mindful rage

Here’s an awesome video by a band from Belarus.  I cannot even BEGIN to express just how damned awesome this thing is.  I want you to watch it.  Several times.  Concentrate on the imagery.  It’s like… OK.

Imagine you’re locked in a prison cell.  And you’re reading books on geopolitics.  And every so often at random intervals some dude with an assault rifle runs in and smashes you in the head with the butt of the rifle.  And this continues for a few days.  And then you get to watch a Peter Gabriel video.

I think that about sums it up.

I love my wife.  I’m telling you, she’s great.  But she should never be allowed to shop for produce for taco night.

Yes, I realize that cabbage does look a bit like lettuce.  It does not, however, come across the same on a taco.

Playing a quick (ha!) round last night before bed.  I’m watching my message panel, and the following goodies blink by.

Judaism has been founded in a distant land!

Hapshepsut has adopted Slavery!

Me:   …

Apparently I am allergic to oak pollen.  Maybe maple.  They both came out hard this week in New York and I am currently suffering.  My sinuses are like unto twin neutron stars behind my eyes, not merely content to be dense, squatting anomalies on the rubber sheet of my internal reality, but they’re branching out into pain emissions like some kind of sadistic, boogery pulsar thing.

I shall content myself with thoughts of murder and mayhem.

Adam: sounds like you got your wish.

Matt: wha?

Adam: wang starts.

Matt: OH. Yea, OK.

Matt: Because I was gonna say, there’s an awful lot of people left here alive for me to have gotten any of my normal wishes.

Between my co-worker and I:

Him: “It’s funny how you can try to work with a vendor for hours and not get anywhere, and Alan can just send one short email and they just do what we want them to.”

Me: “Not that surprising, though — my spending authority begins and ends with the vending machine.”

So I’m standing in line at the local store to grab a couple of tickets for the recent OMG XOBX HEUG LOL Mega Millions drawing.  Right as I get up to the counter, some dude behind me who looks like a reject from a George Michael lookalike contest says to his friend “Man, I can’t believe people waste their money on this shit.”

I was feeling merciful, since I can see where he’s coming from.  To me, the lottery is a fun, momentary escape from the daily doldrums.  It’s fun to dream for a moment or three.  Do I expect anything?  Of course not.  Harmless fun, and I have a hard limit of $2.

But as I’m fishing my keys out of my coat, I see him drop a $10 on the counter and say “Gimme a pack of Parliament Lights.”

Had I only known…

Opi’s Portrait,
originally uploaded by matthiasvw.

Sara got this picture of Opi with her XTi the other night. I think it’s rather fab.

As always, from the inestimable Mr. Chris…

Apparently religion really knows how to get down in Sierra Leone. Seriously. HOW AWESOME IS THIS?

Some of my fondest memories of Christmas involve tradition. Traditions like roundhouse kicks and barstools being broken on faces. In that vein, I’d like to offer the following Christmas memory from my teenage years: