The Craziest of the Theos

Missing the LJs

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:04:35 GMT

I am never on here. No one really posts here anymore. Damn you Facebook.

Work sucks...it sucked before, but never like this. I am working about 60+ hours a week. I worked till 8PM tonight. I am coming in on Saturdays and Sundays about twice a month. I have an interview with another company on Wednesday, but I worry about whether or not it'll be a good move. The job will be in downtown Dallas. There are pros and cons to that.

Installed OSX on my Dell Mini. The Mac OS is pretty slick. Install was actually very easy. Unfortunately, I can't get the wifi to work. From what I can tell, I think it's my router...I hope.

I am dressing up like Slash from GnR for Halloween.

I am in two FF leagues. I am doing so-so in BSGreeley's league and pretty good in my work league. Fuck you Adrian Peterson.

Miles Austin is my nickle.

Fam is doing ok. My dad is about the same. My brother got married. Weird.

Kingdom of Rust by Dove is kicking my ass. I heard it on the movie, Zombieland. Very alt-country ala Old 97s, but the band is British.

For Sean

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:00:45 GMT

Something to think about this 4th of July weekend

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:38:27 GMT

See you on the other side

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:44:32 GMT

Myspace a digital ghetto?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:18:46 GMT

This sociologist thinks there's "white flight" from Myspace to Facebook. I don't think that's the case. Regardless of race or class, I personally don't know anyone that's still actively using their myspace account. I think people moved to Facebook because Myspace sucked. I have one, but I rarely do anything with it. I stopped using it because I didn't like the fake accounts trying to spam you, I hated that every page had an annoying flash ad of some type, and all of my friends were going to Facebook. Facebook is just a better social networking website. I think she's reaching here.

http://www.observer.com/2009/media/battle-between-facebook-and-myspace-digital-white-flight

This morning, Danah Boyd was spitting out the social media Kool-Aid at Personal Democracy Forum. "Many of us believe that technologies can be these great equalizers," said Ms. Boyd, a social media researcher for Microsoft and fellow of the Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet and Society, during her keynote speech at the Jazz at Lincoln Center auditorium. "They can bring everybody on board, they can make a welcome, lovely place and that anybody can participate in if only they had the access."

But in fact, she said, sites like MySpace and Facebook are mirroring, even magnifying, our social, political and class divides.

"MySpace has become the ghetto of the digital landscape," Ms. Boyd explained to the crowd. And many of us in these social environments, she said, "have gotten into the habit of crossing the street like we always do to avoid the riff-raff."

In her research, conducted over four years for her fall 2008 dissertation at Berkeley, she found that what we're seeing is "a modern incarnation of White Flight." Facebook users who canceled or abandoned their MySpace accounts are more likely to be white, educated and privileged. Compounding the problem is the press, Ms. Boyd said, "an institution that stems from privilege," which narrated MySpace as "the dangerous underbelly of the Internet while Facebook was the utopian savior."

Indeed, media often portrays Facebook as the reigning king in not only statistics, but as both a business model and a "safer" arena for kids than MySpace (which is, according to the headlines and To Catch a Predator, seething with pedophiles). Yes, more teens go to MySpace and customize their pages with flashy, sparkly texts and music playlists, while an older demographic uses Facebook for business and networking. But, Ms. Boyd said, some teens are using MySpace and some teens are using Facebook, and things got "messy" when she examined who goes where.

"The fact that digital migration is revealing the same social patterns as urban white flight should send warning signals to all of us," she said. "It should scare the hell out of us."

"When people are structurally divided, they do not share space with one another, they do not communicate with one another; this canon does breed intolerance," Ms. Boyd said.

Ms. Boyd said it's important to examine these digital divides as social media is described as "the great leveler" during President Obama's campaign and even Iran's Internet "revolution." If politicians and their techie friends make social media an increasingly important tool for government participation they have to examine how their constituents are segregated on these platforms.

When she asked audience members—politicians, technologists and media types—if they use Facebook on a regular basis, nearly every hand shot up. MySpace users were nil. "There's a cultural wall between users," Ms. Boyd said. "If there's no way for people to communicate across the divide, you can never expect them to do so."

The Facebook/MySpace class divide is not a new story line. Michael Wolff illustrated the polarity in his signature, tart tone during an interview last December with BusinessWeek's Jon Fine. "If you’re on MySpace now, you’re a [expletive] cretin," he said. "And you’re not only a [expletive] cretin, but you’re poor. Nobody who has beyond an 8th grade level of education is on MySpace. It is for backwards people."

She pointed out that the language used by Facebook users against MySpace users is what concerns her the most.

Facebook is described by high schoolers as "more cultured" and "less cheesy," she said. "Any high school student who has a Facebook page will tell you MySpace users are more likely to be barely educated and obnoxious," she said. "Like Peet's is more cultured than Starbucks and jazz is more cultured than bubblegum pop. And Macs are more cultured than PCs," she said, quoting a 17-year-old student she interviewed during her research.

"People are already divided and we can't expect technology to automatically integrate them and create cultural harmony," Ms. Boyd admitted. But "you need to understand that these divisions exist." If politicians are using Facebook and Twitter to communicate with their users, "you're only seeing a fraction of the population speak out and be loud," she said. "If you're on Twitter, it's a very specific minority that you're speaking to and that minority looks a lot like you."

"Whose voices are you choosing to listen to?" she asked the crowd. Are you willing to write off a huge portion of the population because they're not using the same service as you are? Perhaps some of us should be asking ourselves same questions.

Saw TF2 tonight

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:54:34 GMT

I didn't have much expectations for the movie. I thought the action scenes were good and the giant robots destroying shit ruled, but that didn't make up for the fact that it was two and a half hours of pure suckage. Yes, yes...I realize this was a mindless summer popcorn flick, but even after I factored for that, the movie was still a let down. I think this is due to the fact that I had such low expectations for the first movie, but it ended up being way better than I thought. Going into this one, I had a benchmark to go off of and this movie couldn't measure up to what I was expecting.

Issues I had with the movie:
1. Too many Transformers. I could not keep track of who was a Decepticon and who was an Autobot. They all looked alike after a while. And then there was were the two ghetto Autobots who were apparently from the projects of Cybertron. What the hell is that? I still hate that the robots like Megatron looked like Robocop's turd.

2. The movie was basically a 2.5 hour commercials for GM/US military enlistment video.

3. Shia LeBeouf sucks. His acting in this movie consisted of stammering, stuttering, and yelling things like OPTIMUS!!!! RUN!!!!! NO!!!!!

4. I didn't know the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum was in middle of the Rockies...oh wait there are no mountains in DC.

5. The old transformer, Jetfire, apparently came to Earth like thousands of years ago before English was even invented, yet he spoke the King's English, when brought to back to life. The Fallen also spoke English, yet I don't believe that he had ever been to Earth.

6. Too many dry humpings. Whether it's dog on dog or robot on leg, once is more than enough...unless you're The D.

7. Story needed to be more robot based. Who gives a shit about the humans? Less humans, more Soundwave.

8. Foul language...yes it was PG13, but there were little kids in the movie theater. This movie geared to kids as much as adults. It made me uncomfortable. I guess I am getting old. Fucking bitches.

9. I loved how in this movie the US/British military can go where they wanted to in the world on a whim. Countries like Jordan, Eqypt, and China could care less that US-led tactical fighting groups were ignoring their sovereignty and bombing the fuck out of their historical sites.

10. Needed more scenes of Megan Fox in cleavage shirts and of her running in slow motion.

As a side note, Michael Bay needs his testicles cut off and fed to him before he passes out from the loss of blood. Fuck that ho.

Musings and shmusings

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:00:44 GMT

1. A couple of weeks ago, my aunt died of a stroke. She is much older than my dad, but it still freaks me out. I was never close to her, but she was always nice to me whenever I saw her.

2. Canceling my membership to LA Fitness. Too many meatheads and too little machines/free weights. I am also tired of FOBs stanking of curry running on the treadmill next to me. Use some Axe bros. Looking for a new club.

3. My golf game stanks (Yes, I am becoming one of those). I've been getting weekly lessons, but I still have an ugly swing.

4. I still hate Dane Cook.

5. Work really sucks. Between that and caring for my dad, I barely get to see anybody.

Megan Fox totally ignores some poor kid trying to give her a flower.

Writer's Block: Not Even If You Paid Me

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:46:26 GMT

What do you think is the worst job?

View 504 Answers

Per Norm McDonald on SNL, assistant crack whore.

Massive Pwnage by Bruno

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:26:27 GMT

Poor little Eminem

Here's the vid before it gets taken down

Pretty cool blogs if you're wanting to read comics for free.

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:45:04 GMT

http://comicsinvasion.blogspot.com/
This guy has links to comics going back to 2008.

Basically you copy and paste the link below the image of the comic you want to read. It's rapidshare, so you'll have to wait a few seconds for the free download.

Then you can use a free cbr (a reader) to load your comic images. Get one here. http://www.geocities.com/davidayton/CDisplay
download, run, right click and load said comic.

I've been reading the 4 comics leading up to the Star Trek movie. It's actually pretty good. I kinda wish JJ Abrams made it than the retread of TOS.

Here's the first one

http://rapidshare.com/files/187922290/Star_Trek_-_Countdown_01.rar

Returned from San Juan

Tue, 19 May 2009 00:18:51 GMT

To steal from a certain someone, It spent an extended weekend in San Juan. Just got back. A little burnt from the sun and a little dehydrated from the mojitos.

1. It and Melissa stayed at the LaConcha Hotel in San Juan in their "uptown" section called Condado. The hotel is right off the beach. That area is very nice and tourist friendly (eg. Locals speak Inglese). If you guys are into people watching, there are some beautiful women there. San Juan is a very nice city...at least in the touristy parts or financial areas. It expected something fairly run down, but the city is actually not. The Daniel would love San Juan simply for the rotund Latino asses and skimpy clothes.

2. Also stayed a night at the Sheraton in Old San Juan. This is usually where cruise ships depart, but the area was basically dead. Thank you Swine Flu for killing the cruise industry this season. Melissa and It did some exploration of Spanish forts there. They were originally built back in the 1500's and are now run by the US National Parks Service. It's a cheap and good time killer. Only $3.

3. It usually hates Asian fusion restaurants, but San Juan has some excellent ones called Budatai (Condado) and Dragonfly (Old San Juan). Both are an odd mix of Asian and Creole (PR cuisine), but this surprisingly works. It had this Churrasco-style marinated skirt steak with Chinese style flat noodles. It would punch an old lady in the taco for another plate of that.

4. We also rented a car and spent a day in the El Yunque National Park (rain forest) as well as go on a kayaking tour into a lagoon where there are bioluminescent organism that glow when you stick your hand or paddle in the water. It's pretty damn cool. If you have to do one thing in Puerto Rico, do that. Also did a quick tour of the Barcardi rum factory. The tour is free and you also get 2 free drinks. Neato.

5. It spent most of Sunday on the beach. The waves were pretty wild, due to stronger than normal winds. It is burnt like a boner on fire as Billy Idol would say in his song, Cradle of Love. Yes, Asian people do burn.

6. Today, It woke up at 4AM to catch a 6AM flight to Miami. Cabby no speaka da Inglese. Thankfully It knew how to say aeropuerto. Got hit on by a ghey guy at the Miami airport in my layover to DFW. He was trying to tell me he lost his luggage on his cruise and that he works at Walmart. It just stared ahead quietly, until boarding time. It thinks the guy was mentally challenged...no seriously...like he had Asperger's Syndrome (sad face). What does this mean?

7. Sean, It flew American. It saw He's Not That Into You twice (to and fro). Still wishes we had the go-go airline stewardesses from the 60s. American has the market cornered for most frumpy flight attendants.

8. It didn't come back with Swine Flu. Thankfully, it didn't get the AIDS. It broke two cameras. It lost sunglasses in the ocean. It did almost everything it wanted to do in PR, except gamble at the hotels. Now back to reality and the hell that awaits at work.

9. Daniel/Sean, we need to get dinner or drinks sometime. Wished It could have gone out to see Sean or Dahon, but It was working its ass off that night for work b/c of this trip.

10. Valiant effort Rockets. You did better than the Mavs and without Yao or McGrady. The little Rangers are legitimately in first place in the ALW and playing excellent baseball.

For the Greeley or anyone in Asia

Wed, 13 May 2009 13:19:39 GMT

Toilet snake attack: urban legend comes true?

Mon May 11, 4:56 pm ET

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his penis as sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday.
"As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake."
The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said.
"As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the director, who declined to be named, said. "A snake's mouth isn't always clean."
Local television images showed the black and yellow reptile, reportedly a species of rat snake, being uncoiled and plucked slowly from the toilet bowl.
Snakes regularly enter rural homes in Taiwan and other sub-tropical regions of Asia.

Tue, 12 May 2009 18:09:36 GMT

I am surprised that Daniel hasn't posted this

Tue, 12 May 2009 05:08:43 GMT

Flew in and out of OKC today.

Fri, 08 May 2009 02:36:13 GMT

Sean, I flew Southwest in case you wanted to know.

I wish Southwest Airlines today was more like Southwest Airlines of yore.

I did have a flight attendant that wore shorts on the flight today, but unfortunately it was a dude.

Ezekiel 23:20

Sun, 03 May 2009 14:16:18 GMT

The King James version:
For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

Check out the New Living Translation
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ezekiel%2023:20;&version=51;

Do men still wear watches?

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:04:15 GMT

I don't know why, but I have had the urge to buy a watch. I don't need one, since I use my cellphone for keeping time like any normal person. Maybe it's the Dallas douchecanoe in me coming out? I've always wanted a Tag Hauer, ever since I was in high school. I had a fake Tag from Thailand in college that I wore, until the Tag Hauer emblem on the face dial came off and the cheap glass shattered. Whoops!

That want has died down over the years, but it recently got peaked again. If I were more impulsive, I would definitely try to get a nice Tag or even an Omega. I can't justify paying that kind of money on anything. Even used, they're expensive. Some day I will own one, a real one. Fucking school loans come first.

In the meantime, I have been perusing watch forums to try to get my fix (yes, there are sad men out there that get geeked over watches like Daniel would over hipster bars, Ben with the chinese squatting, or Sean with Disney movies). Maybe I can't afford a nice watch, but a good looking and perfectly serviceable watch brand like a Seiko or Citizen could work. Another route I could consider is getting a good replica on the internets. Maybe I should just say fuck it and buy a Casio calculator watch and observe all of the wet pussy swarm to me like a moth to a flame.

That's all I got.

Thoughts

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:06:40 GMT

1. I am underwhelmed with the Cowboys draft this year. Hopefully some of these guys pan out. McGee, really?

2. Work is still keeping me busy and stressing me out. Why does the economy have to suck right now?

3. Let's go Mavs.

4. I can't believe we're almost 1/2 way through the year, which means I have about 6 months left in my 20s. (sad face)

5. I think Star Trek is going to be the movie I am most wanting to see this summer.

6. Life of Pi is pretty good so far. 1/2 way done with the book. I don't want to be stranded in the ocean...ever.

7. I have come to realize that I hate the series, Heroes, but I can't stop watching it. Season finale is tomorrow night.

8. Who the fuck is Lady Ga Ga, and why can't I get her songs outta my head?

9. Tempted to buy tickets to the U2 concert, but I don't want to hear any of their new shit.

10. I miss the jiggly. Sonic BOOBS!

I might the buy this

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 03:48:24 GMT

You hear that? That's the sound of your childhood dying.

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:36:52 GMT

This is for all of you kids that loved Street Fighter II growing up. I present to you....

SKEET FIGHTER

EXTREMELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK
http://files.myfrogbag.com/60e3kq/SKEET_FIGHTER.swf

GI JOE fans

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:41:41 GMT

Adult swim has a web-based GI JOE series that's pretty decent

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a25059520b3d89e0120b49221340025

More Star Trek lol

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:29:16 GMT

New Transformer 2 clips

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:47:53 GMT

http://vimeo.com/4208071

Special FXs look pretty badass.

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:37:35 GMT

Musings

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:01:15 GMT

1. Lets go Mavs
2. Work is killing me. Swamped like a mofo. Thankful for still having a job....for now.
3. Joined LA Fitness in the swIrv. Trying get my fitness/swoll on.
4. Paid mutherfucking taxes. Got a little back in refund.
5. Do you realize that the average wage earner works from Jan. 1 to April 15 (ironically) just to pay off their Federal taxes? Happy Tax-Free day.
6. Finally reading Life of Pi. It's good so far.
7. Just saw the Cowboys schedule. Except for games against the AFC West, it looks tough as hell.
8. I'm addicted to Grand Theft Auto 4 and Left 4 Dead right now.
9. Seth Rogan is overrated.
10. Finally, this is everything you need to know about succeeding in life...