tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57691862009-09-26T07:44:28.534-07:00A personal page by a personal guy.sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comBlogger239125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-65585207021247644842008-11-05T06:29:00.001-08:002008-11-05T06:29:40.167-08:00

How hot will the daughters be? I'm guessing VERY.

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-34360275171769908542008-10-18T22:38:00.000-07:002008-10-18T22:40:02.322-07:00

Wow, the Itunes App store for Iphone and Ipod touch carries Oblique Strategies, the deck of inspirational cards by Brian Eno from the 1970s. It's free, too. A great use for the platform.

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-22196717206306084852008-07-14T22:34:00.000-07:002008-07-14T22:34:00.500-07:00

It turns out there are a lot of graduate students or older students in the group that Waseda has recruited this year. I count seven of us out of 58, but I think that’s an undercount. I’m extremely excited by the intellectual possibilities. There are people here from History, Art History, Anthropology, Economics and Business (but they’re forgiven), and one woman who is planning on going back to

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-52137143617040640482008-07-14T13:26:00.000-07:002008-07-14T13:26:00.617-07:00

The hotel we’re staying at for the first night has a few indications of the thesis of Japanese decline I’ve been immersed in – it’s a multi-story “international hotel,” but it’s undeniably shabby and, moreover, garish and tasteless. Elevator music, mostly versions of Western kitsch like “When a Man Loves a Woman,” suffuses the whole building. Then there’s the smell of cigarettes throughout the

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-6492919525240869072008-07-13T19:24:00.000-07:002008-07-13T19:26:10.441-07:00

The Menu on American Airlines Flight 175 from DFW to Narita:“Beef and Potatoes” served one hour after takeoff. A pot roast-like substance with mashed potatoes, with limp, hopeless vegetables. Salad, roll in a plastic baggie, oatmeal cookie in plastic baggie.Sandwich in box AND plastic baggie, with Dijonnaise.Pizza, gooey with cheese, oily crust. Pepperidge Farm Milanos. Coffee. I saved

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-7125986117723368962008-06-09T11:28:00.000-07:002008-06-09T11:35:15.478-07:00

So, today is the big iPhone 2.0 reveal.A lot of the stuff that's showing up is VERY cool, but there's one piece of info in particular that has some pretty major implications for me. As some of you know, I'm headed to Japan for a few months starting in mid-July, and the best dictionary solution out there seems pretty clearly to be a dictionary loaded onto a palmtop like an iPaq or Palm Pilot -

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-12746469739678153832007-12-25T11:15:00.000-08:002007-12-25T11:17:39.649-08:00

If you're here from the Signal To Noise article, you may want to also cruise over to Minds Like Knives, my somewhat more up to date and topically focused blog about race and popular culture.

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1166646712838206292006-12-20T12:31:00.000-08:002006-12-20T12:32:14.436-08:00

For those of you looking for a way to turn your brain off over the break (and I mean TOTALLY off), boy do I have a pick for you. In a vindication of nearly 15 years of sweaty adolescent obsession on my part, the Library of America has published a volume collecting about half of H.P. Lovecraft's work. Luc Sante has written a (very cautious, but relatively positive) review of it at the NY Review

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1165523913699363052006-12-07T12:31:00.000-08:002006-12-07T12:40:59.040-08:00

http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/crickets/2006/11/27/minstrel-show-biz/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/col/v-pfriendly/story/463962p-390396c.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/features/custom/aetoday/bal-ae.eye26nov26,0,2914959.story?coll=bal-aetoday-headlinesChain Hang Low Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq88v-nFyd4http://www.byroncrawford.com/2006/12/minstrel_rap_sh.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1162318883158851022006-10-31T10:19:00.000-08:002006-10-31T10:22:35.000-08:00

Rick Santorum, who is probably the biggest cocksucker in the Senate (which is really ironic, if you know his politics), seems likely to lose his seat. He's trailing by double-digits. Even if the entire thing goes up in smoke, this single victory will be enough for me personally. Santorum has proven again and again that he's a vile human being and a toadying, incompetent legislator. He

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1161295519618642312006-10-19T14:53:00.001-07:002006-10-19T15:06:13.170-07:00

A bit more on my feelings about the relationship between faith and reason. I think that the core of my recommendation requires a close attention to rhetoric to fulfill. There are ways to subtract "faith" from the discussion subtly, and in such a way that it can't be brought back to bear on us at a particular moment. It's about raising the level of debate to a point where faith simply can't

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1160854632525382992006-10-14T12:32:00.000-07:002006-10-14T12:39:11.846-07:00

A friend, who has newly "converted" to atheism, is very excited about the new book by Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion. I think that arguments about the existence of God are ultimately only useful for convincing those of already open minds, but are doomed to fail both as philosophy and as tactics. These arguments admit defeat before they get started, because if you're trying to disprove God's

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1160361851563276252006-10-08T19:42:00.000-07:002006-10-08T19:44:11.576-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfnn7wTgoE8&eurl=Fucking idiots.More than that, though, it's a shame that this debate has been framed as "right-wing protectionist racism" vs. "Left wing inclusive love-in." People from the left who don't oppose illegal immigration are the ultimate fashion victims of political correctness, using it as a staging ground for cultural diversity issues when what's

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1160111844842631202006-10-05T22:12:00.000-07:002006-10-05T22:17:24.853-07:00

Well, the short answer is, we all did. You can't watch one of these new eco-docs without walking out feeling guilty - and I've only driven a car once in the last eight months, so I can imagine how the rest of you sinful fucks feel. We're all guilty because we're not willing to make minor sacrifices to our current lifestyles to help preserve the future. Me, I'm addicted to computers, which are

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1154146921466309482006-07-28T21:09:00.000-07:002006-07-28T21:22:01.516-07:00

Just got back from seeing the new Linklater movie. I never really thought about him too much before now, but the way the new movie fits in with the rest of his work sort of finally clicked it all into place for me. Obviously, his obsession (worthy of someone who came of age in Austin) is with the lunatic fringe and its place in society. Reviewing his films, you get two different, and seemingly

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1153721306056479682006-07-23T23:08:00.000-07:002006-07-23T23:08:26.070-07:00

So, it's Sunday night, my parents (who I'm in Texas visiting) have gone to a ball game, and I have the house to myself. I've finished a couple of good letters to friends, but before I was able to get started on my real work – an essay about flying with my Dad that I've been working on – I realized that it's Sunday night, which means Adult Swim night on Cartoon Network. I don't have a TV at home

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1153068328785036352006-07-16T09:44:00.000-07:002006-07-16T09:45:28.800-07:00

1) Richard should have been the hero. This movie is clearly a chick flick, and if you look at the basic setup, its message about romance should be clear. Lois Lane doesn’t leave her longtime husband and (supposed) father of her child, James Marsden’s Richard, to be with Superman. She clearly still loves him, but only in a childish, fascinated sort of way, as opposed to the adult, complete way

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1145299338193999322006-04-17T11:41:00.000-07:002006-04-17T11:58:24.996-07:00

Five days after the tornado, I’m not feeling too good. I’m tired. My legs ache from picking glass out of the dirt, and my eyes are numb from looking at destruction for hours on end. These aren’t the problem, though – I have a warm bed and running water and even electricity to come home to, so I can comfort and distract myself well enough. No, that’s not what’s bothering me. I’ve been helping

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1141060891094279842006-02-27T09:12:00.000-08:002006-02-27T09:21:31.300-08:00

My latest creation: Curse the Darkness - Good Morning, BiggieThe music is Slint's "Good Morning, Captain," for those of you without the Indie Rock Decoder Ring. I think it sounds pretty good whether you're in the know or not.

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1137870901716393572006-01-21T11:12:00.000-08:002006-01-21T11:18:40.106-08:00

Hype Machine is the best.It's an audioblog aggregator, which means it keeps track of the new hotness all those kids with apartments in Brooklyn and whatnot are posting up THE VERY MINUTE IT HAPPENS. In our digital world, if you can't be one of the tastemakers, you at least can't afford to be even a moment behind in figuring out what the taste is.The best thing I found this morning was a track

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1137557502245562892006-01-17T19:10:00.000-08:002006-01-21T11:16:59.226-08:00

So, obviously, I haven't been writing much lately. I had a good run when I was in Japan, but the past four or five months have been grimly slim. Slim meaning, of course, absent. The null set.Actually the past year and a half has been spotty, after a good year and a half of pretty notable consistency, posting probably four or five days out of seven. Broadly, what happened was I went from a

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1124986226405824552005-08-25T09:09:00.000-07:002005-08-25T09:10:26.410-07:00

Allow me to play Byron Crawford for a second. The amount of media attention focused on the crystal meth epidemic in the "heartland of America" (and Canada too, apparently) is fucking ridiculous. If AIDS was God's way of saying he hated homos, then meth is God's way of saying he hates inbred rednecks too dumb or stubborn to move away from their godforsaken ghost-towns to a place where their

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1124940251751463022005-08-24T20:17:00.000-07:002005-08-25T09:12:43.793-07:00

So yeah, I've been back for about a week now, frantically rearranging my room and classes. I'm a teaching assistant for the first time this year, and actually led my first section ever today. It was a rousing success, because asking people to talk about themselves is easy. People love to do that.Here's one of the cats I came home to:In other news, now that I'm back in the States, I really need

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1124017352111864772005-08-14T03:57:00.000-07:002005-08-14T04:02:32.120-07:00

Well, I'm working on getting all my stuff packed up to head back to Fort Worth, then Iowa. Because of sketchy internet connections, I have a bit of a blogging backlog from the past few days – and beyond that, I have practically infinite thoughts and ideas about my experience here, so blogwise I'll still be in Japan for a while.I'm kind of shocked at how much I don't want to leave. I came into

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769186.post-1123927989941650812005-08-13T03:11:00.000-07:002005-08-13T03:13:22.266-07:00

I was walking in the Shibuya area when my Korean friend made this observation. I certainly haven't been in Tokyo long enough to make any sort of assessment of the emotional state of its residents – but at least as far as how they look, I have to agree with her. I'm sure it's not at all fair, considering that the much greater cultural distances must have an impact on my perceptions, but I can't

sleepnotworkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10864954274844555552noreply@blogger.com