i needed an entry for this month, but i've been too wrapped up in all things non-blog. and so i will leave you all with this:
vote!
The Manchester Evening News apparently reported on it's website that local boy Morrissey, while announcing Ronald Reagan's death at his Dublin gig Saturday, then went on to wish aloud that it had been Bush instead. Allegedly. And so today forums are all abuzz with responses from outraged Americans.
Of course most of the agitation is taking place on Moz's own forum where there is actually a post that begins:
The most amazing part of his comments is how soon you the uk and the french have forgotten what we did for you.
We here at glossolalia choose not to name who WE wish were dead, but will make one wish aloud. That all self righteous opinionated passion over fuck-all could be channeled toward something that really mattered.
These days metaphors breed like rabbits. And the Plain English Campaign has had quite enough of it, thank you.
The World's Most Irritating Phrase
This is a British based campaign, so that explains the inclusion of "Diamond Geezer". Which quite frankly I kinda dig...
Now someone needs to start a campaign to eradicate this astoundingly annoying trend.
This is so very saddening that no insightful witticism will be forthcoming.
From The New York Times:A body that surfaced in the East River on Sunday was identified by the city medical examiner yesterday as that of Spalding Gray, the confessional monologuist and actor who disappeared two months ago... continue...
John Perry Barlow, a friend of Spalding's, has a very poignant entry in his blog. Of particular interest are the comments following his entry. It seems to have become a spot where the sympathetic have come to share their sadness and eulogize.
Why this is so deeply affecting to some is something I cannot find the words to answer at this moment, but for now, we at glossolalia say RESPECT.
Technology, despite it's lofty aspirations, always seems to end up serving the most basic of human desires. Namely, SEX. And anything that might get you SEX. The proliferation of dating and hook up sites in North America and Western Europe is mind boggling. And the stigma of meeting a partner online fades more and more with each LavaLife or Match.Com billboard.
So it's only natural that more 'respectable' traditions should also take advantage of the new technology.
India Cell Phone Companies Become Matchmakers
Now, that's something that Nerve should take note of. It certainly would help to make text messaging a lot more popular in the States...
I've been trying to decide who i feel worse for in this news item, but ultimately I've decided that the whole thing just pisses me off including everyone involved. The men who participate, the chicks that get paid to do it and of course the soulless individual who founded the whole repulsive thing.
"We got a hit," said George Evanthes, who just shot and hit one of the women in the behind. "It was sexy. Let's put it that way," said Evanthes.
You're a cretin. Let's put it that way.
I dig both Dylan and Scorsese, so I'll be very interested to see this when it's finished in 2005.
Indeed it does. Those of us unfortunate enough to have been landed with this characterless currency now have no other choice, no coin to pull out of a drawer and entertain a child with, musing about how you got it as well as the old geezer who threw it at you. Another example of the way in which our society is being standardised in order to make us all wear the school uniform. And that’s not all. The responsibility of retailers all over Europe to refrain from taking the piss was also flouted, and has been ignored by virtually every European government. So why aren’t the public so arsed that they are being taken for a ride?
It seems a lot of them have hit the comfort zone anyway. The apathy that has ensued is staggering. People are now just prepared to have it thrown at them and bite the bullet when they feel the pinch. The idea that a lot of them are fearful of change is perhaps true, but if the change means standardisation to something ‘safe’ which they can all feel secure with, then they will jump at the chance. But somebody somewhere has to be doing very well out of all this, and I think I know who this somebody is. A banal theory perhaps, but European governments and European retailers would surely benefit from a little mutual back rubbing, wouldn’t they? Retailers do well, the economy does well. The economy does well, the government does well. The government offers favourable improvement grants to shop owners to appease them. But remember, this is all allegedly and a theory in my fecund mind, a mind which is able to tell the difference between two Euros sixty cents and three Euros ten cents. It isn’t that hard, even for somebody like me who is not the most observant at times and who basically lives in a fog. They even tried to simplify matters by stating the price in old currency next to the price in new in January of 2002, a month after introducing significant price rises. Shite though it is, the supermarket was the last place I thought I’d be stiffed, given that we need food to survive. I’m sure the powers that be in the business world are also feeling it though, bless.
So the idea of standardisation seems to appeal to the public, which doesn’t bode well for the future. And all the governments of Europe now know this. I did try and see the benefits of the new school uniform, collecting all foreign Euro coins and saving them. But because they look the same as the shite I have in my pocket every day, they soon lost their appeal. So even that small pleasure was quickly dispensed with once I discovered that a loaf of bread was now costing me the equivalent of various limbs. My local baker may well be wondering where all the Greek and Finnish Euro coins came from. Hmmm, could that be the same pocket that paid for his new shop front?
Fuck standardisation.
Masked Politician Arrives for Work
May 6, 10:02 AM (ET)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Defying critics who called it "indecent," a Japanese wrestler-turned-politician turned up for his first day at work on Tuesday sporting a vividly patterned mask.
Formerly a wrestler known as "The Great Sasuke," Masanori Murakawa won fame -- and a seat in a local assembly in northern Japan -- wearing a similar mask.
"I have absolutely no intention of taking it off, no matter how much opposition there is," the otherwise conservatively dressed Murakawa told journalists before taking his place in the council chamber in Iwate, 290 miles north of Tokyo.
He had attempted to defuse criticism by choosing a mask that revealed more of his face than before -- and which featured the emblem of the region picked out in gold on the side.
Not all local voters were impressed.
"Before you know it prefectural civil servants will all be wearing masks too," one Iwate council employee grumbled.
I still miss him, you know.
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May 2, 6:45 AM (ET)
Asteroid Is Named in Mister Rogers' Honor
By The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Mister Rogers now has an asteroid named in his honor.
"Misterrogers," formerly known as No. 26858, honors Fred Rogers, creator and host of public television's "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Rogers died Feb. 27 at age 74.
"I doubt that there are many who have not been touched in some way by the life and work of Fred Rogers," said John G. Radzilowicz, director of the Henry Buhl Jr. Planetarium & Observatory at the Carnegie Science Center, which made the announcement Thursday.
The science center worked with Family Communications Inc., the production company Rogers founded, to produce a planetarium show for preschoolers called "The Sky Above Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." The show now plays at 15 planetariums across the country.
"Misterrogers" can be found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and is about 218 million miles from the sun, which it takes about 3 1/2 years to orbit. It was discovered in 1993 by E.F. Helin at the Palomar Observatory in California.
The International Astronomical Union names comets, asteroids and surface features such as moon craters after individuals. The honors cannot be bought, and they are based on merits judged by the astronomers.
Perhaps our friend James is right...
But I dunno - this gives even spoiled self centered girls a bad name...
As we await the inevitable announcement at 8 pm EST (0100 GMT) today, perhaps we should start studying the tips from this site:
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, bracing the nation for war, said Thursday night the United States will drive Saddam Hussein from power if it comes to military force - with or without support from France, Germany and other skeptical allies.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, bracing the nation for war, said Thursday night the United States will drive Saddam Hussein from power if it comes to military force - with or without support from France, Germany and other skeptical allies.
"I will not leave the American people at the mercy of the Iraqi dictator and his weapons," Bush said at a prime-time news conference.
Full transcript of news conference
The monkey is very sad today with the news of the passing of Mister Rogers.
Fred Rogers, host of 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood', dies
Mister Rogers has been around for as long as the monkey can remember. His patient and soothing manner was often the target of satirical jibes, but small children everywhere understood him completely. Because he spoke directly to them, uncondescendingly on their own level.
While lovedoll holds dear the simple but infectious little songs on the show, I was always very inspired by the way people and puppets lived in harmony in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. We all can get along.
And I know I couldn't have been the only one that wanted Daniel Tiger for my boyfriend.
The more sensitive and intelligent of us in the primate community obviously had a special affinity with Mister Rogers, as seen here when Mister Rogers Visits Ko-Ko.
My monkey sadness was eased a bit after reading these suggestions on processing such sombre news.
Although this pathos filled excerpt made me see that he was perhaps needed now more than any other time...
Find out what your child knows, has heard, or imagines. Some children may ask, "Who killed him?" Killings are so prominent in the news that they may naturally become linked to any death.
Good night, sweet King Friday
Just when I was begining to worry over my Simpsons fanaticism, I read this and realized that there are bigger dorks out there than even me:
Jedis Become a Force to Be Counted
However, though this is a recent news story, in 2001 when the census was actually being polled this site labeled the whole campaign a hoax.
Surprisingly what hasn't been mentioned is the number of forms received with race listed as "Klingon".
The Simpsons Hits 300th Episode!
I am a Simpsons fan from way waaaay back. I remember the little bumpers they used to show on the Tracy Ullman Show back in the late 80s. The show has had it's ups and downs over the years... for awhile the writing was rather spotty, but the last few seasons have been absolutely stellar.
And I'm not just a casual fan, I'm a fucking geeek about it. I have the first episode guide, collect the action figures and playsets, am able to recite large chunks of episodes verbatim and am unable to make the sound "mmmm..." without lapsing into my weak approximation of Homer's voice.
I have made friends based on shared Simpsons fandom and have even judged boyfriends by how receptive they are to watching the show with me. (I know in my heart that my true love will be just as big a Simpsons freeek as I)
This fine little item 
is my latest acquisition. Open a beer and you hear this. And although I think it rocks, I may end up giving it to someone else who might love it as much as I. I do shit like that. I found a Lionel Hutz figure on eBay last year and as much as he is one of my very favorite characters, I ended up giving it to a lawyer friend for his birthday. Needless to say, he was touched.
Almost even more exciting than the 300th ep, is an Inside The Actors Studio dedicated to the show. I missed the first airing of this (dammit!!) but it's being rebroadcast Saturday Feb 15 at 12am and Sunday Feb 16 at 10am.
Getting totally blinged out on a swap meet budget has it's drawbacks apparently...
Two Charged With Glue Dentistry
More on the Spector murder case. I'm quoting here because the site is loaded with those annoying flash pop ups. (who thought those fucking things up??)
From Hollywood.com:
One of his ex-wives, former girl group lead singer Ronnie Bennett Spector, said she did not believe he had it in him to shoot anyone to death. But she also said she had felt fear during the time they were together in and felt like a prisoner at times in her own home."My heart goes out to the woman and her family. I don't know what the circumstances are. I can only say that when I left in the early '70s, I knew that if I didn't leave at that time, I was going to die there. I've said it in my book over 12 years ago, and I still believe it to be true now,'' she wrote.
This makes no sense to me. "He couldn't have done it, but I was scared for my life when we were married"??
Doubt this will help the defence any...
Can't really comment on this yet, although Spector has always been known to be a freak...
Music Producer Phil Spector Arrested in LA Murder
And from what little info is available at the moment, it seems there could be yet another LA celeb trial to sensationalize in the media. just what we need...
Heard on CNN today that shuttle debris was showing up on eBay. It sounded like a hoax to me, but then I found this thread and this thread on an eBay forum.
It seems that most are simply opportunists cashing in on old Columbia memorbilia. Although apparently at least someone posted an auction for debris as a joke.
I appreciate a twisted sense of humor more than most folks, but it seems like everyone is just begging for any excuse to fly into moral hysteria.
What about the children????
I have to start by saying that I have always dug Pete Townshend. And while I support the prosecution of online kiddie porn peddlers, as usual the methods of pursuit are questionable at times.
Is this a case of entrapment? Was he just "doing research", as he claims? Or is he a pedeophile? It all just seems so odd...
In another odd move, he gives an exclusive interview to the UK tabloid The Sun of all things!
The fact that he gave a traceable credit card number to gain entry into a site seems to give creedence to the "research" claim, but I must admit I'm perplexed by this one...
