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Friday, March 30, 2007

SP-OETRY #4

"Vanity"
Check this out
Your life will improve in all areas
Taking the world by storm
Second to none
You can't lose
You'll be better for it
Give it a try
Second to none

"involved in entropy I say"
What are you up to
Are you lonely
long dry childless faces
That met in that old home
Don't just think what if, do it
Well on your way
to the small town
Take care

"She just wants to have fun"
Saudi
Rosalie
paints
Red
days

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Thursday, March 29, 2007

THE GRASS IS GREENER ON THIS SIDE

Maybe you recently ate poisoned dog food.
Maybe you lost your office NCAA pool after the first weekend.
Maybe you crashed on a mysterious island.
Maybe you paid good American money to go see TMNT.

Who ever you are, you can be glad that you are not
this man.

Because he had his penis caught in the log moving machinery at a saw mill. And "there was a degree of uncontrollable bleeding involved."

So thank your creator (or parents if you don't believe in creators [or Odin if you had crappy parents]) that you are not that man.

All though it must also suck to be Nikki and Paulo right about now.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

WORZALA'S WEDNESDAY WORD 3-28-07

Today's word is "people" as in, "Please, try and remember that your pets are not little people."

A Canadian woman learned this
the hard way this week while trying to convince her dog "Missy" to try her new dog food.

Now, I'm not a dogologist, so maybe I do not know of what I speak. But my family has had dogs my entire life, so I feel that I have a good working background. Therefore, it is with confidence that I say this: Dogs will eat anything.

And I mean annnnnything.

We had a dog, "Sam", that would gobble down basically anything you put in front of him, and several things you did not. Meat, vegetables, bread, wood, plastic, grass, whatever, whenever, where ever. Why? Because he was a dog, and that's what dogs do.

Remember, animals are not people. Your Poopsie-woopsie will only eat broiled pork chops? No. You're just a sucker. Give Poopsie a bowl of dog food and a few days to mull it over and they'll go back to eating Kibble.

That being said, whatever you do decide to feed your dog, remember, again, it is not people. It does not need to be convinced that food is good. So do not, like the woman in the article, eat dog food to sway your dog
.

Apparently the Universe was trying to teach her this lesson as well, as the brand of dog food she chose to dine on was one of the many recently recalled brands from Iams. Turns out, some of the wheat used in the food had come from China where they had been spraying the crop with rodent killing poisons. Funny thing about rodent poison, they don't just hurt rodents. The other funny thing, this woman didn't know about the recall that had been all over the national news. So she wound being visited by the double-team of projectile vomiting and foaming at the mouth. Now she's thinking of suing Iams. For what? I don't know. For not personally telling her about the recall? About not warning her to not eat Dog Food? For making the Dog Food so darn delectable looking that it was hard to resist?? I don't know. I'm not a lawyer.

There is a lesson to be learned here good Star Worz-iors, and that lesson is that humans are humans and pets are pets, and never the two should meet when it comes to dining. Not even Milk Bones, which are quite delectable.

Oh yeah, and don't trust the Chinese. Or at least their wheat.

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Monday, March 26, 2007

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA DISAPPOINTMENT

Saw the new Ninja Turtles movie this week.

It was not very good.

Before I get much deeper I feel that I should warn you...

SPOILERS AHEAD









Okay, good... here we go.
I'm a TMNT fan. I wouldn't call myself a die-hard, but I watched the cartoon, I had the toys and I saw all three of the movies in the theater. So I was pumped to see the new film. You've got The Foot Clan, you've got immortal stone warriors, you've got Thir-firckin'-teen monsters from another dimension and you've got Casey "Wayne Gretzky On Steroids" Jones! Plus, it's animated, so there's all sorts of ninja-tastic attacks that could grace the silver screen.

Knowing what I do now, if I could talk to my past self, it would go like this:

Future Me: Maaaaaaaaatt!

Past Me: Me?

Future Me: It's You, from the Fuuuuuuture!

Past Me: Wow.

Future Me: I know, cool, huh?

Past Me: No, it looks like you missed a spot shaving. Did you do it with your eyes closed?

Future Me: Wow. Not cool, Dick. Maybe if you'd gone out and bought new razors like the list said...

Past Me: Sorry, sorry. So, what brings you to Sunday morning March 25, 2007? If you're here to help with my NCAA bracket I could have used you two weeks ago.

Future Me: Yeah, sorry about that. I'll write that down for next year. Under the razors.

Past Me: Dude. Let it go. And can we hurry this up? We're going to see Ninja Turtles later today.

Future Me: That's what I've come here to tell you! Ninja Turtles is not going to be good!

Past Me: What are you talking about? Are you high? Did I start smoking weed in the very near future? Let me see your tongue.

Future Me: Get you hands off me! I'm telling you the truth! The movie, despite your hopes, will not be good. You will even make this face *stunned expression* near the end.

Past Me: ...From awesomeness... right?

Future Me: I wish. No, from the sheer lack of awesomeness.

Past Me: But-but-but- it's got The Foot Clan!

Future Me: They're just lackeys chasing after 13 giant monsters from another world.

Past Me: You must be thinking of some other Foot clan.

Future Me: I wish I was.

Past Me: Why would Shredder allow that?

Future Me: Shredder is DEAD.

Past Me: What? Ohhh, that's right, his daughter or something is in charge, right?

Future Me: I guess. I don't think they say. But she's voiced by Ziyi Zhang.

Past Me: The girl from Hidden Tiger.

Future Me: Yes.

Past Me: But... she doesn't speak English very well.

Future Me: No. No she doesn't. And she's Chinese. Leading Japanese Ninjas.

Past Me: Okay, so that's... not so good. But hey, you said Thirteen monsters from another world right? That's gotta be awesome!

Future Me: Actually those will all be handled by these four immortal stone warriors. Other than the first and "twelfth" monster the most you'll see of the other 11 monsters is a quick montage as they're all captured and caged.

Past Me: Then why'd they make it 13 monsters? Why not make it, I don't know, three? And why was twelfth in quotes?

Future Me: You could see that?

Past Me: You did the thing with your fingers.

Future Me: Oh, right. Well see, I'm pretty sure the stone warriors say they only have one monster left to capture, and then it cuts to Rafe fighting a monster, but that monster isn't the thirteenth, because the thirteenth is this big dinosaur monster that Casey and April trick into entering the energy portal.

Past Me: Yes! Casey Jones! That's gotta be awesome, right? And April's gotta be kinda hot.

Future Me: Ummm.. yeah, about that. Ummm.. Casey looks like a 14 year old with a mullet and April has a waist smaller than her neck.

Past Me: Um. Well-

Future Me: And she's a ninja.

Past Me: Well that's ju-

Future Me: And an artifact hunter.

Past Me: ...

Future Me: Yeah.

Past Me: ... just- just tell me about the fights. The fights have to be cool, right?

Future Me: There is one decent fight, and it's Leonardo versus Raph/Night Watcher.

Past Me: Night Watcher?

Future Me: Yeah, it's Raph's crime fighting disguise that he came up with during the year that Leo's been gone. But no one can figure out it's him, even though he sleeps all day, is a staunch defender of the Night Watcher and the costume makes him look like a big metal turtle. He does have these cool chain weapons though.

Past Me: Well that's cool, right?

Future Me: He uses them, like, twice.

Past Me: I'm starting to wish you hadn't come back to tell me all this.

Future Me: It gets worse.

Past Me: Please, I don't know if I can take anymore.

Future Me: Splinter looks like Chester Cheetah.

Past Me: No!

Future Me: They let Kevin Smith voice a character!

Past Me: Noooo!

Future Me: The second to last fight scene uses a P.O.D. song from 4 years ago!

Past Me: Whyyyyyy?!?

Future Me: The turtles use smoke bombs to sneak away, even though there's 7 of them standing side-by-side and they only have one door they can enter through.

Past Me: ... WHAT?!?!

Future Me: And umm... well I feel bad even mentioning this.

Past Me: You've gone this far, I can take it.

Future Me: In... in the end... of the movie... the Turtles, well, they fight the four stone warriors.

Past Me: Coool?

Future Me: Splinter says they'll be able to defeat them because the Turtles are now fighting like a family again.

Past Me: So, cool?

Future Me: I'm not done. They "fight as a family"-

Past Me: There's those quote marks again.

Future Me: Which means each turtle fights an individual warrior, and none of them provide any back-up for the other.

Past Me: Oh. Soooooo...

Future Me: Not cool? Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and Leo gets knocked into a display case of swords, picks up all the swords, stands there with all the swords on his back and then is never shown using any of them. At all.

Past Me: The horror. The horror.

Future Me: So, you can understand why I came back?

Past Me: Yes. Thank you Future Matt.

Future Me: You're welcome Past Matt. Oh, and one last thing?

Past Me: Yes?

Future Me: There was an Underdog trailer. It won't be good either.

Past Me: Natch.

Friday, March 23, 2007

FRIDAY SP-OETRY 3

"So lately lighted at the torch of day"
Whats in your pants
McGowan
We know what you need
Old friends lost
You'll be better for it
You can't go wrong

"Product selection"
Mike WalkerYou Cant
Regulate your sleep with AMBI
The punctual tides are buses
unhappily
taking the world by storm

"Dates online"
hello from iris
(looking for a date)
hi from heather
(Shes looking for cute guys)
hi from sophia
(safe and secure)
is it you? kelsie here
(I heard about her)

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Thursday, March 22, 2007

I HOPE THIS DOESN'T HINDER OUR RELATIONSHIP

Honey why you calling me, so late?
....
What? No I'm not being rude, I was just wondering why you were calling at 1 in the morning.
....
Well some of us do have to work tomorrow. I almost broke my dang foot getting to the phone too. It's kinda hard to talk right now.
....
Honey why you crying? Is everything okay?
....
Nothing? Nothing's wrong?
....
No, I'm not being accusatory. I'm just saying most people don't call ex-boyfriends at... 1:25 in the morning, crying, for no reason.
....
I gotta whisper 'cause I can't be too loud.
....
Well my girl's in the next room.
....
Already? We moved in together after three weeks.
....
Different, how was that different?
....
Sometimes I wish it was you.
....
Well you said it first.
..-
-No I am not leading you on. You called me, sobbed in my ear and said you wished your boyfriend was me. So I was just- I guess we never really moved on.
....
I've got a funny way of showing it?? Hello Pot? Yeah, it's the Kettle calling, he says you're black.
....
No I didn't just call you black. It's a- never mind. It's really good to hear your voice saying my name. It sounds so sweet. Coming from the lips of an angel.
....
Nah, kinda this gravelly thing. She smokes, so, you know. What can you do?
....
Hearing those words it makes me weak and I never want to say good-hold on I have another call.
*beep*
Hello?
....
No, that's a bad idea.
....
Well wait until you're sober and then go get the tattoo then.
....
Look, just call me back later.
*beep*
Hello?
....
Well sure, I mean, if you were free and I was free, and you were wearing that little outfit I bought you. Girl you make it hard to be faith...ful... huh.
....
It just dawned on me why we didn't work out.
....
Yes I'm talking about our rampant infidelity.
....
I'd sure call it "rampant". I'm living with a girl, you're living with another guy and yet here we are talking on the phone, in secret, at odd hours of the morning, talking about hooking up on the sly? What a pair of scumbags we are.
....
I can't believe you're going to start crying again. You always do this. Look, I gotta go, I gotta get up for the first shift at McDonalds in a couple of hours, and then I'm going to go buy some flowers for my girl and confess the whole thing. Don't ever call this number again.
*click*

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

WORZALA'S WEDNESDAY WORD 3-21-07

Today's Wednesday word is "bored" as in, "If you're so bored, why don't you read a book? Or else you might get punched in the face."

Imagine you're Dean Heinrich. Imagine you're laying in your bed, sleeping the night away, when things begin to get weird.

Weird: You wake up at
5:45 a.m. on a Sunday.

Weirder: You're woken up by someone else in your bedroom.

Weirder Still: It's a burglar.

So what do you do? If you're Dean "Two-Fisted Justice" Heinrich, you bolt out of bed and punch the burglar in the face. Then you slam them into the ground and hog tie them with what ever you can find handy. Then things get weird again.

More Weird: Your burglar is only 17.

More Weirder: Your burglar is a girl.

More Weirder Still: She did it because she was bored.

*sigh* And these are the kids that will be running things when I hit retirement age? Looks like I better go over those Rocket Ship schematics again.

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Monday, March 19, 2007

I COULD COACH THIS GAME MUCH BETTER THAN YOU

You are a terrible coach.

What are you doing taking Tomkins out of the game? You need to have a big man inside! So what if he's already got 3 fouls in the first 5 minutes! I could coach this game much better than you.

Sure, I have no actual experience coaching, but there's what you know and there's what you know, you know? Of course you don't. Because you're an idiot and if you don't have pictures of the dean's wife in your possession I don't know how you've kept your job this long. It sure isn't because of skill.

Another missed free throw by Howser. This is pathetic. Aren't you teaching these kids any skills? I watched this kid when he played for Holy Christ in high school. He was draining shots from everywhere on the court. Now he looks like an undersized idiot that keeps dribbling into triple coverage. If I was the coach you can bet that would be the first thing I would fix. That and the terrible free throw shooting. Every one on the team from Addison to Zylocski would have to shoot 300 free throws before they could leave practice. And if you didn't make at least 250 or you'd have to start all over. That's how you teach fundamentals. Not that you would know.

Are you kidding me?? You put Bishop out on the court? That kid is good for two things; keeping the bench warm and giving high fives. What a stupid move, you stupid- okay, so he made that three. Whatever, it was still a risk to put him in the game.

Why are you not running a full court press against this team? I bet they would fold up like a lawn chair if you just put a little pressure on Willis. Sure he's "allegedly" a first round NBA prospect but he can't move the ball if he's triple teamed.

Why is Bishop still out there? He looks lost! He's just wandering around on the perimeter, he needs to be cutting inside! That's where you need him, cutting under the backdoor. If I was coach of this team you can bet we'd run that drill for an hour every day. After the wind sprints but before the free throw- Okay so he drained that one too. Everyone gets lucky twice. That's what she said.

Another lay-up by Willis. How have you not found a way to stop this guy yet? He's 21 years old. You're telling me he's that good that you can't come up with a way to stop a 21 year old? This is pathetic. I thought the lost to State was bad, but this is just the worst. I could coach this game much better than you. So what if State is the number 3 team in the nation and you had lost Howser to an ankle sprain and Tomkins to a DUI? It's State. You Have to beat State. We always beat state when I went to college. That you can't beat them is just another reason you should be run out of town on a rail.

That's 4 fouls now for Tomkins. 2 minutes into the second half and he's got 4 fouls. What are you going to do now, genius? You never should have put him back in the game. If a guy had 3 fouls in the first half and I was the coach they wouldn't play the next game. That would teach those kids how to play smart.

Just take another shot ball-hog. This Bishop is un- okay, so he made that one too. Why you're not giving Howser the ball is beyond me. You have to be aggressive to the basket. B-e aggressive. This shoot from the corner is fine if you want to putz around all day.

C'MON!! Willis just passed it out to Dunnley who scored his own three! What sort of idiot has three guys collapse on Willis when he gets in the paint? You're leaving two guys wide open! And now Willis steals the ball from Howser. You know if you played Howser more than 2 minutes a game he'd be more confident out on the court. He used to dominate the kids from Freedom-Glendale-Casco Area High School. Heck, he was 4 inches taller than everyone else. Now, thanks to your "coaching", and I wish you could see the finger quotes I'm making right now, he's flailing around like a chicken with his head cut off. Good call, sit him on the bench, maybe you should have done that 40 seconds ago, before Willis made us look like idiots.

Well, that's another loss for us. Sure am glad we got into the tournament as a 14 seed. I could have gotten a group of 12 year-olds to play this team closer and I certainly could have done a better job coaching these guys than you did. Oh look, Bishop missed, I told you it was a stupid idea to put him in. So what if he's 7 of his last 8 for 21 points. Howser, he's your future. Not that you're smart enough to know that.

Idiot.

RED RIVER KID- A-HA!

Yesterday I was at the theatre's bi-monthly Write Club meeting and more of The Red River Kid was read. It'll still be called The Red River Kid for all intents and purposes until it's finalized, though now Lizzie's outlaw name will be The Pennsylvania Rose (which as far as I know has no menstrual connotations). One of the issues brought up by Pat was the fact that the railroad buying the town, while a good idea, may not be the most accurate for that day and age. And, really, he was right. It's a great idea for a plot, but it is a bit of a leap even when I was trying to make it in my head. So I've spent most of today with half of my brain trying to figure out a new "big threat" to the town. And it had to be a big threat and it had to involve the entire town. Otherwise Lizzie's just being a brat who just wants her way. But if the entire TOWN is threatened and THAT'S why she goes back to being an outlaw, well then she's a big darn hero.

For a while I thought about making a mining company the big bad. They'd either buy the town to strip mine for ore, or they'd divert the river which would a) dry out the town or b) flood the town. But then it's like, how do you buy off a mining company? That won't work.

But then I was reading about early railroads out West and only one railroad ever defaulting... so I started thinking, what if the town already HAS a railroad, but it's going to go under, and if it does, that's going to take the whole town under. So now Lizzie's trying to make money to help either a) pay off the railroad's debt or b) allow the town to buy the railroad itself. Which leads to the funny dialogue of "You're robbing the railroad in order to save the railroad." "Well hell, it sounds stupid when you say it."

We'll see if this works. At the moment I've got a good feeling about it. We'll see how long that lasts.

(There will probably be an actual post up today as well, I just thought I'd share because I thought the idea was clever and wanted to share.)

Friday, March 16, 2007

A NEW WEEKLY TRADITION?

While I work on an ulcer listening to the Wisconsin/Corpus Christi game, you can enjoy some more Friday Spoetry.

"It's Sadie"
They pick their way through the wet streets
Total condidentiality
Be more powerful
Did you get dumped
Keizo child
Be more powerful
The secret
car

"Write The Mail"
Woman of all types are looking for you
For the guys
See what she is into
Your-One-Stop
You can't go wrong
We cater to your needs

"Jenni Falconer Jennie"
Lonely girls
You have rejected certain traditions
entirely

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

WORZALA'S WEDNESDAY WORD 3-14-07

Today's Wednesday Word is "see" as in "Do you see what I see? They've discovered seas on Saturn's moon, Titan. Si? Si!"

So, just as a heads up, this will be the last Star Worz column ever. You can keep coming back to click the ads, I'd appreciate it if you do, but I'm out of here. I'm going to Titan to become a fisherman, and I'm never coming back.

Ever?

Never.

Forget this planet with it's race wars and suicide bombers and homophobes and flip phones and pre-teens in low rise jeans and Fox New's "1/2 Hour News Hour". You can all keep each other, clicking away on my ad for eternity, I'm catching the first rocket to outer space and I'm setting up shop.

Julie can come along. Tani too, to run the bait shop. And Skip, cause I'll need someone to operate a radio station so I have something to listen to while I fish. You don't even need to operate a two hour "hot hit" rotation Skip, I promise. It's going to be mostly Gin Blossoms anyway.

I'm going to get a boat and a rod with 120 pound test line and a cooler full of beers and I'm going to go. I'm going to catch Methane fueled moon fish, and I'm going to cook them up over an open fire and it's going to rock my socks. And on Friday's I'm going to mix in a little lemon butter. My taste buds are going to explode.

I'm going to get there first, and when all you Johnny YouTube Come Latelys get there, guess who's going to have all the good spots staked out? I'll give you a hint: He's got two thumbs and wrote this article. That's right, this guy. You want to cast for Titan Trout by the sunken log next to the reed patch? Good luck with that pal, I got up at 3 a.m. Jupiter time to get that spot. Why don't you try Cassini. Ha-ha-ha-ha. If you can find any fish in those methane puddles Cassini calls lakes.

This is going to be awesome. Good-bye job, good-bye rent payments, just me, a boat and liquid methane as far as the eye can see. I am so pumped right now I might leave work early and start working on my rocket ship. I should be able to build one, right? If Billy Bob Thornton can do it, I can do it.

In conclusion, I want to thank all of you for supporting me for the past 13 months. Maybe, if I have time and can get someone to hook up a modem line to my space shanty, I'll post updates and "catch of the day" pictures. But I'll probably be too busy catching huge trophy bass to write.

Take care, be excellent to each other and watch out for those man eating cows. Now that I'm leaving someone else is going to have to keep an eye on them. My money's on
Gary.

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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

KILLER KOWS II: THE NEXT WAVE

I tried to warn you last week that something was foul in Denmark, but instead of Denmark it was India and "something was foul" meant "cows are eating chickens". Most of you didn't seemed too concerned. After all, it's India. There are a billion people in that country. There's no way the cows could eat them all, and even if they did, these cows do not possess the technology to cross the Pacific and attack America. Currently.

Well ha-ha-ha, the horrifying joke is on you. Now our hallowed shores have been invaded by flesh eating
frogs. That's right, frogs. Maybe you remember the last time frogs just started popping up in places they shouldn't have. Maybe that's because it was one of the plagues Moses dropped on Pharaoh F Ramses. And those frogs didn't even Eat Meat. Meat, I might remind you, being one of the two main ingredients of humans.

"No one knows for sure when this frog species got into the pond or who put them there, but now city officials fear the killer frogs will spread throughout the Bay Area."

Cows with tiger spirits in them. Blood thirsty frogs appearing out of nowhere. Whirlwinds in thorn trees*. I blame Danilynne Smith for all of this. None of this started happening until she entered the world.

Matt, are you serious? Blaming a BABY for all of this? Tell you what, I am nothing if not fairhanded so I propose a test. We put her in a bag and throw her into the Ocean. If she floats, she's a witch and we burn her at the stake. If she drowns... well that one's on me. Sorry. At least I won't get any angry calls from her father, whomever he is. My money's still on
Gary.

*probably

Friday, March 09, 2007

ONE PERSON'S TRASH IS ANOTHER PERSON'S BLOG

Chicagoan Kristin Thomas creates poetry out of the titles of spam e-mails. She started in 2003 and her website www.spam-poetry.com gets about 500 hits, from over 20 different countries, every day.

I thought this idea sounded clever enough and, as anyone who has an e-mail account can testify to, I have enough spam e-mail to give it a shot. So, on this Friday, enjoy some Star Worz spam-poetry. Feel free to post your own creations in the comments section.

"By The Shearer"
5 inches isn't good enough
6 inches isn't good enough
You need 7 inches
People from all walks of life
Take the challenge
Reflecting on its future Foothills rise into
GlobalPharm
Tens of thousands of happy customers
Tens of thousands of happy customers

"cuando"
perform
stolenquot declared sudden frightened
orbit first
these girls are looking for dates
landing juvenile vehicle
let us introduce you to her
lowest price promise

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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

WORZALA'S WEDNESDAY WORD 3-7-07

Today's Wednesday Word is "cow" as in, "Here's a new reason to fear a cow."

Cows are scarier than you think. Let's get that right out in the open. For years they've been blamed for "producing" high amounts of methane gas that then gets trapped in our atmosphere, which in turn causes the planet to heat, which in turn melts the ice caps, slowly but surely drowning all of us. Then came mad cow disease. Mad cow disease isn't just trouble if you eat the infected beef, though that's bad enough. America has had, if I remember off the top of my head, three Mad Cow incidents in the last 3 years. Canada has had over half a dozen (again, if my memory serves me correctly). This means other countries, like Japan (one of our top 5 buyers), don't want to accept our beef anymore. So ranchers are going out of business because of it as well. Thanks a lot cows.

So up until now cows could hurt you environmentally, financially and physically. The only saving grace was they could only hurt you physically if you ate them.

That might all change soon.

Check out
this article from Scotsman.com about a cow in India that is eating live chickens. They thought it was wild dogs until they actually witnessed the darn cow walk up to the coop in the middle of the night and "grab the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat."

Now, did they try to stop the cow? No! They just stood there and watched while their cow helped its bloodthirsty self to a fresh chicken dinner. Why? Because in India, cows are sacred animals. Well I'm sorry, I try to be respectful of all cultures, but what were you thinking? If Jesus lived on my farm and I found out He was eating my chickens out of my coop I would at the very least have told Him to shoo. If that didn't work I probably would have been forced to fire a warning shot across His bow. But I wouldn't have just stood there while The Good Shepard chowed down on my livelihood. I invite you to my home, I give you fresh hay, I promise not to make you into hamburgers, and this is how you repay me Jesus? I don't remember any of this being covered in the Sermon on the Mount. "Blessed are those who raise poultry, for they shall have them eaten by Me in the middle of the night."

If Jesus DID eat my chickens, at least he would have the excuse that he is a human being, and humans are omnivores. We eat meat. It's what we do. Cows are herbivores. They eat plants. It's what they do. But now, now they're eating meat? I don't know about you, but it scares me when animals start eating things they aren't supposed to. Especially when their new meals are made of the same thing (meat) as I am.

India's explanation? The cow was a tiger in a former life. Really? Cause that doesn't make me feel any safer. If anything that makes me more freaked out. First it's tigers, then it's sharks, followed by great white sharks, followed by Charles Manson. Then we're all screwed. Do you know the ratio of humans to cows on this planet? I sure don't, but I'm going to say it's 1:3. That's three meat craving New Holstein death machines for every man, woman and child in the world. And Child. You think a baby can fight off a cow? Please, let's get serious, okay? Have you ever seen a baby? Have you ever seen a chicken? Ask yourself: which one of these two is smarter? And then answer yourself: chicken.

This problem is starting in India, but their soft-on-cow-violence ways aren't going to provide any solutions. Soon the problem is going to spread. First Asia, then Europe and finally to our own soil. What can we do, as Americans, to preserve our way of life? Simple. Tonight, tomorrow (if you're not Catholic) and all next week, make sure to have some beef every day. It's time to remind those cud-chompers who's the alpha male of this planet.

Saving The World: It's What's For Dinner.

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Monday, March 05, 2007

RED RIVER SIDE TRACK

I'm in the midst of working on a new play that will be produced either in August of this year or late 2008. That's something really nice about working for people that own their own theatre, I can say "my play is going to be produced either ____ or ____" instead of saying "well, I'm going to give it another polish and then send it off. Hopefully, if someone likes it, it might see the light of day this decade." (On a side note to this side note; I am in the process of polishing up "3 Stories From Middleville" and then I'm sending it off. Hopefully, if someone likes it, it might see the light of day a second time this decade.)

The new play I'm working on is called "The Red River Kid" and, as you might be able to infer, it is a western. I think it's a neat idea, of course, I'm far from partial about my work. It's about an outlaw who is supposedly killed, but lives and sets up a new life in a small town in New Mexico. But when the town is bought by the railroad with the intention of destroying it, the outlaw goes back to robbing trains to run up their bounty enough to buy back the town. Meanwhile, the marshal that had "killed" The Red River Kid comes out of retirement due to the fact that The Red River Kid is very much not dead. It's got some humorous parts in it, but it is very much a serious attempt at doing a western.

And it's got two female leads. The Red River Kid and her sidekick Grace Bishop are both women. I wasn't originally going to write them this way, but it was a fun little challenge given to me by Mike, one of the theatre owners, as a way to give some of our actresses more meaty roles than the "girlfriend" and "maid" which they've been getting stuck with lately.

Writing for female characters hasn't been too difficult yet. Of course, all of my characters usually sound exactly the same for the first two or three drafts, so this might be a problem I run into later on. However, I had some of the script read out loud for the first time last night and I've learned two things that are important to keep in mind when writing for women.

1) If you have a man as an outlaw called The Red River Kid, people will assume he is from an area called Red River. If you have a female as an outlaw called The Red River Kid, people are going to assume she is constantly on the rag. The Kid's new name is currently up in the air.

2) If you have a man as an outlaw called The Red River Kid, and he has a partner named Bishop who he calls "Bish", people will assume that is his nickname for his partner. If you have a female as an outlaw called The Red River Kid, and she has a partner named Bishop who she calls "Bish", people will assume she is calling her "bitch", possibly because she is constantly on the rag. Bishop will be known as "Grace" from here on out.

That's what I've learned so far in this experiment, I'm sure there will be more. Also, if any of you have ever seen a western done on stage, would you mind leaving me a comment on how they staged horses? I'm curious to see if it's even possible.

Friday, March 02, 2007

OOOH THE FLOSSY, FLOSSY

Fergie has a new song. The video can be found here. (note: I don't know why the audio suddenly drops three levels about 20 seconds in, it just does) I would not recommend watching the video, because it is not very good. Also, if you watch the video, you will have to look at Fergie. I'm not going to say that Fergie is unattractive, because that would be a mean thing to say. (however, I'm not going to say she is attractive. I'm really not going to say that)

As you may
remember, I am not a big Fergie fan. I did not like "London Bridge" and it's nonsensical chorus and I did not like "Fergalicious" who's twin crimes to humanity were "my body stays vicious/I be up at the gym just working on my fitness" and "I know I'm coming off just a little bit conceited/and I keep on repeating how the boys wanna eat it". But I will hand it to her this time. "Glamorous" is a song that I am enjoying. Well, I like the beat anyway. The lyrics, once again, are not Fergie's strong suit. Which would be fine, if this was... I don't know, anything but a song.

We start right off the bat with a little bit of spelling. I do not know what sparked the current spelling craze in female pop music, but I blame Gwen Stefani's "Holla Back Girl" and the "B-a-n-a-n-a-s" chorus. Fergie is a lot like Gwen, except, you know, not as attractive or from an actual band. But what she lacks in outer appearances and inner talent she makes up for in her dedication to spelling. They spelled both Delicious and Tasty in "Fergalicious" and now we're learning how Glamorous is spelled. It's "G-l-a-m-o-r-ous" in case you weren't able to read that last sentence.

Now we get the first verse, which, like the rest of the song is not good. But darn it all if that syncopated clapping doesn't hook me every time. Apparently Fergie wants us to know that despite being covered in diamonds, gold and "expensive things" and being in movies and on magazine covers, she's still that same girl everyone knew back in the day. Ahhhh yes, the "I'm still that same simple person" song. On the country side of the charts Faith Hill had a huge hit with "Mississippi Girl" which said basically the same thing. Of course, as anyone can tell you, if you have to put out a song about how you haven't changed, it's because you have changed. Fergie also mentions she can be seen in "bougie scenes" though I doubt she could spell "bourgeois" phonetically (and yes, I did have to look up the spelling) let alone tell you what makes a scene "bougie".

What Fergie can tell you is that she's "not clean... not pristine... no queen... no machine." Now, I don't remember anyone ever accusing Fergie of being a cyborg, but I'm glad she took time to clean up that machine rumor that was apparently going around. Also, not to be too critical, but for someone who had a documented crystal meth problem, I would think Fergie would have avoided using the phrase "not clean". But what do I know, I'm just a professional writer. Fergie also likes to hit Taco Bell late at night "raw as hell". This is one time the language of the streets has left me confused. I have no idea what it means to be "raw as hell". I have some ideas though, as raw could mean:
a) Unprotected sex
b) Very drunk
c) In a chemically altered state
d) Disheveled
e) Not cooked thoroughly

Though I assume it is one of the first three, I can only hope it is not, as any of those is a terrible message for a celebrity of Fergie's status to be sending to young people. "Heck yeah I'll go to Taco Bell with you guys. I've been doing keg stands for 40 minutes while smoking pot, but who doesn't love Gorditas. Let me just finish having unprotected sex with this person real quick."

Then we have the mandatory rapper insert. Fergie nabs Ludacris long enough for a voice modulation unit to have some fun with his voice. Ludacris does manage to squeeze in the best rhyme of the song when he raps, "And I gotta keep enough lettuce/to support your shoe fetish/lifestyle so rich and famous/Robin Leach'll get jealous". Of course, Ludacris is paid to be able to rhyme, Fergie is paid for her ability to squeeze into a pair of shorts and a child's t-shirt.

Despite all the glamor of her fame and wealth, Fergie wants us to know that it's not all caviar kisses and champagne dreams. She drops the requisite "the industry is cold" line that can only ring hollow considering the career she's had. She's got a solo album that's sold just shy of 1.5 million copies and is part of an act who's last two albums combined have sold more than 17 million copies, despite being full of songs that have been referred to by some
critics as "vacuous, pointless, vile and generally loathsome". If that's your idea of cold, I can't wait to see what you consider a luke-warm treatment.

Speaking of favorable treatment, does Fergie have anything to say to her fans that have paid hard earned money for those 1.5 million Dutchess CDs? Why yes. Yes she does. She says, and I quote, "and I really like to thank/all these fans I'd like to thank/thank you really though".


No Fergie, it's you we ought to "thank, thank you really though". Thank you for reminding us all to stay true to ourselves, despite the "flossy, flossy".

And don't let the d-o-o-r h-i-t you on the way out.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN? NOT ME

I was reading an interview with Zack Snyder, who is the director behind the Frank Miller adaptation, 300. During the interview Snyder talks about his next project, the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons classic "Watchmen".

"Watchmen" is one of the best superhero graphic novels you are ever going to read. It is funny, it is exciting, it is scary and it is heart wrenching. And I sincerely hope the film never sees the light of day. Because Watchmen is going to blow.

The scope of the book is just too large to do justice to in a single film. I read "V for Vendetta" (another excellent Moore graphic novel that I highly, highly recommend) for a class in college. I then saw the movie in the theater and while it did a decent job of covering the book, it did not do a great job. There were entire characters and plot lines dropped out of the book, Evie's time away from V was redone entirely and the ending, for no particular reason, was rewritten as well. These changes did not make it a bad movie, but it did make the movie less than what the book was. And if they do that to "Watchmen", I don't even know what sort of story they'll end up with.

Let's look at the story. It takes place in the 1980's where Nixon is still President. Vietnam was a major victory for the U.S. of A thanks to the involvement of the superhuman Dr. Manhattan, a being who is basically a god amongst men. A washed up former super hero, called The Comedian (who, amongst other things, enjoys violence and attempted rape), has just been murdered. By whom? That's the mystery behind the story. A story that revolves around the lives of more than a half dozen former superheroes. But none of these superheroes, except for Dr. Manhattan, actually have any powers. So they're really just men and women dressed in costumes and calling each other by codenames. This is your main story. Meanwhile, in the background America and Russia are creeping closer and closer to Mutual Assured Destruction in Afghanistan. Oh, and a kid is reading a pirate comic book about a man trying to return home on a raft made of dead bodies. In the end the mystery is solved and war is averted, but, well, let's just say it doesn't end well for most of our heroes.

And then there's our heroes. Besides The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan (who is buck naked the entire book), one of "Watchmen"'s more famous characters is Rorschach, a psychopath that makes Batman look like Mary Poppins.

The movie could be made, any movie can be made, but I fear that any version that sees the light of the screen will be a severely edited, hamstrung version of what Time Magazine called one of the "100 Greatest English Language Novels from 1923 to the Present" in 2005. The original ending itself, which I will not give away, will be difficult to get approval for, and if a different, more satisfying ending is used in its stead, the movie will only suffer because of it.

I hope this version, like those that have come before it, dies on the vine. But don't take my word for it, take Alan Moore's. In the late 1980's Terry Gilliam was interested in turning "Watchmen" into a movie and asked Moore, "How would you make a film of 'Watchmen'?"
Said Moore, "Don't."