So I'm making a Documentary

So, I'm making a documentary. It's about web comics. I've got one web comic author interested so far. There will be more. Oh yes, there will be more.

Also I need to talk to Randstad Monday so as I can start getting paid again. That'd be nice, but not working is also nice.

Skippy hates it when people start a paragraph with "So" he says it's the geek equivalent of "umm."

What's a meme?

So today I was told about ROFLcon, a general internet community convention, taking place in Cambridge this April. I applied for it, cuz there's gonna be a lot of cool people there, and my friends...who are kinda lame...anyway, at the end of the application process it asked me what my favorite internet meme was. I thought about the many things I've enjoyed online recently, but ultimately wondered, what do they really mean by meme? I remember asking what it was in college, but i had never really gotten a satisfactory definition.

So I took to the mean streets of my Gmail chat list for a few opinions on this controversial and ever changing term.

me: so what qualifies as a MEME?

3:27 PM Brett: any individual unit of cultural knowledge that can be passed between people

...why do you ask

3:30 PM me: always been trying to figure it out

3:34 PM peoples answers difer

3:35 PM Brett: well some people's usage of the word implies popularity

38 minutes

4:14 PM me: Well, I'd say in general in order to be a meme, you have to have some base over which you exist. A YouTube video that only your friends watch is not a meme

I mean, if you made it.

4:19 PM Brett: but, it is. That's exactly my point.

A meme is a unit of information, regardless of popularity. But many people use the term to mean "a popular fad/phenomenon"

4:20 PM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

4:22 PM me: Yeah, I've read their definition.

4:25 PM I guess one argument I'm hearing and agree with in someways is that when people talk about an internet meme, it's somewhat different than a meme alone.

Brett: I like the term 'internet phenomena'

4:26 PM but I understand the meaning whenever anyone says internet meme

4:29 PM me: I tended to initially think it meant thing that gets passed around to people that's not like "check out this site" but "here's a link directly to this thing I want you to see that avoids where it's located outside of that all together"

like XKCD wouldn't be a meme, but a few popular comics within it might be.

8 minutes

4:38 PM Brett: well a comic could start a meme. but to truly be a meme, it would have to sort of inspire other works

4:51 PM me: hmmm...

13 minutes

me: so what qualifies as a MEME?

3:37 PM Jeff: Tough definition. I'd limit it to phrases with brutal overuse on the internet? THough, people call that dramatic chipmunk thing a meme, so, I don't really know.

All your base are belong to us. Clearly a meme.

3:38 PM were meme means 'internet meme' in this discussion

me: yup. I think that's the most frequently referenced one, and the thing I first think of when I hear the word.

3:39 PM when you said All your base are belong to us. Clearly a meme." you meant the item, not the phrase, but the video.

Jeff: Different communities have different meme's too.

I actually mean the phrase. The video is no longer relevant

3:40 PM To my other point "Imagine a beowulf cluster of those" is clearly a slashdot meme, not a general internet meme.

3:41 PM me: So "the cake is not a lie" is a meme.

Jeff: definitely

3:42 PM well, the 'cake is a lie'

me: but it evolves

you can say both now

3:43 PM Jeff: sure. I haven't actually seen 'not a lie'. But, if it's sufficiently popular, then certainly.

me: the video is relevant to a point. I mean, primary source is WHY people say it. Ok, the ultimate question here. Would you consider all the things that became common to say in our culture due to AUstin Powers and Seinfeld to be Memes?

3:44 PM plenty of people who've never seen either use the phrases because they're just common in our society now.

Jeff: Hmm

3:45 PM Yeah, I think those may actually provide the base definition for meme.

Where internet meme is a bit of a bastardization of it.

3:56 PM me: hmmm...interesting. you and Trevor have differing opinions

3:59 PM Jeff: If I check wikipedia, the example of austin powers/seinfeld providing basic cultural phrases to those who don't know their origin seems to match perfectly.

me: ::nod::

4:01 PM Jeff: Given that it was coined in '76, it probably was defined to refer explicitly to things such as those, rather than to internet fads. (THough, many 'internet memes' do end up fitting the 'meme' definition, but not all of them seem to).

4:02 PM me: some suggest internet meme is a term that has it's own seperate, but evolved from defenition

Jeff: I'd agree

4:05 PM me: but the definition differs fairly significantly

4:08 PM if I figure out precisely how, I'll let you know.

Jeff: haha, i'm not entirely sure either.

Transmission is relatively similar, if faster. The source material 'feels' different.

4:36 PM me: the most debate seems to be if a phrase in and of itself is an internet meme or just a meme that came from the internet

4:37 PM the source of the phrase (a lol cat or a funny video) is more definitely considered a meme.

but a popular website is not a meme?

4:38 PM Jeff: I'm begining to change my position some. I think i'm falling towards there being no meaningful distinction between meme and internet meme.

4:39 PM except as much as there is between maybe 'tv meme' or 'movie meme'

A popular website isn't really a meme because conten't doesn't tend to be static, so there's no single piece of information to call a meme.

4:40 PM A website name could become a meme or something though.

_________________________________________________________

so what qualifies as a MEME?

7 minutes

3:32 PM Patrick: it's an oft-repeated idea or concept

3:33 PM me: Wikied?

3:35 PM Patrick: in the internet sense, it refers to things that get repeated and modified in internet communication

like

O RLY?

or all your base

or I can has cheezburger etc

3:37 PM me: So you mean the phrase when you say all those things?

not the sites behind the prhases

3:38 PM Patrick: right

but it's more than just words

me: Jeff: Tough definition. I'd limit it to phrases with brutal overuse on the internet? THough, people call that dramatic chipmunk thing a meme, so, I don't really know.
All your base are belong to us. Clearly a meme.

3:39 PM Patrick: well also, most everything on YTMND.com is a meme

3:41 PM me: not just phrases, thought a lot of the definitions I'm getting here are catch phrases ....which I think is wrong, honestly.

I never thought it was phrases until I started asking.

Patrick: also, it takes on a slightly different meaning if you're a blogger

3:43 PM one of the earliest internet memes was pages of dancing animated gifs

3:44 PM me: the video is relevant to a point. I mean, primary source is WHY people say it. Ok, the ultimate question here. Would you consider all the things that became common to say in our culture due to AUstin Powers and Seinfeld to be Memes?

yeah, I saw Hamster Dance really early I guess...before all your base.

3:45 PM Patrick: see that's the thing. meme has a different definition on the internet

3:46 PM so I'd say probably not

3:47 PM or at least, most of them, probably not

and actually everything from Austin Powers is no

3:48 PM but a lot of the concepts from Seinfeld are memes in their own righti

9 minutes

3:58 PM me: I think you're being biassed there

because you like seinfeld better

Patrick: not at all

3:59 PM me: then what on earth are you on about?

Patrick: outside the internet, a repeated phrase isn't a meme

me: why not?

Patrick: because an internet meme is something seperate

me: Jeff: If I check wikipedia, the example of austin powers/seinfeld providing basic cultural phrases to those who don't know their origin seems to match perfectly.

Patrick: it relies on an informal definitionl

4:00 PM me: but it has to have some sort of definition

I feel like Tom Ashbrook

4:01 PM Patrick: there are seperate wikipedia articles for meme and internet meme

they're two different things

if "oh behave!" was an internet thing, it would be a meme

4:02 PM wheras Seinfeld's examination of regifting, or to provide a better example, coupling's giggle loop, are memes in their own right

4:03 PM me: how so?

4:04 PM Memes seperate from the definition of internet meme, or memes that would fit both definitions?

Patrick: the giggle loop could have been an internet meme

4:05 PM regifting not so much

so yeah. the former

4:06 PM me: but...WHY!? What makes the one a potential internet meme, and the other not? You haven't answered the question.

first let me ask this

are you under the opinion that people using the phrase "all your base" or "the cake is a lie" qualify as internet memes?

4:07 PM Patrick: well it has to do with which is more repeatable on the internet

yes

me: then if Austin Powers was say, a short internet film that people repeated things from in a similar way, would those not also be internet memes?

4:08 PM Patrick: I pretty much said that the would, yeah

4:14 PM Patrick: wheras calling someone a "low talker" would be more of a general cultural meme

me: only because it's from TV and not from the internet?

Patrick: well I really can't imagine it being referenced on YTMND

4:16 PM me: if it had started there, why not? I mean, so say Randall Munroe started the phrase

by using it in one of his comics

Patrick: or seeing a cute cat saying, "I NO CAN HEARS YOU. YOU IS LOWTALKER"

me: right.

Then would it not be a meme?

4:17 PM do I not bleed?

Patrick: except what I said wouldn't happen

me: what?

Patrick: what I

what I'm saying is that it's a lot less meme-able in the internet sense

4:18 PM whereas "series of tubes" is fucking golden

me: but what you perceive as being memable and what people actually do might differ.

"series of tubes?"

that sounds like a pretty standard phrase that doesn't sound like gold to me.

out of reference.

I mean...out of...context

4:19 PM Patrick: if you were at home I could show you how wrong you are

me: I'm saying out of context

4:20 PM Patrick: what's your point?

4:21 PM me: the phrase "low talker" alone doesn't sound memeable, but once you put it in context, people think it's funny and worth repeating. You could say the same thing about the phrase "a series of tubes" by itself it doesn't mean anything, but once you put it in context, people think it's funny and use it out of context.

"pick my hot toe"

4:22 PM Really weird alone, but once you've seen it it's fun to repeat.

Patrick: or once you've heard someone else use it

4:23 PM but anything that's repeated in that manner could be an internet meme

I'm saying that the way "low talker" is used is different

4:24 PM me: I do agree with you that an internet meme is something somewhat different from the 1976 term Meme

4:25 PM Patrick: actually the giggle loop as it

4:26 PM as it exists in coupling is a perfect example of a non-internet meme

how once Jeff tells someone about it, they're subject to it and such

4:31 PM me: i suppose you could use the original definition of meme for that perhaps...and I suppose it's self propogating also insofar as you tell other people about the phenomenon later

4:32 PM Patrick: right

like if you burst out laughing

someone asks you later what was so funny

and you tell them

4:37 PM me: but a popular website is not a meme?

Patrick: in and of itself no

4:38 PM well actually let me check that

sites like tubgirl, goatse, and lemonparty sort of are

_________________________________________________________

me: so what qualifies as a MEME?

Trevor: hmm...

I think of it as any sort of self-propagating idea on the internet

3:26 PM me: self-propagating? Like that needs no advertisement?

Trevor: which can be a particular image, a practice (captioning cat pictures, posting "FIRST" in response to an official poster on message boards), etc

me: Goes along by word of mouth?

" "

3:27 PM Trevor: Yeah... I guess I think of it as something that doesn't go out of its way to advertise itself to others

no "email this to friends" links, etc

just something that people either link to other people, or enough people adopt the behavior that it becomes recognizable

3:29 PM Are you conducting a survey for the US census department?

3:30 PM me: nope, for me

Trevor: what have you found so far?

3:31 PM me: Brett: any individual unit of cultural knowledge that can be passed between people

3:32 PM Bakemaster: eh, I read the wikipedia article on it one time
I forget the specific description

Lucas: Well, Rebecca was aghast at herself for using the word at all last night, so she rephrased it as "thing that spreads quickly", I think.

I used to think it was any stand alone item people pass around. SOmething that's known seprate from any website it might be on.

3:33 PM a dangling modifier.

;-P

Patrick: it's an oft-repeated idea or concept

Trevor: sexy

you do seem to be getting responses using wildly-varying degrees of precision in their language

me: "your modifier is dangling"

Trevor: oh god no! Not my modifier!

3:37 PM me: Jeff: Tough definition. I'd limit it to phrases with brutal overuse on the internet? THough, people call that dramatic chipmunk thing a meme, so, I don't really know.

3:38 PM Trevor: heh

that's why "idea" is so useful in the definition! It has to be really broad, because I consider memes to encapsulate a lot of things

3:40 PM me: ::nod::

not just phrases, thought a lot of the definitions I'm getting here are catch phrases ....which I think is wrong, honestly.

3:41 PM I never thought it was phrases until I started asking

3:42 PM Trevor: phrases like what?

me: like "alll your base" and "the cake is a lie"

3:45 PM Trevor: heh

3:46 PM Yeah, I'd consider those memes, though in that case they're protrusions of a larger meme in both cases.

11 minutes

3:57 PM me: Jeff seems to have an opposing view to you

Trevor: oh no!

3:59 PM me: Jeff: If I check wikipedia, the example of austin powers/seinfeld providing basic cultural phrases to those who don't know their origin seems to match perfectly.

4:02 PM Patrick: there are seperate wikipedia articles for meme and internet meme
they're two different things
if "oh behave!" was an internet thing, it would be a meme

4:12 PM me: See I think your definition sort of matches my concept better, and I'm trying not to be biased

Trevor: gotcha

(running around a bit here... there's a sloppy-joe throw-down going on!)

4:13 PM me: ....sounds sexy

Trevor: Hmm... internet meme vs regular meme though?

I've always thought of a meme as an internet-related thing...

4:14 PM It is a bit of a loosely defined concept though, and I think that people (including myself) are writing definitions to conform to their own impressions and just running with it

4:15 PM me: So have I, I'm learning it was coined in the later 70s

Trevor: interesting, interesting

4:20 PM me: Brett: well some people's usage of the word implies popularity

me: Well, I'd say in general in order to be a meme, you have to have some base over which you exist. A YouTube video that only your friends watch is not a meme
I mean, if you made it.

Brett: but, it is. That's exactly my point.
A meme is a unit of information, regardless of popularity. But many people use the term to mean "a popular fad/phenomenon"

4:21 PM Trevor: sounds like his definition is diverging from mine. I guess my meme is his successful meme.

or popular meme, as it were

though admittedly many memes appear within extremely small communities...

Friday night came along and I was working furiously on signs with Lisa. Several calls from Gmalivuk resulted in "he's not coming in 'til pretty late." So, not having to pick him up, I got a replacement, Skippy's friend Trevor, and we walked over to Christopher's. When we arrived Bakemaster, Hendusoone, Alisto and PictureSarah were already there, and we all headed in. After we were there for a few minutes, Nougat and Meaux showed up with Tractor and Anonymouse.

We ordered appetizers and a few people got food. We got some good beer, but we had no contact from the Canadians until nearly midnight. Meaux organized us to order them yuppie nachos and something meaty before the kitchen closed, and Alisto took the helm on that. I talked with Tractor and Anoymouse a bit after leaving Bakemaster, Hendusoone and Skippy to talk amongst themselves. Shortly thereafter our Canadians plus one arrived and I had duties to attend to, so I couldn't stay and drink... :-(

Saturday I woke up and had received no sign that anyone wanted Dim Sum, so I got brunch with my boy and his friends. Then I got my head organized for getting party requirements. I invited my friend Lisa over to continue helping me paint signs as she is an artistic goddess and smart fuckin' cookie, and I am not as skilled. I set to work on my spinach dip and she came over. Eventually I got in touch with a delayed Apocralypse, who dutifully came to Davis square as soon as she could, but walked into the open apartment at 23 Gorham, instead of my apartment at 32 Gorham. She had her cranes with her. She helped me pick out something to wear, and we gathered up alcohol and food and had Nougat meet us en route to his house so I could remain in Davis and help people purchase alcohol. Nougat had Gmalivuk with him and the four of us ran into each other at a house occupied by a tiny white kitty with a silly rhinestone collar. It was a very sweet kitty. After talking for a bit I gave them all my burdens and headed back to Davis. The kitty was in the grass now and I picked it up and walked a little ways with it until it disagreed with the idea and I it go.

While waiting I grabbed a jasmine tea at Diesel and then decided to pick up some CDs back at my apartment for use at party. Good thing too, as it turns out I didn't have my ID on me. D-OH!
After rendezvousing with my bicycle PVC manned boyfriend I got a call from Anonymouse that they were in Davis Square. Skippy rode off to Porter to pick up screws for the trebuchet he'd been fixing all day.

A long list of booze and a lot of money donated brought us to the liquor store. We should have gotten another bottle of Hendrick's. We needed three cardboard boxes to carry it all. Anonymouse's first box bottomed out, and her foot caught a bottle of Khaluha. So after a new box and about a block of walking, we called up to the party for back up. Alisto and Bakemaster came to our aid and drove us up to the party. I went in quickly and grabbed my party gear and discovered I was hella hungry. Well there was a hella a lot of food to be consumed so Hallelujah!

I met a bunch of y'all, and y'all seemed like lovely folk. The food was yummy the beer choices were excellent (even the ones that weren't mine). Shaving Gmalivuk was fun. Meeting Meaux's boy was great. The creepy piercing blue of Hodge's eyes added something to the evening and Belial upon a thread of deep red satin, molesting Girl was not to be missed as well. Loosing at Guitar Hero cost me two shots of tequila, some of which came out my nose...boy that was fun... ;-) Gmalivuk's was shaving his beard while PictureSarah photographed stages. When he had the mutton chops, we got Belial's hat and monocle, and I suggested he add a Sam Adams. Wicked avatar. ZeroSum was pretty groovy until Alisto did evil mind tricks to him and made him drink a third of a bottle of tequila. Mostly it was just hanging out and chatting. It's always great seeing boys dressed up. Especially when you first meet them. My boy showed up from having been recruited by the bicycling gang SKULL and Meaux warned him not to fuck her...apparently deviously seductive and high ranking member of SKULL, sister... he was wearing his "Magneto was right" shirt..so Skull named him MagNEAT-O (Skippy is pretty Neat-o) I introduced him around, but mostly have no idea what he did at the party besides play Wii Tennis with yy2bggggs, who brought brownies, which were yummy. Meanwhile, I chilled in Nougat's room and ended up learning how to sing "Baby it’s Cold Outside" with an insistent and drunk Alisto. I don't think I got around to trying Sarah's bread...dern it! Also I have no idea what became of the delicious cheeses I brought. MEAUX?

Anyway around 3:30 am Skippy and I decided it was sign hanging time. We gathered our required goods and were flowed by Alisto, Apocralypse, Bakemaster, hendusoone, Gmalivuk and...Anyone missing? We stopped at my place to pick up more signs and stealthily and Ninja-like went to hang up some signs. There was a moment of tape-related crisis, but once that was solved everything was fine and all 7 signs went up, plus two lil velociraptors.

Then I went home with my boy and passed the funk out.

Sunday
In the morning he set to work early(ish) on his trebuchet and I left at some point to get brunch with Meaux, Nougat, scrt_rbt_agnt, Zerosum, Bakemaster, Hendusoone and freakin' Connor and Julia, friends of friend's of mine. I got a table for 5 and then I found out Zerosum was there, and then I found out that Connor and Julia were in our party and had already arranged a table for all of us, plus another friend of theirs. Sadly when the hotel people showed up Johnny D's was totally packed and Orleans sat them, but never took their orders...real sorry about that guys.
We headed off to the park immediately after brunch. We had about 15 minutes to spare. We arrived to see people ogling my signs and taking photographs. There were tons and tons of geeks everywhere. A friend of Skippy's was carrying a "you have just lost the game" sign. I maintain that this does not make you loose the game, as anyone mentioning "the game" is an automatic safety, for 20 minutes no one who was afflicted CAN loose "the game". Heading in and just seeing all those people crowded around. The tent with all the references was great. I hope someone took pictures of that, with little spots where you can hold your mouse over and it explains the reference.

My friend's Jay carried at sign the read "WOW THAT'S CABBAGE" and Sandry was there, and Skippy's friend Aaron got his guitar hero controller signed (bad ass). I found my boy and his friend Bitches. Watched Okita entertain people and got close to the comic drawing, but not really close enough for any use. At the tent I talked to a couple of girls with Girl and Belial, I think they were part of the tent-creation group, and they were handing out pins. They were so excited to meet Belial.

The mods Moderated the comic and then we got a big group Fora photo and then we left the premises to find food. I guided everyone back to Davis and tried to get people to spread to a few different restaurants, but everyone ended up mostly at Spikes and the service was slow. Sandry, Rich, Okita, PictureSarah and I went to get burritos and Anna's and were out of there pretty fast. Then we sat by JPLicks...and...waited.....
I talked to some Forumites I'd never met before and got some ice cream at JPLicks. While in there the lost herd arrived. Once everyone ate I was able to convince them that a trebuchet is never a bad idea, and I led them toward Denehy. The group split in two when I took a shorter route, and we got distracted again by the regular park. Belial and Girl jumped into the fray to poke Randall and I wrote a couple of stupid things on the big comic. But eventually we were able to regroup and a number of us headed off to the Trebuchet. As there were many stragglers, I called Belial and gave him directions so they could follow us when they stopped being distracted.

12 of us or so headed to the Trebuchet (I know Tractor and Anonymouse were there, I know cuz I used Anony's phone with the really awesome pirate display, but the rest of you are a bit blurry...remind me? I know I used the bathroom with Barbie.) On the way we got a call from Meaux and I gave her directions. Skippy was clearly happy to have a bit of an audience. We flung baseballs, as we tried to get the thing to work properly and shortly Meaux and Greg could be seen on the horizon. At first I thought that might be it, but then there was a trumpet and drums, the cavalry had arrived. As they sat down Alisto played the theme to Deep Space 9 on a trumpet. (If only there'd been a trombone for Hodge) I helped man the machine a bit. Now the Trebuchet had to perform. It started throwing things high at short distances, it was clearly nervous. Aaron kept narrowly missing the ball, to the chagrin of the crowed. Eventually he got one. The crowed was generally receptive and simultaneously entertaining themselves. So, Skippy offered up baseball gloves. The puns flew with the balls, Okita and Nougat got up to catch at a few points. My friend Jay (WOW THAT'S CABBAGE) and another person were sitting playing guitar by the trebuchet, and Jay introduced the other guy as his cousin (one of fifty-some first cousins) Patrick. Shortly Randall separated himself from the crowd to introduce himself to Skippy. He started asking about the possibility of larger objects. We concluded that shoes were small enough and available. Randall started to ask for shoe donations. I feel like I may have yelled something about it to people myself. I think I did... Once Randall had bound them together I loaded in the first batch and cleared people out of the way, as we didn't know what an object of that size and odd shape would do. Well, it broke the string, and ended up flying backwards. A number of guys jumped behind the fence, and were playing around while waiting for the next launch. Okita got ready with a glove, standing behind the trebuchet for the next shoe launch. Right he was. The device backfired again, and Okita more or less caught the shoes to uproarious applause. I wish we had footage of that part too. The sky grew dark and they flung someone's keys. I remember Trevor saying, "and to make this more interesting, we're going to turn the trebuchet 90 degrees this way" which was towards the brush by the field. Gordon and Apocralypse wanted to get back to the hotel and soon other people joined them so I said I'd show them how to reach Alewife. I left my stuff and led mostly the Hilton Hotel folks and a few others Alewife, with Okita. I ran to the parking lot of the park, and leaped over the wooden guard rail, and was immediately mimicked by a horde of wild forumites. When we got to the nearby movie theatre parking lot, I pointed out a pole and suggested that someone had to jump it. First ZeroSum tried and Okita turned on the music. Then someone else tried...Eventually one of them got it successfully and as we were all standing in a circle, Okita started to dance. We all clapped and the started dancing ourselves. It felt like someone was going to "get served" any minute. It was pretty fucking awesome. Then we proceeded to dance to the road, where I surprised everyone by telling them they had to climb a concrete wall and walk up a dirt path to the bridge over the road. It was fun anyway. Then I pointed them all on their way, as my bag and my boyfriend were still with the trebuchet.

Jay was at Skippy's car as I got back to the park. He was clearly loading up trebuchet parts. I got to Skippy and Trevor alone in the field, taking apart a few last things. Skippy told me everyone just left. Then he told me if I ran I could probably catch them to ask them if they wanted dinner. I felt like a dick, running after that crowd, but my fun of the evening left on a train to from Alewife otherwise. So I caught up to the group and asked about dinner. I forget who precisely told me they were going to red bones, but Randall then reiterated it. Shortly Jay rode over on his bike. I told him Skippy should have sent him instead. Patrick was there too, and I learned his SN was EsotericWombat and I talked to DavidDa and a man in a sparkly sombrero, about god knows what. I also managed to introduce myself to Randall and shake his hand, which probably should have happened at the trebuchet. Oddly I’m nearly certain he said to me “I’m Randall” which is odd because people generally tell me he calls himself “Randy” We talked for a second about his preference for chat instead of forums, but I had been mid conversation with the sombrero guy, and Randall had plenty of other people talking to him. When we got near Davis, I got us quickly to the correct Red Bones road (just lucky) where Skippy and Trevor were waiting.

Well unfortunately they gave us two tables, and I ended up sitting only with people I already knew. It was me, Bakey, Trevor, DSkippy and Patrick. Getting to meet and talk to a cousin of the coolest person I know (Jay) was awesome. He quoted some Invader Zim "Gir, why is there Bacon in the soap?" and I replied in voice "AH MADE IT MAH SELF!" He was very appreciative. Nougat called, bored, and suggested going to the hotel. After being poked in the shoulder by sombrero guy several times, and him pretending he didn't do it, I told him he and his people would be destroyed, but it was nothing personal. Nougat and Meaux it turns out had just arrived at the hotel when we finished dinner, so I asked Bakemaster and EsotericWombat to come too. They were all for it. Trevor and Skippy left to do other things...and probably so I could have Bakey and Wombat to myself.

Everyone was in the hotel room when we arrived. Belial and Girl, Meaux and Hodge, Alisto, Nougat, ZeroSum, Helen, Barbie, that kid named Rich whose SN escapes me ( biolution), Gordon, Gmalivuk, Apocralypse, Ren and probably some other people...in fact some of those people probably weren't there. I know some people had already gone to their rooms for the night. I had a beer, talked to people, played Uno, drank a gin and tonic with Girl, and EsotericWombat played a twelve bar blues, while I sat next to him on ZeroSum's lap, so I sang "I got the big fat geek blues" I wish I could remember the words, Alisto sang a few verses too. The people enjoyed it. Despite what they may tell you. Too bad PictureSarah wasn't there...sniffle. As it got to be after midnight I decided those of us who had to get back to Somerville should dash. Without time to say goodbye, Bakemaster, Patrick and I left and caught our trains...accept I hear Wombat got on the wrong orange line train, but Bakey and I got all the way to Davis with no problems. My phone was dead, so I plugged it in to charge up, not thinking I also had to turn it on so it would function as an alarm clock. I woke up at 8:30, when I should be at work.

I was buzzing all day Monday, so high about the events of the weekend and how great it all felt. It was nice being able to just say "hey Belial, let's do X" and having Belial there to go "Hey everyone, I'm Belial, let's do X"

I really mostly just regret not being able to engage any sort of depth of conversation with anyone. There were so many of you and we were generally on the move in some way. :-(

3:10 to Yuma

It was kind of a western, but not as hardcore serious western as the reviews might lead you to believe. It was simple, and I was strangely detached from the...I suppose you may call him a hero, because in this movie, Christian Bale bares an eerie resemblance to that scientology Voldemort of the screen, Tom Crusise. I had a hard time getting past that, maybe, or maybe they just didn't do a good job of connecting the viewer to the character. Honestly my money's on the later. Bale's performance, and perhaps Bale's character on the page lacked significantly in any likability. In fact, the film as a whole kept us at arms length, only occasionally drawing us in with the charismatic stylings of our master mind criminal, Russel Crowe. Even he, however could neither get you to really like him, or hate him. Whereas I think the director was going for more that you were supposed to BOTH like him AND hate him. His right hand man brought a bit of intrigue towards the beginning of the film, but it went no where. The addition of Firefly's Wash was appreciated, and he played Wash, as a late 1800s doctor.

All in all though, it left me feeling my usual Western-movie after feeling. A desire to wear leather, swear like doc Holiday (fuck Tombstone was good), complain about the state of people today, and be the leader of a well-dressed group of other leather wearing folks. There was pretty much nothing to this movie at all, never the less I enjoyed it.


Spoilerish stuff ahead



Wash's death however came much too soon. His character would have definitely added some entertainment to the last half hour. I wonder if he doesn't have a contract which states his death must always be proceeded by a witty line.

Finally the ending move of redemption fell both flat and thin, as nothing in the plot led us to any sort of real deep conflict inside Russel Crowe, nor did his final actions seem to really make up for the horrible deeds of his past. In fact it would seem they only added to his St. Peter's Book body count.

[/spoiler-ish stuff]

NPR and Sobriety

alcohol makes life feel relevant. Like you're being followed with a video camera. Everything feels a little more 3D. NPR also makes life feel relevant...so maybe it was the NPR. I made my self a Dr. Prauge's veggie burger while hearing about a new Hallmark card line, Journeys, for those difficult modern situations, and I vocalized my annoyance with a world that couldn't write their own damn cards. I contemplated myself a new job, writing cards, but overall couldn't understand those who can't write their own. While listening to a story on a family that moved to the remote island of fairisle in Scottland, I assembled the sandwhich, spinach, humous, tomato, burger, mayonaise and honey mustard. 70 people, and they moved to set up a bed and breakfast. Then Ira Glass came on and started expounding on the edge of the city, an x-land fill, x-lake where a man talked about remember various archtectural art being bulldozed and burried there years ago, comming and seeing beautiful pieces of art work sticking out of the ground at odd angels, and today they're all burried benneath a golf course. Buildings are importnat, destruction is depressing, people need beauty in their lives in order to survive, in order to be happy...or was it really important at all, my sense of hip determination, belief that I was destined for the NPR life began to fade a little, very little is important, a beautiful building's destruction is sad, but it's just life. Food, shelter, support, that's important, a beautiful building is just vanity, or is it? I turned it off. Too depressing really, I was getting too emotional over it. Ironcially this was coming from Chicago, and the shot glass, the 1.5 shots shot glass I had filled with apple flavored Smirnoff vodka after I put Dr. Prauge in the toaster oven, was a souvenir from Chicago, said so right on it. I shot it back, and either had a chunk of chocolate before it or after it, or both. The combination was good. Anyway, hit me pretty fast, being that my stomach was empty and it pretty much broke the fast. I'm pretty much coming down (or I guess, up as alcohol is a depressant) now. I feel much better. Like when an elephant gets off your toe. :-) At the same time, it didn't hurt except towards the end. I love sobriety. Everything feels fresher afterwards.

My cellular phone is out of commission, as yesterday I dropped it in my soup.

Today it is snowing. It's slippery out there for crutches. My converse have better traction. I need to put chains on my crutches to maneuver Harvard square.
I'm supposed to go to Buffalo tomorrow but I get the feeling that won't happen.

Yesterday I had improv after work. We had been squatting at MIT, but our instructor, Bob, discovered that MIT was throwing squatters out of 50 Vassar street, and no longer allowing non-MIT affiliated groups to loiter in their halls. So, for the evening he moved it out to his house in Wakefield.

...he never did mention that his mother lived there too.

As she sat semi-comatose watching Jeopardy, we had our class in the smoke-stained, Jesus and talking animal, vaguely homosexual magnet encrusted basement. We arrived early and the stand-up class was just finishing. My dear stand-up compatriots from Stand-Up 1, Tim and Dan, were in attendance. Tim was just going through his bit about comparing Jesus to Superman. It's a really obvious concept, but the execution is brilliant. Or at least the Romans thought so. "Superman had a girlfriend who was a report, Jesus had a hooker...who was a hooker." His whole bit's about being 30 and his attempt to hide it from everyone, "because if they find out you're 30...they...will...PERSECUTE you."

Anyway, then we had class. It was classy. Or the opposite of classy. We learned some good games. The only one that stands out is The Monster Off Stage. Basically you'd start by having two characters talk about a third, and his bizarre quirks. When he showed up, he'd have to display those quirks, then leave again, get a new quirk, and have to display the two quirks, etc.

Highlights included:
Aaron as the annoying kid on the ride at Disney, while Skippy played Cinderella, and Sue was the ride controller. Aaron picked his nose by choice, and had to pull skippy's pony tail, play an oil can like it was a piano and cry everytime you mentioned his mom. :-) I especially liked the way he rode off on the ride.
Skippy and Mike turning into the creatures that came from Wilma Flintstone's vomit.

The first posting

Ah a first installment. Where do you go when life hands you bad wiring? Why your local neighborhood blog to complain about what an incredible nutbag you are, and how hard it really is being you.

Our story begins as three post-college aged youngsters haul up in the second story of a house in Somerville MA, in a hip and trendy Zion called Davis Square. Our land lord is the honorable Jay Carr of the Boston Globe. He keeps the apartment downstairs, and fills it with globs of hollywood goobeldy-guck.

Yes, how will a quirky, oatmeal cookie of a computer science ph.d. student, a lecturing aspiring military pilot and a lost-in-transition wannabe film maker cope with the struggles of daily life?

Well 1.5 years later we're all single and tomorrow's valentine's day. We're all going to see Casablanca at the Brattle with a bunch of our KuhWAZY but lovable friends. But what dark secrets does this outting hide? Only time will tell.

Today I'm working at The Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems. OOOOOOOH. :-P Tonight, Improv. Tomorrow THE WORLD.

Oh, and I miss Christopher. ::shrug:: These things happen.