American Chopper

I have to admit, though I despise reality TV and I'm not a gear head with a hard-on for motor vehicles, this show is really cool. My theory is that I really like the artistic aspect of building the bikes. The arguing is fun sometimes, too. Now, I'll be the first to tell you that it's sick that people have such a morbid fascination with watching people be evil to each other in all the other pseudo-reality shows, but you know what's different about this show? The guys who are arguing are really real. They aren't beautiful people that auditioned for the show, who are treating each other like shit because they might win $10,000 (and $10,000 can't even buy a car, you depraved weirdos). These guys are family, and at the end of the day they really love each other. I don't know; I'm getting sappy. But that's my rationale and I'm sticking to it. I really do like seeing the evolution of the bikes, though. It's just a cool show. Watch it... or I'll stab you in the face with a soldering iron.

Update: I'm finding it rather ironic that I went on a tirade about reality television in the blog entry immediately following this one. My opinion still stands, however. I would be content to see someone take every piece of media that bears the name of any reality show that's ever been made and dump it all into a huge incinerator, save this show and Cops.

Ever get the feeling that you suck at life?

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Oh yeah...

So I decided to set up two other blogs.

Political Pornography
A new blog that I'm going to make my place for posting my thoughts that come to me while I'm listening to talk radio or watching news analysis shows. Just tonight, I posted my thoughts on the supposed shortage of Oscar nominations for The Passion of the Christ.

Armageddon Clock
Completely satirical. I'll have to see how far I'll go with it.

This blog is staying the same, but more of the national and world political stuff that the pundits chat about will be at my other blog.

I gots brains.

I meant to post this a few weeks ago. I got an e-mail from a guy who visited www.moorelies.com and wanted to save a copy of a message I posted there. I said fine, and now I thought I'd post it here. Tell me if I'm an idiot or not.

It was a two-part post, replying to two different people. The first person said I sounded like a moderate guy, and the second person was a typical Michael Moore zealot asking what's wrong with Moore for telling the "truth." Here's what I had to say...

[person 1]: I like to consider myself a moderate. I do have some right-leanings, which tend to show more than the left ones. Mainly because I run into more far-left people than far-right ones. I really didn't mind Clinton, and I do wish that he hadn't perjured himself and allowed the whole impeachment debacle to happen. I honestly don't think Bush should have won the 2000 election, but I also believe that you can't change the rules if you lose the game (which is basically what the Dems wanted). I also don't think he is as bad as the far left really wants to think. I wouldn't have minded at all if Kerry had won, but I didn't vote for him because I had no idea what he really stood for (yeah, I guess the flip-flopping bothered me). All in all, unity is what will get us all through, and I don't think extremism from either side helps anyone, anywhere, anytime.

[person 2]: I'm still trying to find the truth that every Moore fan insists exists. Guess what? If you want to say that the overall point of Bowling for Columbine was that the attitude about guns is different in America than most other nations, then yes, I agree. If the point of Fahrenheit 9/11 was that the media needs to be more accountable for what it reports on, and we need to ask questions of our government, then yes, I agree. However, neither movie were really up-front about either hypothesis, and never drew any conclusion about them, except to demonize conservative/traditional Republicans. The methods he uses to drive his point home are highly questionable and unethical, all the while leaving undiscerning viewers with extreme ideas about conspiracy theories and revisionist history lessons that simply aren't true. The only people I've come across that believe Moore's word as gospel truth and defend him, haven't fact-checked anything he shows the viewer. I have several friends who were devout Moore fans, but after many a long night of open-minded discussion (something I have a hard time finding among extremists, not just on the right), I was able to convince them that he's not the noble crusader for the little guy that he portrays himself as. One of them was a Chomsky-reading, self-proclaimed Marxist, believe it or not. He no longer defends Moore any time his name comes up in conversation. Just looking at the money Moore makes, the apartment in Manhattan and the "cabin" in Michigan should be enough to convince most reasonable people that he is living the American dream that he claims doesn't exist. Moore fans like to point out how 60% of the profits of Fahrenheit 9/11 went to charity, but they conveniently forget that he was contractually obligated to do so in order to get his movie distributed. Now, if you want to talk to a few Kerry-voters who despise Michael Moore, I can point you in their direction. If you want one-sided, closed-minded "discussion," go to the DU. If you want intelligent discourse, I'm right here, friend.

Sorry, Derek, but I have to use you as an example every time I talk politics with people. I still suggest you quit reading Chomsky, though.

State of the State

Governor Tim Pawlenty was in Rochester today to deliver the State of the State address. One of the things he mentioned was working on putting a 4-year university here. I don't have a source to cite, but I was told once that Rochester is the biggest city in the United States without a 4-year college. Basically, Rochester sucks because we're a medium-sized city that wants all the conveniences of a large city, all the pleasantries of a small city, and the negatives of neither. That's what we want, but what we have is a medium-sized city that really has no conveniences of a large city because we're still too small, has outgrown all the pleasantries of a small city, and has a mixture of negatives of both. Ok, really, it's all speculation on my part. And I don't really like this city. At all. But I kind of think a 4-year college will make this town better. Hey, if anything, it will make it less of a black hole town like it already is.

Rrrrrrr....

Ok... I just made a crazy long post... and it didn't post it. So I'll think about posting it later. Or, if you feel like some human interaction, ask me about my day at Full Sail, and I'll tell you about it. That's pretty much what the post was about.

In other news... Darkness, is still a terrible movie.

I think I'm staying

Well, I can't... but I should. I at least need my computers and my car. And my TV... and this lamp... and this ashtray... We went to Titusville and Daytona Beach and ate at a nice place called Shells. I'm not a huge seafood fanboy and I had the only non-seafood dinner item on the menu, chicken tenders, BUT it was a good place. I'd recommend it. We went to Kennedy Space Center right after the place closed, but we might go back again on Monday. It depends. We leave Orlando on Monday, and the Space Center is a bit out of the way, and we're thinking we might go try to find the Cartoon Network place in Atlanta. Maybe stalk Dave Willis. Show him my Meatwad impression. Get escorted from the property. Then stay in Marietta. Try again the next day. Later, foos.

What a difference 15 degrees latitude makes...

I'm now in Orlando, sitting in a hotel. It's 79 degrees, bitches. Do I have to come back? Hmmm...

Florida or Bust

T minus 3 hours, 39 minutes... I can't sleep. This is stupid. I should go to bed. I'll see if I can post with Mike's laptop wherever we're at. Have fun in Crotchester. (I wouldn't)

Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday, Brian Warner. (Better known as Marilyn Manson)

Almost forgot

Should have posted this yesterday, and I was so scared I wasn't going to get the chance, because of the Rapture. It's been two months now. The world hasn't ended yet. Just thought you'd like to be reminded.

I'm thinking about starting a website, called the "End of the World Blog." To watch the end of the world, live, as it happens, over the course of Bush's next term in office. It would be updated regularly with information about the impending Armageddon. I really think I can do this, because look at when I last updated my personal site.