Rationator Mirus

Welcome to a mad mad world, Sam Rain. 29.5.2004, 6 lbs 13 oz.

The trend continues. Recently received and atop my desk at this very instant is the good counselor's present this year for the anniversary of my birth. This year? None other than a compendium of arguably the finest American cinema of the latter half of the twentieth century.

And to answer my earlier question: What weighs two pounds and hails from Lexington, KY?
Answer: Roger Corman Classics; Pam Grier, Uncaged. The four disc set includes the following: The Arena ("See wild Women Fight to the Death"); Big Doll House ("They Caged their Bodies...But not their Desires!"); Women in Cages ("Boiling Passions Confined Behind Concrete Walls."); and The Big Bird Cage ("Women so hot with desire they melt the chains that bind them.")

It is a true friend, indeed, who keeps another's DVD collection on the cutting edge. Thanks, JD.

In other news, am filled with giddy excitement over my latest (and only second overall) ebay purchase, two floor tickets to Simon & Garfunkel in Houston on July 7. On the cheap, as well.

Fiar Dedman has been repeatedly taunting me with promises of birthday accolades this afternoon. What could it all mean? What weighs two pounds and comes from Lexington?

Updating....

I've got a big lizard in my backyard / and I can't afford to feed it any more 

My sources tell me these guys actually intended the swastika as a symbol of peace and prosperity (pre-WWII). The archaeologists were very sketchy when asked about it.... 

Congratulations to the Civilian Space Exploration Team on the first successful flight of an amateur-built rocket into space. BBC is reporting that the 6.5m rocket lifted off from the Nevada desert yesterday, and after a 14 second burn, reached 100km in altitude - the official boundary of space.

If memory serves (from the Discovery Channel), in addition to the triumph of primacy, the team will also reap a considerable financial reward.

A considerably more successful launch than my 12th grade physics experiment in Mr. Khan's class, which, after being hastily constructed with Elmer's glue the morning of the launch (of course I didn't forget the assignement), the Scramble1 reached an altitude of approximately 8 feet before disintegrating. I reaped no financial reward.

Abstract Gibson Hollow-Body Impressionism 

Just a few days after it made mention on this blog, TRIOTV came through with a Friday night showing of, you guessed it, Caged Heat. Chicks in jail? How can you go wrong?

Directed by Jonathan Demme, Caged Heat tells the tale of a young vixen who is thrown into a rough chick prison, only to become buddies with the most unlikely of inmates. Clearly then, this film ranks among the top of the list compared with Demme's other also-rans such as Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Something Wild, and the big-screen adaptation of Toni Morrison's Beloved.

I would like to begin the post by saying that I like the President. Don't always agree with his policies or actions (in fact, rarely), but I cannot bring myself to hate him with the veracity exhibited by those supposed "intelligentsia" who occupy the furthest reaches of the larboard wings.

It is with this preface that I point the faithful readershipt to this excerpt by Jacob Weisberg from the introduction to "The Deluxe Election-Edition Bushims." Thanks go to the young advocate Alejandro, who sent me the link, and is arguably possessed of the sharpest legal acumen to come out of El Paso since the Hon. Sandra Day.

Nord and Hoov go down with the ship 

Nord's hipster cottage on left. 

Nord and the future missus in Greenwich Village blues bar.  

On the anniversary of my birth in the year 2002, Dedman sent me a package of two DVDs. One, Caged Heat, is a entertaining prison chick movie which makes for some entertaining viewing. The other, Requiem for a Dream, needs no introduction. The Counselor has oft lauded the virtues of Darren Aronofsky and his filmography (that being the mind-numbing breakout film, Pi, and Requiem).

It is, therefore, with great bewilderment, that I note the Counselor's failure to comment upon this.

Surely there was no harm in following Dedman's link to yon Randolph's blog, until I began to question why a person to whom I am only tangentially related would be counting down the days until my wedding, i.e. 185 days until November 13, 2004. Being smarter than the average bear, I immediately began to suspect something, and followed the rabbit hole to find out that Randy and his bride to be also have dibs on the 318th day of the leap year.

Troublesome. Does this mean that the counselor will not be attending Nordstrom and Hoover's nuptials in favor of he with whom he has longer ties? The counselor already tossed the real Nordstrom aside earlier this week in favor of an older (and, I like to think, fatter and balder) Quasi-Nordstrom. Will the same go for his Boozefest-Hole Crawl-"Don't touch my stripper money lest you be kicked in the jaw"-contemporaries?

I don't think I've ever posted a movie review. Since dedman's over yonder throwing his favorite criticism around (detritus) about VanHelsing, I thought it a good time to post the review of the fantastic film I netflixed recently, L'auberge Espanol (The Spanish Apartment).

A wonderful film which falls victim to none of the trite pigeonholes the counselor references to deride summer blockbusters, it is instead a simple tale of a young Parisian who ventures to Barcelona at the advice of his father's uber-wealthy friend. The advice given the protagonist is that the EU is the wave of the future, and moneybags tells him to go to Spain, learn Spanish, and study economics.

What ensues is a cinematic rendering of leaving the nest with which anyone who's ever lived abroad is all too familiar: the initial excitement giving way to tepid regret and uncertaintly, only to blossom into a, well, worldly experience.

What makes this movie so enjoyable is that it is set in Barcelona, a city of which I am quite fond. Having spent a good portion of the Summer 2000 adventure living on the bear killer's floor in a little studio apartment on the Passeig Luis Pellicer, I came to love the hotbed of Catalan nationalism. The spirit of the Catalan people is present throughout the movie. There is a poignant scene when the exchange students ask their professor if he could please speak Castillian, and the prof sternly responds that, as they are in Cataluna, they will speak Catalan, and all other be damned. Or something like that. Eventually, our protagonist learns Catalan and "puta madre" Spanish, and his experience truly begins to take shape. Along the way he meets a group of foreigners who are living in a communal apartment, hence the moniker of the film. There is love lost and found during the year he studies in Barcelona, and it all makes for some great hijinks and a film which is truly remarkable for its simplicity. Also notable is the supporting role of the girlfriend left behind, played by Amalie's Audrey Tatou.

Things are abuzz o'er younder at the League of Melbotis. Apparently a friend of Melbotis' master was having difficulty with his cross-border romance, which reminded me of this tale of woe from our very own Houston Press.

Weekend in Austin. Last week very busy. This week very busy.

Picked up the new L'il Cap'n Travis album in Austin this weekend. They will become very rich and famous, and will likely have their own 747.