Saturday, February 26, 2005

Keller Williams Rules

On a musical note, I went and saw Keller Williams last night in Indianapolis. I've seen him quite a number of times (I think around a dozen now) but GODDAMN last night's second set was one of the most high energy kick-ass shows I've seen in years. He's absolutely on fire. Run don't walk to Ticketmaster and see him!!
For those that don't know, Keller is ONE guy who sings and plays bass, piano, tubes, theramin, drums and the fucking best guitar you've ever heard. He uses live looping to layer all of the above into a groove while soloing over the top on geetar. What can you say about a guy who plays original as well as covers Phish, the Bee-Gees, the Dead, Talking Heads and closes with a sing along a cappella version of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. And that was just during the second set.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

HAHAHAHAHAHA

I urge you to go to this website, but hold onto your hats!
This is the sentence at the top of the page:
"The most honest man who ever lived claimed to be the Son of God, is missing from his grave, and is worshipped 2000 years later on every corner of the most powerful nation on earth---how crazy is it not to believe what he says?"
Who can argue with logic like that?

Don't miss the candidates for the antichrist and the "hidden messages" in song lyrics.
Guckert/Gannon- The Video Collections

For anyone who's been asleep for the last month, here's 2 collections of Guckert Video.
The first, HERE, is a collection of news stories and parodies about Guckert- this also tells the basic story of what the story is about.
The second, HERE, is a collection of questions the Guckster asked Scott McClellan and the President. Really tough questions, let me tell ya!

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Robotic Monkey Arms!!

In a story that should give pause to those who think we aren't living in the future already- scientists have rigged up a robotic arm to a monkey, attatched some electrodes into his brain, and now he can make the arm move.
Think about this for a minute.
We can take wires, stick them in the brain, and boom, we've got a cyborg monkey.
The Luke Skywalker hand is almost a reality.
Now tell me some more about how everyone under the age of 30 aren't potentially going to live forever. Tell me that if we were spending all the money we spend on killing eachother we couldn't have food, clothing, shelter, health care, and education for everyone on the entire planet. Tell me that the only thing holding us back isn't our imagination.
If we could just get the people who want to blow shit up (Both our guys and theirs) to fuck off we'd all be livin large.

Monday, February 21, 2005

Hunter S Thompson Dies

On the laptop I wrote my first 4 novels on there were 2 pictures taped to the front. One was a picture of Samuel L Jackson from Shaft- and the other was a large black and white photo of Hunter Thompson with his signature cigarette. In many ways, it was these 2 photos that got me through on tough writing days. Thompson himself is a prominent role-model for Lance, the character in Portal.
Now, Hunter is gone.
Hunter S Thompson killed himself yesterday in what the news is saying was a self inflicted gunshot wound. All of the coverage of his death is about his books, of course Fear and Loathing in Vegas topping the list. This kind of bums me out because the HST found in those books were NOT the real man.
They were an image.
A persona as carefully crafted as a professional wrestler's. That isn't to say the man wasn't out on the edge of things, I think he was, but he was much more aware of what he was doing than people give him credit for. To see this side of him though you need to read his letters as chronicled in the two enormous volumes released over the past several years.
They reveal a very smart, very sharp guy who probably understood American Politics better than anyone except Noam Chomsky- of course the lens he was looking through was much different. (He picked out Carter and McGovern months before the mainstream journalists did. But he didn't just pick them, he knew them. Hell, from his letters he knew EVERYBODY- from Carter to McGovern to Carville to Gary Hart. Thompson was one of the people they called and wrote to.
What's funny is I'm not the kind of guy who I would think would like Thompson. What with the guns and the explosives and whatnot- I hate that shit. But through the letters it was obvious that in many ways Thompson was a bit of a wuss. (For example, he writes of his Hell's Angels beatings for years afterward.) Overcompensation is hardly a rare tactic to overcome such things.
I'm very sorry for his son Juan. I don't know if Hunter was planning his suicide or if it was a surprise, but either way, my best wishes to him for his loss.
Now, the media is going to talk about the death of an image and the man will be quietly mourned in the hearts of those of us who saw the genius in what he was doing. To some degree, no one really knew him except his family- I hope when he left he was stright with them, there is no doubt being his wife and kid wasn't easy- of the man or the image.

See you around the bend Dr. Gonzo. We'll miss ya.