Surprise!

From here on out, all Dick entries will be held at an undisclosed location.

In all honesty, I don't like Dick very much. I think he's inconsiderate, elitist, and wasteful, and he tends to make me angry a lot of the time. Those who were in my confidence during the whole painting debacle are well aware of this.

So I started treating Dick like a character, myself like a participant observer, and my house like a creative writing project. This, plus the fact that I've been keeping incredibly busy with life outside of my house, keeps me from walking around angry all the time.

The thing is, though, that Dick isn't a character. He's a person. And however angry he may make me, and however much I may not like him, he still doesn't deserve to be made fun of on the internet.

I'll keep up my project, certainly -- it really helps me stay sane -- but I don't think I want to have an audience for it anymore. Not for the foreseeable future, anyway.

Side effect: no one will ever read this blog again. :-) But my conscience, she will be clear!

When the cat's away, the mouse will blog

Today is the second day of my boss' vacation, but I have already completed approximately 50% of the work he left for me to do during his two-week absence. Hmmm.

In other news, it's 100 degrees here and I am sleepy.

The Aristocrats

I guess this is old news that everyone knows already, but AMC is refusing to show The Aristocrats.

I sold popcorn at an AMC theater when I was in high school. My brother also worked there and went on to do marketing stuff for one of their super-mega-behemoth-plexes after college. One of the many things he did was start and run a midnight movie series that featured cult films and other stuff folks don't get to see on the big screen very often. He booked Pink Flamingos and the screening was really popular, but the management told him to never book anything like it again because they didn't want to attract "that crowd."

I know that AMC is a private company and has the right to show whatever movies its management chooses. I find it interesting, though, that they call their choice to ban The Aristocrats a "business decision" and then turn right around and say they won't even book it if the limited release does well. I think they would look a lot more professional and less asshole-ish if they wrote up a policy on what they will and will not screen, similar to a museum collections policy. Picking and choosing based on management's personal preferences (Passion of the Christ good, The Aristocrats bad) and then trying to hide behind the phrase "business decision" is cowardly.

I wanted to see The Aristocrats anyway, but AMC's ban makes me want to see it even more. I guess I'm part of "that crowd."

Tear him up

Apparently we have mice. I have seen no evidence thereof, but Dick has. I feel that I would be missing a great opportunity if I didn't organize them into my own mouse army and command them to attack my housemate, don't you? Then maybe Crispin Glover could move in.

In other news, Dan and I had a CD burning party on Friday night. Among many other things (Mates of State, Dismemberment Plan, etc.), I got some Kimya Dawson. I love her. She is kind of like Laura Veirs, only crazy.

dressy bessy

I have been busy at work, so I have not had much time to blog.

Here is a fun song for you to listen to while you wait.

Sounds a bit Breeders-y, no?

These are the people in your neighborhood

Some of my neighbors:

-- I saw an old woman shaking her cane at a bee at the Eastern Market today. She was trying to chase it away from her friend. The bee flew away, but when the friend asked if it was gone, the Cane Lady said, "No, it definitely just flew down your blouse." Just to mess with her.

-- I made a new friend when I was watering my tomatoes today. This older guy stopped to ask about our garden and told me about how he used to be a cook at Walter Reed and make jello parfaits for Dwight Eisenhower. Then he pulled out his wallet and showed me pictures of his daughters and grandkids. "I've got 7 kids with 5 different mothers!" he boasted. "It was the Sixties and sex was really taking off, right! I'm telling you, right! Yes, young lady, it was!" Then he put he wallet back in his pocket and walked away, looking back to say, "Now you have a blessed day! God is good, all the time!"

Absolutely Kosher

I've really been jewin' it up this weekend. Went to the Building Museum's Jewish Washington exhibit with Rachel and Jen yesterday, and now my favorite NewJew, Nick, is downstairs praying in my living room. Awesome.

Let's all go to the movies

The National Building Museum is doing a free film series for the rest of the summer. On Saturday I laced up the ol' Vans and headed over there to see the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, which was excellent (Rob M., I don't know if you ever mosey on over here from Dan's, but thanks for recommending it).

Highlights from the rest of the series:

Tonight, 8:15 - Boomtown and The More the Merrier - a short documentary and a screwball comedy about WWII-era DC

August 10, 8:15 - Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing

August 17, 8:15 - Neighbors and Touch of Evil - Buster Keaton and Orson Welles all in one evening!

Johnny Cash is a friend of mine

Look what's coming out for my birthday!



















Incidentally, this is one of the coolest movie posters I've ever seen.

If you haven't heard it yet, check out Sarah Vowell reading her essay about "Ring of Fire" on This American Life. Do a search for the episode title "What is this thing?" and you should be able to track it down. Sarah Vowell's bit is about 47 minutes in, so you can skip the first couple acts if you like, but the whole show is worth listening to.

Mommy, can I keep it?

Syphilis is SO CUTE!

My uncle works for the CDC, where apparently they sell these in the gift shop. He gave my sister-in-law mono for Christmas one year.

More Dick stories forthcoming, promise. The grown-up job thing finally happened, so I have been busy with training and paperwork and stuff for the last couple of days.

Anarchy in the UK

My old stomping grounds.

America: Fuck Yeah

Just came back from Carrie, Beth, and Jen's "America: Fuck Yeah" party in A-town. We ate cupcakes decorated with the party's slogan (photo courtesy of Dan) and played bocce. Scotland friend Jeff made an appearance, which is always nice. His entourage, however, included a popped-collar, backwards-visor-wearing frat star Republican who claimed he'd "never met a real live liberal before." Fun times!

Today's morning activities included my annual July 4th traditions of listening to Alice Cooper's "I Love America" and re-reading Sarah Vowell's essay "The Partly Cloudy Patriot." It's in her book of the same name, which you should go out and buy right now. Here's a passage she wrote about the days following September 11, 2001:

Immediately after the attack, seeing the flag all over the place was moving, endearing. So when the newspaper I subscribe to published a full-page, full-color flag to clip out and hang in the window, how come I couldn't? It took me a while to figure out why I guiltily slid the flag into the recycling bin instead of taping it up. The meaning had changed; or let's say it changed back. In the first day or two the flags were plastered everywhere, seeing them was heartening because they indicated that we're all in this sorrow together. The flags were purely emotional. Once we went to war, once the president announced that we were going to retaliate against the "evildoers," then the flag again represented what it usually represents: the government. I think that's when the flags started making me nervous. The true American patriot is by definition skeptical of the government ... This deep suspicion of Washington is one of the most American emotions an American can have.

And another bit, written about her trip to DC for Bush's first inauguration:

Everyone standing there in the cold rain had very strong feelings. It was either/or. Either you beamed through the ceremony with smiles of joy, or you wept through it all with tears of rage. I admit, I was one of the people there who needed a hankie when it was over. At the end of the ceremony, it was time to sing the national anthem. Some of the dissenters refused to join in. Such was their anger at the country at that moment they couldn't find it in their hearts to sing. But I was standing there next to my friend Jack, and Jack and I put our hands over our hearts and sang that song loud. Because we love our country too. Because we wouldn't have been standing there, wouldn't have driven down to Washington just to burst into tears if we didn't care so very, very much about how this country is run.

Go Canada, it's your birthday ...

Happy Canada Day! Raise a glass of clamato to our neighbors to the north. Or just go back to the last post and listen to that New Pornographers track again.