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Monday, 27 September 2004

Back and Forth

There's a spirited debate going on in the comments section of one of my recent posts. Check it out.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 27, 2004 at 11:12 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 26 September 2004

Bush Administration 0 for 5000 in War on Terror

Protecting America? I don't think so:

Until that reversal, the Detroit case had marked the only terrorist conviction obtained from the Justice Department's detention of more than 5,000 foreign nationals in antiterrorism sweeps since 9/11. So Ashcroft's record is 0 for 5,000. When the Attorney General was locking these men up in the immediate wake of the attacks, he held almost daily press conferences to announce how many "suspected terrorists" had been detained. No press conference has been forthcoming to announce that exactly none of them have turned out to be actual terrorists.

Oh well, at least they finally caught Cat Stevens.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 26, 2004 at 07:16 PM in War on Terra | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 25 September 2004

Is Your Name Michael Diamond?

The Beastie Boys are back, and they're coming to a town near you:

The members of Beastie Boys are flashing liquor and cash while betting on a street-level parlor game — with a Jewish twist. Instead of a 40-ounce brew, Adrock throttles a bottle of Manischewitz wine. In lieu of dice, MCA tosses a dreidel as Mike D hangs back with a gold Kiddush cup. Moments later, MCA, the band's self-styled Kung Fu master, chops through a thick stack of matzo bread like Bruce Lee busting through three-ply mahogany.

[...]

"We should make it clear that this is not a concert tour, so much as a traveling pageant," says MCA, a.k.a. Adam Yauch. "We tried to gather feedback about the kinds of things that children are into and what came back to us was a pageant, repeatedly."

For the uninitiated, a pageant is a spectacular, colorful display or celebration.

"It involves certain kinds of dress, certain kinds of festivities, celebrations, feasts or food. I'd like to emphasize the feasts, if I might," Yauch says. "You don't just nosh, you feast, you don't just throw on some clothes, you get dressed, and these are the differentiations."

Posted by flow Frazao on September 25, 2004 at 09:31 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 24 September 2004

Bad News

I found out today that one of my oldest friends died yesterday in a car crash in Mexico. I can't believe it.

We grew up together in West Hartford, and were best friends for years. I used to sit on the phone with him for hours every day after school talking about all kinds of stuff, all of which seemed really important at the time.

During college we drifted apart, but we kept in touch over email and saw each other over holidays and summers. He was a constant voice in my life - sometimes for reason, and sometimes for insanity, but always there and always loud as hell.

He'd been having a tough time of things lately, and had kind of lost the plot a bit. For the past year or so he'd drifted from place to place looking for somewhere he could be comfortable. Maybe he's found it now. I don't know. I just wish I could talk to him one more time about stuff that seems important.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 24, 2004 at 11:22 PM in Family | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 21 September 2004

Why Does America Hate America?

One quick thing before I go...

First off, I have very little faith in pollsters. Three months ago these guys were telling us Kerry was going to destroy Bush. Six months ago they were saying that Howard Dean was THE undisputable candidate of the Democratic Party. A year ago all the polls agreed that King George was indestructible - there was no point in anyone even bothering to run against him.

That said, the Harris poll was the most accurate pollster in 2000, predicting a 47-47 outcome (the final outcome was Gore 48.38% and Bush 47.87%). According to the latest Harris poll, President Bush's ratings have slipped to the lowest level of his presidency:

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - September 17, 2004 - President Bush's ratings have slipped to 45 percent positive and 54 percent negative, the lowest ratings of his presidency, according to a new Harris Poll. These numbers compare to 50 percent positive, 49 percent negative in June and 48 percent positive, 51 percent negative in August. This downward trend no doubt helps to explain why the lead which the president enjoyed over Senator Kerry immediately after the Republican convention in New York - the so-called "convention bounce" - has now disappeared.

Now if all the Democrats could shut their fucking pie-holes about how Kerry is doomed, then we might have a chance at one of the biggest landslides in the history of American politics.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Posted by flow Frazao on September 21, 2004 at 07:23 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Monday, 20 September 2004

O Canada

We're off to Canada for a couple of days to check out Quebec City, some New England foliage, and a mystery cloud or two. Should be a good time, assuming we don't run into any problems at the border.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 20, 2004 at 11:39 PM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

This Is Gonna Be Me

Check out this video of a guy surfing an obscenely huge wave in the wake of Hurricane Ivan.

When I get to Australia I'm going to learn how to surf. You'll be seeing videos like this of me by around mid-January.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 20, 2004 at 07:05 PM in Sports | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Sunday, 19 September 2004

Finally Some Sanity

At long last, some REAL Republicans are trying to talk some sense into the President:

Leading members of President Bush's Republican Party on Sunday criticized mistakes and "incompetence" in his Iraq policy and called for an urgent ground offensive to retake insurgent sanctuaries.

In appearances on news talk shows, Republican senators also urged Bush to be more open with the American public after the disclosure of a classified CIA report that gave a gloomy outlook for Iraq and raised the possibility of civil war.

"The fact is, we're in deep trouble in Iraq ... and I think we're going to have to look at some recalibration of policy," Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"We made serious mistakes," said Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has campaigned at Bush's side this year after patching up a bitter rivalry.

[...]

Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also criticized the administration's handling of Iraq's reconstruction.

Only $1 billion of $18.4 billion allocated by Congress for the task has been spent, Lugar said. "This is the incompetence in the administration," he said on ABC's "This Week."

Posted by flow Frazao on September 19, 2004 at 06:39 PM in Iraq | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Glenys In The Big Apple

I've posted a few shots from our trip to NYC. We had a lot of fun, and it was really cool to see New York for the first time with Fiona's mom. I've been there so often that I'm used to the overwhelming hugeness of the City, but seeing the look on Glenys' face at the top of the Empire State Building filled me with awe.

For me, New York City is something I've grown up with all my life. I was born two hours away, and I went to University about 20 miles outside Queens. But for Glenys it was literally a dream come true to see it with her own eyes. After a lifetime of watching movies (Sleepless In Seattle, specifically) it was almost incomprehensible for her to be there in person. At the top of the Empire State Building with tears streaming down her cheeks she kept repeating "I can't believe I'm here, I can't believe I'm here."


Posted by flow Frazao on September 19, 2004 at 12:19 AM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 18 September 2004

Weekend Roundup

Check em out:

Posted by flow Frazao on September 18, 2004 at 09:48 PM in Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 12 September 2004

Your Discipline Determines Your Destiny

For those of you who don't know, Glenys (my Australian mother-in-law) has been visiting for the past few weeks. She'll be here until the end of September, at which point she'll head back to Oz.

It's been great fun having her here, and we've been having a blast, especially since we all arrived in West Hartford. The past week or so has been real laid back - Fiona and I have been sorting through our stuff that will go into storage in my Mom & Dad's basement, and Glenys has been chilling with my parents and my Grandma.

Glenys, being a religious person, has been especially interested in checking out American churches. Specifically the black ones. She had an incredible time in DC when she went to a service at one of the massive inner city churches. Out of about a thousand worshippers, she was the only white person in attendance.

It's interesting, because when she told me about it I couldn't help but wonder how I would've reacted in the same situtation. She said it was absolutely lovely and the people were warm and welcoming, but I still felt like I would have been uneasy.

I think my misgivings have a lot to do with growing up in America. This country has been so divided for so long over problems and issues and concerns, that it's hard to believe that there's such a thing as an American who isn't at least slightly fucked up about race.

For example, the town where I grew up was overwhelmingly white. I remember at our elementary school we had a program set up to integrate the school system by bussing kids in from Hartford. These were the only black kids I saw up until I was about 12. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but in retrospect I can see how it contributed to a division in my mind between blacks and whites. White kids were the ones you lived next door to and played with after school, whereas black kids were the ones who were bussed into school under "Project Concern". Seriously, that was the name of the program. They couldn't think of anything more degrading? Was "Project You Poor Little Negroes" taken?

At any rate, I've since come to terms with most of my racial hang-ups, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't still have some cobwebs lurking in the corners of my Connecticut brain. Every now and then I feel those old prejudices creeping up, no matter how hard I try to disregard them.

Anyway, as I was saying, when Glenys got back from her DC black church experience I couldn't help but wonder how I would have reacted in a similar situation. I've been to countless functions where I was in a room full of white people save for one or two blacks, but I've never had an experience from the opposite direction.

Until today.

This morning, Glenys and I decided we'd go into Hartford to check out a Pentacostal church in the North End. Now, I'm not much of a churchgoer as it is, so going anywhere on Sunday morning is a bit outside my comfort zone. This was something else though - a truly unprecedented experience for me on multiple levels.

We got all dudded up in our finest threads, hopped in the car, and headed into the city. I felt like I was back in DC driving through Anacostia, but I was only 10 miles away from where I spent my whole life until I turned 18. I had no idea that neighborhoods like this existed in Hartford. Apparently, my naiveté knows no bounds.

We parked the car on the street and walked over to the church. As it happened, we started talking to a woman who was also on her way in. She asked us if we were there for the service and told us we were gonna love it.

I held the door for her and my mother-in-law, and as soon as we entered one of the ushers immediately went to Glenys' side and led her to a seat front and center. On our way down the aisle I noticed that we were the only two white people there. To be honest, it would have been my inclination to sit way in the back, but there would be none of that. We were thrust right into the thick of it.

And man was it thick. I have never seen anything like what I saw this morning. The service started at 10:00 (we arrived a half hour late), and for a full hour there was music. REAL music too - none of that church organ shit. There was a drummer in a soundproof booth, a keyboardist, and 4 singers laying it down along with the entire congregation.

But not only singing. These people were whooping it up. They were dancing in the aisles and stomping their feet. One woman behind me started screaming "Thank you Jesus!! Thank you Jesus!!" over and over at the top of her lungs. It kind of freaked me out a little bit because it sounded like she was losing it. It was a display of naked emotion unlike any I've ever seen.

And this was all before the service started.

When the Pastor finally made his entrance the whole place erupted. I could not believe I was in a church. I had no idea that religion could be so full of energy and life. All my previous experience had been at Catholic masses and Jewish Bar Mitzvahs which are almost as exciting as a public reading of the phone book.

The Pastor stood at the pulpit for about two minutes giving shout outs to Jesus and the Lord. He brought the congregation to a sweaty, hollering crescendo that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. For over an hour he walked up and down the aisles laying his hands on people and reducing them to shaking, quivering piles on the ground.

I saw grown black men hug each other and weep without any shame or embarrassment. At one point, the preacher told "all the brothers" to go give their love to one of the church elders and almost every single man in the building surrounded one person. It was the most tactile, overwhelming display of emotion I've ever seen in public.

And throughout the whole thing people made eye contact with me and spoke to me like they would anyone else. After about 15 minutes I realized that the only person in that building who had any concerns about race was me. I might have been the only white guy in the building, but the important thing was that we were all there together. When the Pastor shouted out "Anybody who's thankful for what you've got raise your hands up" we ALL raised our hands high.

The preacher never even got a chance to deliver the sermon he'd been working on. He got so caught up in the moment that he overran his time, which was a shame because it sounded like it would've been a good one. He said the title of the series is going to be "Your Discipline Determines Your Destiny."

Twelve hours later as i write this, I'm still smiling. My mom said that if I attend again she wants to come with me.

I can't wait to go back.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 12, 2004 at 11:27 PM in Religion | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Thursday, 09 September 2004

Some REAL Underground Cinema

This is pretty wild:

Police in Paris have discovered a fully equipped cinema-cum-restaurant in a large and previously uncharted cavern underneath the capital's chic 16th arrondissement.

Officers admit they are at a loss to know who built or used one of Paris's most intriguing recent discoveries.

"We have no idea whatsoever," a police spokesman said.

"There were two swastikas painted on the ceiling, but also celtic crosses and several stars of David, so we don't think it's extremists. Some sect or secret society, maybe. There are any number of possibilities."

[...]

A tunnel held a desk and a closed-circuit TV camera set to automatically record images of anyone passing. The mechanism also triggered a tape of dogs barking, "clearly designed to frighten people off," the spokesman said.

Further along, the tunnel opened into a vast 400 sq metre cave some 18m underground, "like an underground amphitheatre, with terraces cut into the rock and chairs".

There the police found a full-sized cinema screen, projection equipment, and tapes of a wide variety of films, including 1950s film noir classics and more recent thrillers. None of the films were banned or even offensive, the spokesman said.

A smaller cave next door had been turned into an informal restaurant and bar. "There were bottles of whisky and other spirits behind a bar, tables and chairs, a pressure-cooker for making couscous," the spokesman said.

"The whole thing ran off a professionally installed electricity system and there were at least three phone lines down there."

Three days later, when the police returned accompanied by experts from the French electricity board to see where the power was coming from, the phone and electricity lines had been cut and a note was lying in the middle of the floor: "Do not," it said, "try to find us."

Posted by flow Frazao on September 9, 2004 at 10:51 PM in Film, Random News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bush.com Site Update

I don't know about you, but this is pretty much the only way I can stomach www.georgebush.com.

Thanks to matt for the link.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 9, 2004 at 10:22 PM in Funny Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Nice

A member of the audience pulls a demonstrator's hair as he forces her out of an auditorium where President Bush was addressing a crowd of supporters at Byers Choice in Colmar, Pa.

Posted by flow Frazao on September 9, 2004 at 09:48 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 08 September 2004

Moving

I am exhausted.

We started packing our stuff at 10PM Saturday night, and we had everything loaded, moved, and unloaded by 10AM Wednesday morning. I'd forgotten what a herculean task it is to box up all your crap and shift it 300 miles away. Luckily we won't have to do it again for a while.

I can't write much now - we're in the middle of unpacking everything and trying to get rid of as much as possible so it'll all fit into my parents' basement. I'll try to post a full update sometime later in the week.

A quick story though while I'm sitting in front of the computer. As most of you know, Fiona's mom Glenys has been here for the past week and a half or so. Last weekend we went to a barbecue with our friend Erin, and Glenys wound up talking to some lady about the differences between Australia and America. The conversation went on for five or ten minutes when all of a sudden the lady interrupted Glenys to ask what language they speak in Australia. I was stunned beyond belief, but Glenys handled it with aplomb. She gracefully informed the woman that Australians speak english, to which the lady replied "Ahh, so that's why you speak so well."

We've been laughing about it ever since.


PS - Happy Birthday Matt!!

Posted by flow Frazao on September 8, 2004 at 04:40 PM in Moving | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Thursday, 02 September 2004

The Future of America


---OR---



Andrew Sullivan puts the choice into words:

Zell Miller's address will, I think, go down as a critical moment in this campaign, and maybe in the history of the Republican party. I kept thinking of the contrast with the Democrats' keynote speaker, Barack Obama, a post-racial, smiling, expansive young American, speaking about national unity and uplift. Then you see Zell Miller, his face rigid with anger, his eyes blazing with years of frustration as his Dixiecrat vision became slowly eclipsed among the Democrats. Remember who this man is: once a proud supporter of racial segregation, a man who lambasted LBJ for selling his soul to the negroes. His speech tonight was in this vein, a classic Dixiecrat speech, jammed with bald lies, straw men, and hateful rhetoric. As an immigrant to this country and as someone who has been to many Southern states and enjoyed astonishing hospitality and warmth and sophistication, I long dismissed some of the Northern stereotypes about the South. But Miller did his best to revive them. The man's speech was not merely crude; it added whole universes to the word crude.


UPDATE: Click here to watch Zell Miller lose his shit on national TV during an interview with Chris Matthews.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on September 2, 2004 at 12:44 PM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fake NYC Subway Map

Here's a New York City subway map to hand out to tourists. But only certain tourists...

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on September 2, 2004 at 10:04 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 01 September 2004

Macintosh

We got the new Powerbook over the weekend.

I've been using computers for almost 20 years, and for the first time I've gotten one that actually works. It's been like a sort of epiphany.

As for all you PC die-hards who say "Yeah, well, Windows sucks, but it's what 95% of the world uses" all I have to say is quit being such a retarded Luddite.

I just can't believe I waited so long to switch.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on September 1, 2004 at 04:01 PM in Cool Stuff | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Osama bin Who?

Remember this guy?


Well you're not alone. I remember him too. However, it seems as though the Republicans have forgotten all about him. What's an evil terrorist mastermind have to do to get some attention around here?

Imagine that - not a single mention of Osama bin Laden at the Republican National Convention.

Posted by SmooveJ Zao on September 1, 2004 at 09:43 AM in ReDefeat Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Nuff Said



Posted by flow Frazao on September 1, 2004 at 01:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack