weapons of massdistraction

Last night I finally watched the Battlestar Galactica series finale, but found myself strangely unmoved by it (and not just because of a drunken Bill Adama barfing on himself, eww). I thought there would be tears. From my face. Maybe the dry eyes were because we’d gone to The Children’s Theatre earlier in the day to see a cheery little play about child labor. It was based on the true story of Iqbal Masih, who was sold into slavery at the age of four, escaped to become an activist by age ten, and was murdered at the age of 12. That did make me cry.

Something else I finally got around to doing? Making arrangements for my son’s Spring break. We’ve never been to Wisconsin Dells but I managed to find a hotel in the area that serves vegan fare such as pancakes and tofu scramble for breakfast. And guests at this hotel receive a 10% discount on meals at the strangely vegan-friendly Cheese Factory, a restaurant I’ve been hearing rave reviews about for years.

Realizing it’s been a while now since I’ve gotten out of town. Have I been anywhere since September? I don’t think so. Speaking of…came across this article “Changing travel, one tweet at a time: Microblogging travelers break news well ahead of mainstream media” but I don’t want to make news while I’m away. I just want a change of scenery.

Bonus: The boy and I had far too much fun with these Qwerty drums. Perhaps I should incorporate them into my Angry Butterfly act.
Plus: Illustrator Scott C’s Home Slice makes me happy. Particularly the puppets that were inspired by his drawings.
And: Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?

I am a sometimes insomniac. I’ve found that keeping the laptop outside of my bedroom at night helps. But too often I fail. It’s usually within convenient reaching distance, at my bedside, and I grab it in the middle of the night like a drowning man being tossed a line. And then find myself catching up on the brilliance of xkcd and reading up on disparate topics such as how the shipping container made the world smaller and the world economy bigger and why we make mistakes: how we look without seeing, forget things in seconds, and are all pretty sure we are way above average and chucking books into my Amazon shopping cart willy-nilly. And planning to buy books from the future, about the past, that haven’t even been completed yet.

Other middle-of-the-night discoveries include:

• Proof That a Camera ‘Round the Neck Makes Anyone Look Like a Tourist
  

  Yep, that’s a disguised Vlad Putin in his carefree KGB days, ready to pop the Gipper if necessary with what is surely a camera gun of some kind.

• The Wrestler: A Cinematic Analysis in a 1989 Volvo Station Wagon 240 DL.
• My favorite Japanese artist, Yoshimoto Nara, was arrested in NYC a couple of weeks ago. Before his gallery opening. For graffiti. The man is welcome to doodle on anything of mine whenever he pleases.
• Good news for luddites. It’s Cardtalk, the Cardboard Phonograph!
• If you’re in the Twin Cities metro area, this week in cupcakes created by the lovely Sheela.

And an early-morning discovery, outside of my bedroom and not on the internets. When I walked into my real world kitchen I found vegan banana pecan muffins on the counter. I’d forgotten I made them last night. That was a pleasant surprise but my short-term memory failure was not. But hey, it looks like my brain decline began at the age of 27 so maybe I should stop worrying about it and start enjoying my senility more. As long as I don’t have to go Memento-style with the tattooing of important reminders on my person.

My love life is a complicated mess, as ever, but it was still a weekend well spent…with a man I care about very much. Whose birthday is tomorrow. A fact he doesn’t much care about, but thankfully his band happened to get on a bill for tomorrow night. There will be celebrations aplenty at his birthday show.

Speaking of out-of-the-ordinary relationships, I will be attending the one and only screening of the locally made Living Arrangements:

Sasha and Billie just found a new apartment right next to their favorite coffee shops and thrift stores. Life couldn’t be better until they discover a blood-thirsty werewolf living in the attic. Coping with the uninvited roommate challenges their vegan lifestyle and may turn these animal savers into animal slayers.

Yessss, vegans vs. lycanthropes! This is going to be amazing! Also in that vein I recently discovered: Robot Lincoln and Zombie Jackson:

Tread carefully while near the Hermitage, just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. For on these damned grounds lurks Zombie Andrew Jackson, and his never ending hunger for fresh brains. Will a newly ressurected[sic] Abraham Lincoln, whose brain is encased in a indestructible metal body, be able to put a stop to Zombie Jackson and his living dead minions?!

Pray for the Union dear reader…pray for the Union.

And I’ve been re-reading the books of A. Lee Martinez - whose work features the undead and other assorted supernatural creatures, while waiting for my pre-ordered copy of Monster to turn up (alas, not until May). But why does such supernatural fiction call to me, more so than any other genre? I guess it’s in the blood. A compelling New Yorker article confronts our undying (ha ha) fascination with immortal bloodsuckers and their ilk. Maybe it does boil down to the truthful representations of “the amoral contrivances of love, or of desire” - or sex and power without the guilt.

Bonus: I did succumb to the latest Threadless $5 t-shirt sale but not for myself. The little man is not so little so I picked him up some 12yo sized shirts for this summer. Next up? He needs some new pants and shorts. But not short pants. No highwaters for my boy! Though the Ed Grimley/Urkel look does seem to be awfully hip in certain circles.
Plus: The Threadless sale led me to the beautiful work of illustrator Olly Moss. Also enjoying this gorgeous photoset of animal portraits: Vita, though I have no idea how such results were achieved.
And: Somehow my brain thinks these things go hand in hand. The Portland Urban Iditarod 2009 and the 2009 NYC Beard & Moustache Championships. Because both bring the fun!

Today went sideways fast. I’ve shed tears of sadness and tears of frustration. The first round came when I discovered some good friends lost their home to a fire yesterday. In the fire many things were destroyed or damaged but what they really lost was their cat Henry. By some stroke of luck their other cat survived and is recovering after medical intervention. And they themselves were unharmed as they weren’t home at the time. But it’s still unbearably sad.

The second set of tears was caused by an altercation at, of all places, our gym. As I loped along on the treadmill a staff member approached to tell me my son had shoved and hit a girl in the childcare room. This was unprecedented. I rushed in for a sitrep and found the little man sitting in the corner trying not to cry. Excruciating. He apologized to the girl, grabbed his boots and left before I could suss it out. But I did notice scratch marks all along his arm - which I indicated to the oblivious staff. I didn’t sort out all the details until the drive home and even then it took a while to piece together. Apparently my creative son had made some Shark Boy fins from paper and taped them to himself. But a group of little girls ganged up on him hellbent on tearing them off (because they wanted to play puppies, not sharks) and managed to scratch him in the process. Instead of flagging down an adult he got mad (rightfully so) because he was being hurt and so he pushed back (wrong answer). The biggest problem? They were younger/smaller than he is. So he comes out looking like the bad guy. I hate this shit. BOO and also HISS.

Also? I’d never abandoned a workout before. Now I know it’s akin to coitus interruptus. I didn’t get my much-needed endorphin rush and am ending the day feeling particularly low and defeated. But I will try again tomorrow.

While my son watched Saturday morning cartoons I got caught up on my space opera. Somehow I’d gotten three episodes behind in my Battlestar Galactica viewing. But no more. Though I will back up a friend who said “bring on the other cylons and the pew pew pew space shooty explody.” Curious to see what they do with the final three episodes coming up.

Now I’m fully caffeinated and having trouble sitting still. Throwing some of that energy into housework, sure, but also trying to sort out our vacation plans for the year. The little man’s spring break is fast approaching, as is ATP in England. I was tempted by the double whammy of my tax refund arriving + prices for airfare coming down, but I really shouldn’t blow my wad on that, as much as I’d like to. Instead I’m going to stay stateside and shoot for the Pitchfork Festival in July plus ATP in NY. I’ll get more bang for my buck that way.

Five good things while I am utterly lacking focus:

• Speaking of ATP, look at the ATP Bot at I Am Kritch. I love little robots.
• Dark Horse Presents The Origin of Man by Katie Beaton.
• Lebowski Fest may be coming to Minnesota.
• The Amazing Double Interlocking Polaroid System 3D Film Festival at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis - running now through March 19th.
• The Making Fiends radio special at Ebola Music.

The little man and I had a good time last night at Eclipse Records, for the TEVS 4 release show. Didn’t get to stick around too late, because the boy had to get to bed, but we were there long enough to enjoy cupcakes, companionship and The Chambermaids. And to take these photos of said things.