Dispatches from the Commission

In accordance with my neurosis, I check the details on fire stations, police stations, museums, all that sort of thing, usually to rename them. The library had an extra button, besides “okay” and “rename,” one marked “ruminate.”

I clicked the button, and it resulted in this.

I very much relate to the way Gaiman thinks about cities, in this, but I imagine he wouldn’t be a famous author if his work were not relate-able on some level.

Also, this probably isn’t new to anyone who’s played an amount of SimCity 2000. Being that I played it mostly before the age of reason, it was quite new to me. Passing it along is a free action, anyway.

Setting the bar ever-the-higher, the famed artists known only as The Cascadian Envoy have produced the first-ever experimental post-skapunkafunkatronica opera: “Leave It, Take It.” The chronicle of one young Faiakan’s odyssey, and subsequent misadventures, the production proper is enjoying a very popular but limited release in a parallel dimension. The soundtrack, however, is widely available in this dimension, albiet in Betamax Audio Tape format.

1. Pretty Girls in Red Coats (opening)
2. Listen Close (MC Frontalot cover)
3. Don’t Panic (Never Mind, Panic) (feat. Mouse)
4. Be Well (feat. MC Ooooooooooooooooooz)
5. A Wretched Hive
6. The Old Country (interlude)
7. Home Never Changes
8. That Was Fun / Ravenholm Coffee House (feat. Glowdoll, Loadobject, Koyetay, Neu-man)
9. Oh, There’s Four
10. Close to a Distant Demise
11. Echo Base (feat. Gregor Q)
12. On A Boat (Lonely Island cover) (feat. Gregor Q., T-Pain)
13. Fifteen That, Mofo
14. Leave It, Take It (interlude)
15. The Charming Third Time
16. The Incomparable Faiakans (feat. Koyetay, DJ Pink, Seg7, Neu-man, Clifford, DJ Dono, LK Pants, Siff, MC Squikin, Loadobject)
17. Something Catty (Thanks for Boiling That Down) (feat. Gregor Q)
18. Redoubt, Delay
19. Hanging Around (Counting Crows cover) (feat MC Scuba)
20. The Real World Isn’t Easy
21. Be Well (reprise) (feat. MC Ooooooooooooooooooz)
22. Sunday (Alla’s Thing) or This Basement is a Goddamned Reliquary
23. To Be Continued (No Stopping Now) (feat. Gregor Q., آز فدرتسكي)

I’m here. Come represent.

Conservative pundits seem to love intentionally mis-stating the Democratic Party’s name as the “Democrat Party.” Without researching it, I suspect this is because they wish to dissociate the party in the minds of their already-enamored viewers/listeners from the concept of “democracy.”

So, from here on out, I’ll be referring to the Republican Party as the “Republic Party,” with the aim of associating them with the concept of “republic.” Mostly for shits and giggles, but maybe it’ll convince someone to look up the definition of republic.

On this historic day, there is certainly cause for hope, even jubilation, as we welcome our new President, Barack Obama. It’s important to remember, however, that the bulk of his task, and our own, is yet ahead of us. If we are to restore America’s image internationally, if we are to heal our economy, if we are to rebuild our infrastructure, develop our technology, and become energy independent, then we must not lose the momentum and energy that we as a nation have built.

Celebrate, yes, but do not relax, for today begins a great journey for the American people. Today, we must realize that we all have a hand in America’s destiny, and that our differences in ideology and belief serve not to divide us, but instead strengthen the whole. Let us remain interested and involved as we begin to secure and improve our future. Let us continue to come together to debate policy, discuss solutions, and generate new ideas. Every American, young and old, conservative and liberal, religious and non, has something to contribute to this great undertaking — as long as we don’t return to apathy simply because power has been successfully transferred.

This is not the finish line. This is the starter’s pistol.

I hope you hear it too.

the other workers here have brought out their anamatronic christmas animals that sing awful am-radio-quality cross-genre covers of christmas songs

somebody hold me

As I rode the bus to work today, an older woman sitting next to me grumbled a statement clearly directed at me (and a girl around my age across the bus).

“The front seats are for the elderly and disabled, and there’s some young people sitting there while some old lady is standing up. Fucking incredible.” (this is as close to the quote as I remember)

Well, miss bile-filled old lady, since I am a nice guy, I didn’t spew bile right back on you. I was quite torqued, though, and I figure here, in my little internet-corner, I can reply properly, semi-anonymously, and with thoughts refined to a razor’s point — it would have been a bit more like bludgeoning, before my daily caffeine.

Your generation (not you individually, perhaps, but nevertheless) has led this country into a floundering two-front war, buried our government in debt, trashed the financial market, and poisoned our earth. You guys have done your best to run this society into the ground before handing over the keys to us, and on top of it all, you want us to pay for your social security. As far as I’m concerned, we don’t owe you a goddamn thing. Sure, some older individuals might warrant my respect, or adoration, or love, because they’ve been an important part of my life, but I’m not going to suck up to every fucking baby boomer I see just because they were born between 1946 and 1964.

In deliberate ignorance of these slights, I don’t judge any individual boomer differently from any other person I encounter on the bus. Everyone, initially, is 1:1 (or better yet, 0:0), so far as I’m concerned. Yes, your bigoted ass included. So, while I might not volunteer my seat to an older person, this doesn’t mean I’m out to get them. I’m sure, if they were to ask, I’d gladly let them sit — I’m just not going out of my way to accommodate someone of which I literally hold no opinion. A lot of us are like this; fact is, we don’t know you. Again, it doesn’t mean we dislike you, but we aren’t going to coddle you either.

So, old lady, next time you’re on the bus, and want to sit, try asking a member of my generation for their seat. See how it goes — I bet they’ll give it to you.

Unless you ask me, at which point I’ll tell you to piss off and find a nice dark alley in which you can die alone and unwanted, you venomous wrinkled hag.

The past three nights, I’ve been greeted with visions of quiet, off-the-grid places — beautiful places, built by people with their own hands, to live in seclusion.

All I can think to tell myself, on seeing them, is “someday, but not yet.”

For the expatriate crowd, this site has a number of images from the Old Country for your perusal. I’m using them, in some small way, to catch up.

I’ll be writing the occasional piece over at Epic Default Productions, specifically writings relating to gaming and geek culture.

My political and personal shite isn’t going anywhere, though.

After putting three albums on hiatus (stating no reason beyond “because we felt like it”), Glasses + Mirror have finally released a fourth, previously unannounced title, “Always Something to See.” In this punchy and energetic collection of Experimental Post-Skapunkafunkatronica, the masters of the genre continue to innovate anew, while still hanging on to the roots of the sound they single-handedly crafted.

Initial reviews of Glasses + Mirror’s latest are, of course, universally positive. The Stranger calls the album “sexually delicious,” the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner writes “this album is, beyond a doubt, the greatest single achievement of mankind,” and Time has named “Always Something To See” their Person of the Year 2008.

“Always Something to See” will be available on Blu-Ray Disc or a collection of several million 3.25″ floppy diskettes. A release date has not been set, but Glasses + Mirror promise it will “be out by the end of this typing.”

1. Prelude: Election Night Tension
2. The Skies Clear Over America (feat. Skelflesh, MC whymog, x3nocide, PNUS, Gregor Q., Maus)
3. Nine2Five (Ordinary Boys cover)
4. Always Something to See
5. Hello Again (feat. Miss Tangle)
6. This is The Best Plan (feat. Alaska Grown, Miss Tangle, Gregor Q.)
7. Canadia (MC Frontalot cover feat Gregor Q.)
8. This City Is Eerie, I Don’t Care What Anyone Else Says
9. Who Says Belligerence Needs A Target?
10. Order Up A Manly Slam (feat. Gregor Q.)
11. Alaskan Swarm (Don’t Mention Palin Mix) (feat. Alaska Grown, Miss Tangle, Gregor Q., Spartaaaaa!)
12. The Slow Road Home
13. Great Scott! (feat Alaska Grown, Miss Tangle, Gregor Q.)
14. Another Castle? (feat. Miss Tangle)
15. And Time Has Slowed To A Crawl
16. Epilogue: <– Realization / Reversal –> (feat Gregor Q., Maus)