captain random's roundup of miscellanea...

I got a lot of items on in the hopper and not much time or energy, so I'm starting a new, semi-regular feature on this blog. Every so often I'll toss up a post with a whole mess of links on it.

Good news for me, I clear my Inbox of possible blog posts. Good news for you, I inundate you with quality reading.

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Monster By Mail

The artist who runs this site creates one-of-a-kind caricature type drawings of monsters based upon a seasonal theme. This summer's theme is zombies, and you know how I love zombies! I just ordered one... Once I get it I'll post a picture here and let you know what I think. It is also pretty cool that you can get a video of him creating your monster for an additional fee.

a zombie ophthalmologist: the eye is the quickest way to the brain

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Generation Chickenhawk

Max Blumenthal is a lefty writer and quasi-documentarian whose work has appeared in The Nation and the Huffington Post. You can check out his blog here.

This short movie was filmed when Blumenthal attended a College Republicans convention at a hotel (Moonie-0wned!) across the street from Arlington National Cemetery. All the folks he talks to are gung ho for the war in Iraq. But when he asks why they aren't over there fighting for their country the self-contradictions and hypocrisy kicks into high gear.

In conversations with at least twenty College Republicans about the war in Iraq, I listened as they lip-synched discredited cant about “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.” Many of the young GOP cadres I met described the so-called “war on terror” as nothing less than the cause of their time.

Yet when I asked these College Republicans why they were not participating in this historical cause, they immediately went into contortions.

Check the disconcerting political hilarity:

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Johnny Depp to play Hunter S. Thompson Once Again

Say what you will about Terry Gilliam's 1998 release of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Johnny Depp did a hell of a job portraying one of the most important (in my opinion) figures in twentieth century journalism. Hunter S. Thompson's death was the first death of a celebrity that affected me as much as did the passing of Jerry Garcia.

From reading after-the-fact stories about the filming of Fear and Loathing I learnt that Depp lived in Thompson's basement for months in preparation for this role in order to be able to imitate to unmistakable Gonzo master. That's dedication...

the Gonzo One's Trademark

Depp will play a younger, slightly more sober Thompson in the Rum Diary (IMDB page here), due in theaters in 2009. For those of you who have never read it, a brief synopsis:

Depp will play Paul Kemp, a freelance journo writing for a rundown newspaper in 1950s Puerto Rico and surrounded by a bunch of lost souls bent on self-destruction. The journo was 22 when he wrote the autobiographical novel and had yet to develop his trademark gonzo style. It was written in 1959 but not published until 1998.

This is not my favorite H.S.T. book, but I'm excited to see Depp reprise the role.

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Symphonic Video Game Music

I'm a child of the video game generation. I'm also moved into a somewhat cultured phase of my life. So what better then world-renowned symphonies playing the tunes from videogames--Super Mario Brothers, the Legend of Zelda and others--that served as the soundtrack of my childhood?

National Public radio did a nice little story about the Video Games Live tour's recent stop in Washington D.C. I'd love to see this show and I hope it comes down to South Florida...

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That's all for now, I hope you enjoy! Posting will be sporadic to non-existent the next few days as I will be in NYC for a little mini-vacation. I'm going to see the Beastie Boys in Central Park on Wednesday, which is only a warm up for the concert event of the summer... DAFT PUNK in Brooklyn on Thursday. I got a good crew of folks coming up from Florida and a bunch of people meting us in the city. On Friday, we are going to take my good friend BKNY's Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour and feed out faces before heading home on Friday night.

Hopefully, I'll have it together enough to review my trip this weekend.

behind the 8-ball...

Ever have the feeling that you can't catch up? The feeling that no matter what you do the endless items on your To Do List never seem to get scratched off?

That's my life, right now. I'd update you, but after my computer was hit by lightning I had internet access issues. I bought a new computer (a super-sexy MacBook Pro, but more that later), but was still thwarted by a lack of access due to my modem also being electrocuted. I (hopefully) will have time to pick up a new modem today.

I was also out of town at a family reunion this weekend (details to come...), which meant that I could not keep up with my normal life; things like doing laundry and cleaning my apartment. Add to that the piles of miscellaneous computer detritus from my disassembled PC and my apartment looks like a bomb went off.

And I won't even get started on what I need to do for work (in the next 30 hours) or for school (in the next 4 days).

Suffice it to say that you may not be hearing to much from me in the next few days, but I'll be back with a vengeance once I get my ducks in a row... and shoot them.

computer problems...

...so yesterday when I got home from dinner at the parents my computer was off, which is quite unusual since it is usually running 24/7.

I tried to figure out what was wrong with it by plugging and unplugging things, but to no avail. I could not get the CPU to start.

I did a bit of researcdh to day and narrowed down my problem to be either a fried power supply (which is fixable) or a toasted mother board (in which case I am screwed).

I hope its the former.

So what I'm trying to say is that my internet and cmputer access is going to be less then normal for the next few days.

recovery...

I guess that partying one's ass off is more difficult as one ages.

Those of you who hold an advantage (or disadvantage, depending on how you glance at the hourglass of time) on me in years may be laughing at me knowingly. Especially those of you that saw me this weekend. It was a celebration, so I got down without abandon. What can I say, I'm a hedonist.

And I sure paid for it over the last couple days.

But I'm feeling better and will post a review of the two D.U.M.B. shows I saw this weekend over the weekend. Right now, I'm getting ready for a big change: I'm about to start grad school, and that is going to begin occupying a large amount of my time. But this blog has been a nice little release for me, and it seems like I'm gonna need a therapeutic outpouring of meh on a pretty regular basis.

Wish me luck in my new endeavor.

site updates...

I've been busy as hell today. We had a little issue arise at work due to some public comments made by an elected official, and my phone rang off the hook all day long. I got home and started cleaning my place in preparation for a house guest this weekend.

The only blog-related thing I did today is create calendar, which is visible at the bottom of the page. It's a Google Calendar, and I'm using it to keep track of when I'm in town and not. Shows I'm going to are marked out... if you're going, add yourself to the event if you like.

Right now, I think that it is a good idea. I may change my mind, but such is life.

the meh-ning of all this...

The entry on urbandictionary.com first defines meh as "indifference; to be used when one simply does not care". I prefer the fourth attempt at a definition:

An interjection used to imply indifference towards a subject; "a verbal shrug".

A verbal shrug... I kind of like that. Beyond indifference, to me it implies indecision and a general lack of initiative. A certain of laziness.

So why name my new project something stupid like the s-meh-dvin files? My love of bad puns led the way--I'm known to a lot of people as smedvin (first initial, last name). I'm also a overcritical son-of-a-bitch; a mass consumer of culture ranging from high-brow to low-brow to no-brow to eye-brow, and I have a tendency to let my opinions flow.

I like what I like and I have little time for the rest.*

Meh. What can I say?

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For a while after my last blog ran out of gas (for the second time) I had no desire to write or to spread my overbearing, underdeveloped opinions. I became a part of a couple of informal groups that passed around recommendations on what to read or listen to, and I expanded my menu of media consumption to fit a wider variety of sources, and I left my personal picks to the dregs of the many message boards I waste too much time with on a daily basis.

I got distracted with other things: mundane everyday necessities like keeping up at work and going back to school. It's easy to let something as therapeutic as venting to the unseen masses on the internet fall by the wayside.

But lately I've been feeling the need to open up the vent again. And frankly, if I'm going to be spending my time posting my thoughts on the internet, I'd prefer to do it in a forum such as this that I can moderate myself instead of on other people's message boards.

What am I going to write about? Well, whatever is striking my fancy at the moment. Politics, music, television, gossip, art, food, yada yada yada yada.

I hope you like it.

I hope I do to.

* In all actuality, I'm really quite open to new things.