Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. Not because I'm a Nightmare Before Christmas pseudo-goth or anything, but I'm a sucker for a good costume, I quite like the fall, and it seems like more than any other holiday, everyone seems to have fun. Christmas can be a drag with shopping and travel. Valentine's day? Forget it, thats always lame. But everyone who wants to have a good time on Halloween will have a good time.
Just, whatever you do, don't be one of those people who comes to the party but is too cool to dress up. Thats grounds for immediate friendship termination.
Tonight I've decided to play a little drinking game with myself. Every time I see one of the following costumes, I'm going to either take a shot, or gulp of my existing drink...
Halloween 2008 costume predictions
Most Popular Guys Costume: The Joker. It seems to be a pretty popular opinion that this year's batch of Halloween parties are going to be over-run by flimsy renditions of Heath Ledger's Joker. Some may be wise to this and avoid it, but I really don't think people will be able to help themselves. But, I beat them all to the punch. I was the Dark Knight Joker last year.
Thats right. Kiss the ring, bitches.
(It should be noted, my costume isn't very movie accurate, because at the time, the only picture of the new Joker was the one above, so there was no way to know how he would dress of what his hair was like, so I winged it)
I guess if I wanted to be ahead of the curve again, I'd dress as a character from WATCHMEN.
Most Popular ladies costume: Sarah Palin I have the feeling this will work out exactly like last years Curse of a thousand Amy Winehouses. It's an easy, topical and mildly funny costume, but I don't think it has the same obviousness that The Joker has. I think, like Amy Winehouse last year, there will be alot of girls disappointed with how many people had the same idea. I'll be impressed if I see one who's staying in character. Which is to say, one that talks and acts like Bobby's mom from Bobby's World. You betcha!
Costumes I'd like to see (if done well): Lil Wayne, Harvey Dent, Mark Whalberg with animals, Homestar Runner, and finally, a cute girl dressed as Juno for me to engage in intercourse with (I'm being Paulie Bleeker!)
I added some new junk today, namely that thing on the right called "Mini Attacks" (the name took me about 26 seconds to come up with). It's provided by the good people at Twitter, and apparently it's all the rage right now with the kids. I've yet to have it explained to me how it's any different than the status updates on Facebook, but I guess the advantage here is that it's on here, and not confined facebook. So, now with this magical gadget, I can send updates right to this page with my phone, to let you all know really important things like how I'm organizing my records again or wondering if it's scientifically possible to have ones face rocked off. Should be fun.
For those keeping score, the 'Org posted another review of mine, this time it was last week's chaotic Monotonix jamboree. I also have one in their mysterious que, which will hopefully see the light of day at some point.
Anyone catch Barack Obama's infomercial? The idea of buying a half an hour of airtime on the 4 biggest networks in the US, is so Supervillianous, that the ideas it gave me pailed in comparison to what it really was. I pictured it starting with him a a podium, saying something like "My fellow americans, I now have control of your television sets. Change the channel all you want, it's ObamaTime for the next half hour, and just as I now control your TVs, I will soon control your country...with an army of GIANT ROBOT SWANS!!! Muhahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!!" That, or it would be a captivating half hour speech that would go alongside some of his other inspiring speeches from the past few years, because as we all know, Barack doesn't roll with super villians...
Ok, I'll leave it at that. I feel like this is turning into an Obamablog (say that out loud a few times. It's fun to say! OBAMABLOG!!), but what can I say, I'm a fan. I find the dude inspiring. Years ago Henry Rollins once astutely commented (and I'm paraphrasing) that the US will never have a political candidate that you'd like as much as you like David Lee Roth*. Our generation will never see a President that we genuinely want to stand infront of and go "woooo". But now I think we sort of do.
* Not the example I'd use, but I digress...
Hey! In lieu of writing an actual end to this blog post, hows about I just sum up what my last trips to my local comic shop have yielded? Sound good? awesome.
Things just keep getting more and more ridiculous.
So, apparently, Barack Obama supporters are primarily violent criminals, or atleast thats the messages one McCain campign worker would like to send out. According to this article, Ashley Todd from Pennsylvania claimed to have been robbed by a "dark-skinned African-American, 6 feet 4 inches tall with a medium build and short dark hair, wearing dark clothing and shiny shoes", who then, upon noticing her McCain/Palin bumper sticker, attacked again, this time carving a backwards "B" into her face with a dull knife. "You're going to be an Obama Supporter!" he apparently cackled while mid-carve (I can only assume it was followed by a rousing "Muhahahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!", but again, thats speculation). Both John McCain and Sarah Palin phoned to show their concern. The Obama camp issued a statement. The Drudge Report had a field day.
Today she admitted the whole thing was a hoax. She had scratched the B on her face with her nails, in her rearview mirror, forgetting the basic proprities of a mirror, and the B showed up backwards.
On it's own, this story is both amusing and angering. Theres nothing funny about baiting America's racial tensions for political gain, but such a world class asshole has to be laughed at.
However, something strange happened to me last night that made me see this story a little differently. I was walking home from a rousing and energetic show at the Wrongbar by Isreal's Monotonix, and listening to the audiobook of Barack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope", when an older gentleman approached me. He was quite well dressed in a suit, had thinning white hair, and because of his monocle and pocketwatch, comicly resembled the Monopoly guy. He motioned to me, but I could not hear him. He appeared to mouth something like "Pardon Me, Sir", so I took off my headphones in an attempt to engage with the man. With my headphones off, Barack Obama's smooth timber leaked into the night air, and then something strange happened. The man, hearing the audiobook, was thrown into a violent rage. He removed his monacle, and smashed it on the ground. Confused by what I was seeing, I attempted to sidestep the man and continue on my way, but he was deceptively quick for his age and stature, and picked up a glass monocle shard and lunged at me before I had a chance to escape. "I'm going to make you a McCain Supporter!!" he said, while punching me in the face. He then took the glass shard, and gave me this...
(Note: the "M" is backwards)
Beaten and cut, I lay on the sidewalk along Queen st, as he jumped in his Bentley, and motioned for his driver to drive away, laughing the whole time. Nobody was on Queen st. to corroborate this story, and I refuse to seek medical attention. But still, you get the idea. Rich white people are fucking scary. Vote Obama!
I began writing this last week but got side tracked. Typical.
New Green Day footage!!
These are frustratingly vague, but I have high hopes that Butch Vig will repeat his previous successes (Against Me!, Nirvana) and Green Day will go in a good direction on the new record.
"Next Time, Baby" Indeeeeed. It came down the loop this week that Actor/Singer/Babywhipe Enthusiast Terrence Howard will not be returning for Iron Man II as James Rhodes (AKA War Machine). Apparently the despute was over Howard wanting too much money. War Machine, who is said to have quite a major role in the new film, will now be played by Don Cheadle. This leaves me with a few questions: Isn't Cheadle a far more respected actor than Howard? How could Terrence Howard reject an amount of money that Don Cheadle is fine with? Is Terrence Howards album not selling too well? Could a baby-whipes endorsement deal pull him out of his apparent money troubles?
H2OBAMA Shirt!
Fuckin' right. This along with the Bad Brains shirt, and the now semi-official Shepard Fairey portrait makes me wonder: does that make Barack Obama the most punk friendly candidate ever?
(Aside: I found this while looking for a decent version of the Obey/Shepard Fairey Obama portrait for my iPhone background. How cool is that?)
Sorry, that one had alot of political junk in it. Save for skateboarding, and a recent curiosity towards MMA fighting, I'm not at all a sports guy, so when the debates happen, I grab junk foot and glue myself to the TV, shouting at the screen and waving a miniature pennant around. I get to do it for liken 2 months every 4 years (because, as witnessed by Canada's recent election, Canadian elections are boring and largely pointless), so bare with me. It'll be back to comics, movies and getting fat come Nov. 5th.
I've started no less than 3 articles in the past week or so, that I've scrapped before finishing. I barely squeeked out a review for Punknews.org this week before I had the chance to convince myself it wasn't any good (although the comments section did that for me later...). I just can't stay interested or convince myself that they would make for a worthwhile read. The blog isn't suppose to be high art, but the writer should atleast be convinced the material is worth reading.
I'm starting to wonder if my blog isn't trying to cover too much ground. I was recently asked what my blog was "about", and I didn't really have an answer. Many of the blogs I like are concentrated to one particular subject, and the writer works within these means. Look at the blogs linked to the left for examples. I feel like if Chef Ramsey were to look at this, he'd dispense the same advice he does to everyone on "Kitchen Nightmares"; "You fucking cunt -- you need to simplify, and give people what they want!". Then he'd cut my 5 page menu down to one, move some chairs around and leave with us being friends.
But another side thinks that it wouldn't really be my style. My mind is all over the place, and my attention span is ridiculous. Any one subject I decided to concentrate on would inevitably become boring to me before long.
Or maybe I'm just being super lazy. Did I just convince myself that writing an excuse laden blog entry would get me off the hook for today? Maybe.
But, in the argument that a blog is something of an online representation of one's self, I guess theres no truer statement than an directionless yet stylish, scatterbrained yet amusing, sparsely updated yet honest one.
So there it is. I'm going to go do something that isn't this.
Heres what I did this morning while avoiding working on this site, and writing a review of the previous two evening's Dillinger Four/NOFX shows for tha 'Org.
Confessions of a Superhero In a rare show of consumer confidence, I actually bought this DVD based on the cover and premise alone. It's also presented by Morgan Spurlock, who has never steered me wrong in the past (save for one or two bullshit episodes of the usually stellar "30 Days"). The film is a documentary following the lives of 4 street superheroes. For the unaware, along the sunset strip in Hollywood, especially during tourist season, there are people dressed in colorful costumes who take pictures with tourists and work on tips. Primarily these people take on superhero and cartoon identities, and this documentary in particular follows the ups and downs of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Hulk. Each very interesting personalities and each with a different level of intensity, drive and delusion. Very funny, captivating and at times even moving. Check out the trailer here.
The Scotsman who can't watch a movie without shouting at the screen
Palin Being Moronic Sarah Palin has only astounded me this past fortnight. Whether it's advocating that woman should have the children that result from rape or incest, claiming homosexuality is a choice, flexing her journalism degree muscle with an inability to name a single paper she reads, or a single supreme court decision she disagrees with (save for roe v wade, which I'm sure you could teach a parrot to recite as a court case), she's really outdone herself. To say nothing of her showing at the VP Debate. I was trying to explain to someone my disdain for her, and they asked me something that caught me off guard; "Worse than George W. Bush?" I realized, Ol' Dubya is almost above disdain for me. Especially with only a scant few months remaining in his term, he's risen above contempt to an almost ignorable height of cartoon supervillainy. But the thing about Palin is, while Bush took stammering and struggling with English to near performance art levels (a spectacularly aggravating trait for a world leader), Palin seems so confident in her stupidity, which is outright Pyvesian on the aggravation scale. Historically, it will be George W. Bush who fucked the world up more, but for here and now, it's Palin's time to shine, and I think that, perhaps more than anything else (even the backlash from Bush's term) is whats going to screw things up for the Republicans. You Go Girl! Keep on Keepin'-On!
Rumors: Batman 3 Rumors continue to swirl around about the status (or merely the exsistence of) Christopher Nolan's 3rd Batman film. Here's a story claiming pre-production will begin Febuary 2009 in Chicago. Later, the colorful folks over at Ain't it Cool News posted a story from a "trusted source" that seemed to corroborate the first story. Seems a little early to me, but then again, I've never had a dumptruck of money emptied at my house. In other Bat-News, we have a terrible, terible idea. Turning superman into a whiney teenager was bad enough. Stay out of Gotham!!
Vinyl Collective Co-Op release # 1 Apologies in advance for the gratuitous plug, but I'm a member of a collectively run, vinyl-only record label. Our first release goes on-sale tomorrow and is of the Chicago based Alkaline Trio/Lawrence Arms side project "The Falcon"'s 2004 EP "God Don't Make No Trash". It's a 10" with a gate-fold sleeve, and is going to be limited to 1000 copies (333 transparent red vinyl, 667 royal blue vinyl). If you dig The Falcon, Alkaline Trio or Lawrence Arms (or even the blogging skills of Mr. Brenden Kelly, as linked to the right), it's worth checking out, even if you're just going to sell it on eBay later. Plug!
Most Popular Guys Costume: The Joker.
Thats right. Kiss the ring, bitches.
Most Popular ladies costume: Sarah Palin
