A Twist of Things to Come

But here's something my Mac-loving friends should appreciate:



Thanks to hedgegoth, who always posts the best vids around. :)

***

Now for the really scary stuff. I generally avoid political discussion here, for a variety of reasons. Mostly, it is because my Beloved and I, while we are both intelligent and informed people with much the same views on various issues, frequently end up picking different candidates. He's more of a "who will hurt us less" kind of guy, and he usually votes for the candidate whose party does not control Congress, because he fears what either party might do if it found itself without opposition.

There does seem to be a lot more at stake than in past elections. Being a Tennessean, I was very supportive of Gore some years ago, because I knew him to be a very moderate Democrat from his years representing that state in the Senate, but I understood why people, embarrassed by the peccadilloes of the previous presidency, didn't want to go there. Though, in retrospect, a balanced budget and reduced national debt does seem rather attractive, no matter what Clinton did with his cigars.

In the last election, neither candidate seemed very attractive, really, and the level of political discourse degenerated even further. The left were called baby-killing evildoers, and the right were seen by their opposition as gun-toting religious fanatics. As an Army Brat, I can tell you it's never that simple.

I am going to come out and say it. Obama is getting my vote. Not because I think he's ideal, not because his relative inexperience doesn't scare me. But because he can bring this country together. He can give America something she hasn't had since Reagan -- a leader who can inspire us and bring us together. (Not saying I think Reagan was all that great (though I did volunteer at his local campaign headquarters when I was kid -- too young to vote but old enough to my part, stars in my eyes), in fact, I think the "War on Drugs" has become a clusterf*ck of epic proportions, and we'd have been better off without it.)

It's a long shot, maybe, but I am essentially a hopeful creature. Could he make things worse? I freely admit that he could. Does my support for Obama mean that I have no respect for McCain? Far from it. If he were still the same McCain he was some years ago, he would probably have my vote. I still respect him as a patriot, as I do all those who serve in the military.

I don't know what the future holds. My family and I have tried to do what is right, put everything we had into the business that is now all tied up in Africa, just in time for the world economy to go all to hell. We were trying to do a good thing, something we believe in with our lives. It may work out for the best, or not. Right now, I am volunteering my time with literacy programs and school things, but I will likely be working again, soon, probably for a fraction of my previous wages. Perhaps it was foolish to think we could make a difference in the world and still keep body and soul together. More gust than glory, as they say. I'm not complaining. I've always striven to be a person who does the right thing regardless of personal risk, and it has always turned out for the best in the end.

Either way, I am a person who needs to believe, and this time around, for good or ill, I do.



Vid via arachnejericho

...at the home of our dearest friends. The boys are beside themselves. My Beloved is slaving away at improvements on the Bender costume and various bits of the boy's costumes. I have no idea what I will wear, Ha!

I am in the process of making some nifty Halloweenish snacks. Perhaps I will get pictures.

***

By way of hedgegoth and too good not to share:



***

I watch the show Supernatural. Have ever since the darling jedi_diplomat mailed me some rips of the first two seasons. Then of course, micehell keeps me up to date. I like it for what it is, though I maybe do not see what many of my friends see in the, ah, subtext.

Aaaanyway. The last show had this amusing outtake after the episode was over:



It got... that song... stuck in my head. HARD.

On the upside, it reminded me of a girl I knew in Christian school. A bunch of us were hanging out, and someone either played that song or it came on the radio. Actually, I think it was *takes deep breath before startling revelation* at cheerleading practice. Now you know my secret shame.

In any case, this girl was singing along, and I heard her sing, "... and the last known survivor stacks his bread in the night..." I laughed so hard (though as quietly as possible) I pulled an abdominal muscle. I wasn't the only one laughing, and the girl took it in good humor.

But it still gives me the mad giggles whenever I hear it. Then my mind goes down these rabbit trails, like, A person who stockpiled bread might survive a famine, but it would have to be the mold-resistant sort of bread. And, I wonder what made J. think of that. Was she in a death camp in a past life...

Then I come back to myself and am mildly annoyed that not only do I have that song stuck in my head, but also have been repeatedly reduced to pondering the karmic debt of a girl I haven't clapped eyes on in twenty years. It also reminds me of cheerleading. The less said about that, the better.

Why Patrick Rothfuss is made of win (by way of narniadear:

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/rothfuss_blog/51171.html

Also, Craig Ferguson is made of win:



I would not have gotten to see that, but for YouTube, so I am grateful. "We're the number one choice of confused people."

Well, he had some help with the camera, but the editing and stuff was all done by him. It's basically a screen test for his Chinny The Clown character, obviously unscripted, but still amusing.

NOT for coulrophobes!!!



Message to biggelois He finally seems caught up on his lessons, so I gave him the email address. ;)

I was just fiddling around YouTube, and decided to look up some Craig Ferguson. I had some trouble sleeping last night and caught his show, see, and he was awesome.

I found this (It's longish, but quite worth it):



I'm in love. ;) I know this is an old thing, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. Not because I have a drinking problem. (Actually, I'm getting to the point where a little wine with dinner or whatever has become something I have to really plan for because of my concerns about my kidneys. I drink a lot of water when I know there might be alcohol, and I know that probably very soon I will most likely avoid it altogether.)

I needed to hear this because I don't want to be the sort of person who kicks people when they are down.

Also, "If you don't vote, you're a moron." :D He had to jump through all the naturalization hoops just to get to vote, so he has some interesting things to say:

Okay, so my first attempt at using MS MovieMaker is a fannish thing, in the Criminal Minds fandom. (A fandom that my Beloved, BTW, finds utterly risible. I can't say that I blame him, really. Quite a lot of the set-up for most episodes is sketchy at best, but if you can suspend disbelief as far as actual Federal procedures go (and, yeah, the victims are always wrapped in plastic, to the point that we as viewers get that's the stand-in for naked on TV) then you've got fun characters and interesting interplay. Heck, even some not-pulled-out-of-some-writer's-nether-regions psychology -- a genuine surprise in a TV show.

According to form, I love the Geekboy Genius character, Spencer Reid, played with pitch-perfect dorky awkwardness by Matthew Gray Gubler. Reid only had a few little moments in the last episode, so it made sense to use them to get my vidding feet wet. Plus, I wanted to show them to mackillian because I knew she'd appreciate them as much as the "inherent absence of light."

Maybe you just had to be there. Anyway, moving right along:


It's been up less than half an hour and has over 100 views. O_o

Big Boy finally finished the test he refused to complete on Friday. I think he was overwhelmed and afraid to even try to do what the test required. We just had to tell him that it was okay if he failed, but not trying was unacceptable. He passed. Did pretty darn well in fact. He digs in and forces a battle over the strangest things.

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This song has absolutely no relevance to my life, personally, but I love it.



***

I've been trying to upload a .wmv file to YouTube for a while now, and it doesn't seem to be working. It just says "Processing, please wait" and I am getting paranoid. I deleted it and tried again after about 48 hours, but many hours passed and nothing. It is less than 1mb in size so it isn't the size or length.

This one is for abrynne :


Hee! Consider it an early birthday present. :)

So I went by my husband's favorite Engrish picture blog. None of these signs/packages/subtitles is intended to be naughty, but many of them are. I put the naughty ones behind the cut, though they are all safe for work or whatever. These are only translation errors, so bad language only, not questionable images. Just so you know.

For the active dog:

more the engrish!

Maybe I should get one of these:

more the engrish!

There are no words for how appropriate and vaguely disturbing these names are:

more the engrish!

more the engrish!

Oral hygiene:

more the engrish!

My boys' favorite:

more the engrish!

( Translation software is not your friend. Unintentionally naughty signs here )