Go see the play, already! It’s amazingly good. No, really. Note the dramatic awesomeness of both actors (my wife is the one on the right. Sa-Weeeet!)

Did I already post this? Maybe. But here it is again. With enough cool pictures, I can temporarily forget about what is happening to my fair nation. :/

Teh Kat with his new owner. Both seem very happy. Also, new owner isn’t going to declaw him, so that’s good. I miss the little guy already, but I’m also hugely relieved. Very very relieved. Also the cat was fluffy and cute. Did I mention that?

This graphic from chartjunk.karmanaut.com puts the McCain vs. Obama tax plans in perspective. Don’t believe me? Use teh google and look it up, yo. It’s legit. This is what it looks like when their words get put into pretty colors.

I don’t know why I was surprised to see people trying on clothes in the street, but I guess it makes sense, if you’re going to buy them there. Anyway, this may have been the same vendor from whom I bought Amanda’s Boston hat. Alex’s shirt came from a different street display. No picture of that.

In unrelated news, Alex crushed Amanda and me at Scrabble last night. She was ahead (but only by a few points, so we thought we had a chance) when suddenly she busts out “GRUMBLER,” placing letters on two triple-word-score squares! I mean, come on. We looked up the rules, and when that happens, you triple your score, and then triple the result. Ouch.

167 points for a single freaking word. But somewhere, underneath the poor-loserishness, I was still remembering that I find her braininess attractive.

Deep underneath.

Anyone know what kind of mushroom this is? I certainly don’t. Feel free to comment if you do.

unrelated Moses picture

So I was websurfing, looking for Pixies tabs, when I stumbled across the following, in a bass tab for “Isla de la Encanta”:

You really should be abel

to tell when to play what. 

Is that not some awesome stuff? It’s unintentionally haiku-esque. It’s profound. It’s just plain good advice. I especially like the (probably also unintentional, but still cool) alternate spelling of “able.” The line break is even in the original!

In other news, Alex and I saw Hellboy 2 last night.

Review: meh. sokay. 2 1/2 stars (out of 4).

Last night I spent about half an hour clicking over and over again on the random proverb remixes at http://www.neonwinter.com/sayings/ … It was a lot of fun. Here are the best returns from this foray into capricious randomnocity (organized into categories for convenience):

Made Me Giggle:
You, no gain. (D’oh!)
His bark is worse than your face.
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw a cat.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with some eggs. (pretty much anything with “some eggs” makes me laugh)
Ignorance is boys.
Where there’s smoke there’s you.
Your face will inherit the earth. (this sounds like a bit of a veiled threat)
Two in the bush is a friend indeed. (perhaps this one is about camping…?)
Neccessity is the mother of sorry. (it totally is!)
Every man has small packages. (Really, pretty obvious)
His tools gather no moss. (funnier with the “s” moved to the end of “gather”)
The grass is always greener on your face.

Makes Ya Think:
A cat may look at blood.
Kill two birds with what you eat.
No news is power.
Beauty is nine tenths of the law.
A rolling stone gathers a free lunch.

Reasonable Assertions:
Familiarity breeds knowledge. (Some of my students could stand to grok this)
Power makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. (well, maybe “wise”)
No man is a cat.
Some eggs are better than one.
Laughter is fun.
Hell hath no fury like boils. (I’ve never had one, but this sounds accurate)
Drink favours the bold.
A penny saved is a penny saved.

Classical Studies:
Rome never strikes twice in the same place. (I think this is my favorite!)
A journey of a thousand miles begins with beauty.
Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved rome.

Wise:
Virtue is the earth.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw honesty.
Try again begins with one step.
Pride is the root of all evil. (The late Ezra T. Benson would approve)
There’s no use crying over a woman.

Strangely Wise:
A silver lining spoils the broth.
Necessity is the mother of home.
There’s no such thing as beauty.
There’s no use crying over valour.
Laughter is next to godliness.
Children should be seen, not perfect.
The road to hell is paved with those who wait.
Ignorance travels fast.
Two is company; three is two wrongs. (so… one is no wrongs?)
The law breeds contempt.
Ignorance is valour.
There are two sides to bliss.
Clothes make the law. (especially powdered wigs or suits from expensive tailors)
Many hands make blood.

Jazz Hands! Continue reading →

Alex said this was her favorite shot from the Hamilton Harbour fireworks last night, so here it is. O Canada! Two more fireworks pics after the cut.

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Do you know this F? I’m curious. Another pic and explanation of context, after the cut. Continue reading →

Sometimes one’s cat accidentally advertises one’s wife’s upcoming play.

Totally unrelated to the photo: I was searching for wedding photos today, and I found one of the alternate texts for the wedding announcement Alex and I eventually sent out. Background: I was not very motivated to do any of the planning for the wedding, so my ever-ingenious wife did almost everything (not to slander Amanda, who also did almost everything). I am still not sure why we didn’t use this text for the official announcements. It’s pretty awesome, yo:

Pic: Steel plant in Hamilton Harbour, with Deadly Aura of Darkness

We did the nose… and the hat. But she’s still a witch! Yeah, I darkened the sky a bit. It was a very nondescript pale blue, before. And this photo is more germane to my topic, which is…

POLITICS!!!!11!1!!

Okay, so if you’ve read any of my politics posts lately, you know that I’m highly disillusioned with the Republicans, but not much more fond of the Democrats. The whole partisan system is deeply flawed. But there is fun, exciting light on the horizon. This interesting and contentious race might (you know, slim possibility) lead to…

Last-minute Republican Candidate Switch!

Good for America? Probably not¹. Entertaining? Hell, yes! Sadly, some pundits’ predictions of a major split in the Democratic party² will probably not play out, now that things have been resolved (relatively) peacefully. But I can still hope. This country needs a viable, enduring third party that can repeatedly threaten the power bases of the existing two. Maybe Ron Paul and his buddies can get something started with their Constitutionalness, but numbers-wise, they’re looking a little like Ross Perot a few elections ago. So, I was excited at the thought of the Democrats splitting down the middle, in a year when they were on top of the presidential race.

alas, it is not to be. Sigh.

1. it really depends on who they pick, but anyone who cozies up to Bush ‘s more bellicose and/or anticonstitutional policies is not getting my vote [↩]
2. sorry; couldn’t find a link; last time I saw a reference to this particular prediction was a couple of months ago, when Hillary seemed to have a chance [↩]

Picture: Jeff Santa Barbara, Constant K Director, looks pleased, despite his dark and gloomy surroundings.

The Constant K Determines the Ultimate Fate of the Universe opened last night. It was rough in some places, but overall a success. It will just get better across performances, too :) I discovered that I am no longer the boy who could not get enough stage time, back in my early 20s: I was nothing but relieved when my 5 minutes of fame was over.

In other news, it occurred to me that we need a glossary for the show (no, I’m serious), so here it is.

Altruism

Performing a helpful act without any selfish motivations; helping purely to help the individual in need, or for helping’s sake alone.

Comet

(See Meteor/Meteorite, Tumbleweed)

Dawkins, Richard

Popular ethologist and evolutionary biologist, originally prominent for his book The Selfish Gene, a seminal text for sociobiology, and for developing and popularizing the theory memes. Although he was originally known for his scientific contributions, he is lately more famous for using his considerable intelligence and education to browbeat and humiliate less-educated religious people in public forums.

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Michael with Blindfold

Fun with Alex, b&w, and a laser pointer :)

(2 more under the cut)

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