won the World Series? Well, yes and no. I feel like Chicago deserves a World Series, but then again, I feel like the White Sox should be condemned to finish in last place for all eternity, thanks to Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other 1919 scumbags. It's a tradeoff. Call me neutral.

Abra, Abra Cadabra. Wanna reach out'n grab ya.

I'm back. I don't promise daily or even bi-daily posts, or anything like that. But I've got stuff to say. So I'm a'gonna say it.

ITEM! The last karaoke night was a serious success. There must have been, like, twenty of us there or something. Only four members of our party actually performed, however, but the performances were good, and the drink was free-flowing. I tell ya', that bowling alley is one happening place. Or something like that. I mean, it's not un-happening. At least when we're there. I mean, we're basically talking about a total shithole, except when we're there. And then it's pretty, well, it's, you know, it's a bowling alley.

There were really three notable things about karaoke night. It was the first night I really thought I was getting to know some of the first years. Maybe it's because I've been spending a lot of time south of the 8, maybe it's because these people are, well, a little scarce in places. Anyway, it was cool. The second thing was that this scary woman who has previously molested Math Rock on a few different occasions was there with an actual date. I mean, this is some scary shit. This woman, wow. She looks a little bit like Cruella Deville's unkempt, gimpy sister - the one who stayed home while Cruella went off to prom with whoever she went with. Lex Luthor, maybe. Anyway, it's a hell of a thing. The third notable thing was that there was a guy who seriously looked like Karl Rove doing some pretty sweet karaoke. Imagine that Karl Rove had a blonde goatee, and you've got this guy.

Oh, and the fourth thing was that I was freakin' sweet, as usual. This time: "Bang on the Drum" by Todd Rundgren, and "Just a Gigolo". I think I'm going to do the latter this weekend at the big San Diego Champeenships.

ITEM! Free Beer Night at the pub was a less serious success, but still cool. There was, for some reason, a ton of undergraduates. Why this was, I don't know, but it contributed to the pub running out of beer at 10:30, which was a little lame. But I was pretty drunk by that time, in any event. The Turtle's neighbors were there, and that made for some pretty sweet gossip - although I felt like I was giving more than I was getting. Oh well. That's the way life works, sometimes. The Turtle's neighbors were also present at The Count and Honest Aeb's cocktail and fancy-dress party on Saturday. I went in a suit. Most everybody there had a tie on, and those who didn't were either a) female, or dressing in female-role clothing, b) wearing at least a blazer, c) wearing a decent shirt. I liked that sort of thing. I like dressing up. Mostly because I like the way tailored clothes look on me. Also because I like the way tailored clothes look on basically anybody. There's a bit of Jeeves in me, I think. I think the world would be a much better place if everyone dressed well most of the time. Of course, there are a lot of things that go with that that would be much more important in making the world a better place, but in any event, that would make it even better. I seem to remember a lot of talk surrounding the Turtle's neighbors and their physical attributes - which, at the time, I might have though inappropriate, but what the hell do I know? I also spent a lot of time talking about Werner Herzog. And who doesn't like that? I didn't get terribly drunk, given that I had to drive, but I had a nice couple glasses of whiskey. Which is always a sign of a good night.

ITEM! I finished a draft of my dissertation on Friday, which is pretty freakin' sweet. I didn't even get drunk or anything. Not sure why. I'm pretty convinced that I'll be getting shitfaced this coming Sunday, though, at Oktoberfest in Del Mar. It's ten bucks to get in, and the beer is five bucks, but it's a good time. And, after all, I must compete in the karaoke-off. And I will win. Oh, I will win.