The Faces of Meth

Here is a collection of pics of what meth does to people.
The before picture kinda looks like Stephen Malkmus and the after looks like he's been sleeping on the pavement so it kinda fits.
Did you smoke the meth or rub it in your eyes?
7 months later and an adams apple that has grown 7 times its original size.
It's sad, really.
Thanks for putting a band-aid on otherwise you would have looked pretty repulsive.

I think this guy actually looks a bit better in the after pic. Well he looks scared instead of angry. Actually upon looking at it for a while I don't think its the same person.
I love what you've done with your hair.

This pic is my favorite. The guy looks like the same low budget mother fucker in both pictures he just looks likes he's spent a year in a cabin in the woods.
I find this one strange. It looks like his facial hair hasn't changed at all.
Bored with his mundane existence a sub-par cop turns his life around and becomes an extreme drug addict. Coming this fall a police drama that breaks all the rules. CRYSTAL NIGHTS. check local listings.

One thing is clear about the effects of meth. It fucks up your skin and takes away the part of your brain that makes "hairstyle" decisions.

Computers: Those Amazing Machines 1985 Gallery

I was at a thrift store today and I picked this book up for 13 cents. It was originally 25 cents and everything was 50% off ( but they rounded up, what a rip off).

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This fella likes to take his laptop where ever he goes, he even has a solar panel attachment to keep the power flowing. The lappy features a large display for all your ascii needs and at a lightweight 25 lbs you can take word processing anywhere you go. No need for a pad and pen when you're living in the future.

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I don't know about you but if I were to build a robot it's primary function would be watering plants too. I mean who can think of another task that is so difficult and tedious.

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This here is the Lucas Film crew in 1985 they are using 9 computers to calculate how long it will take before George Lucas destroys the Star Wars franchise. The Answer: under 20 years

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Speaking of Star Wars, does anyone remember this gem?

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Herbie Hancock demonstrates an instrument that he says will replace the guitar by 1991.

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Robot art, the legend continues.

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This has to be my favorite photo that I've seen in a long time. On the right is the robotic version of a seeing eye dog. It looks like it could be a promo pic from an old John Woo movie. "A Blinder tomorrow"

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This machine reads books to blind people. Pretty cool its the size of a washing machine and costs $22 million dollars. Books on tape? fuck em! We're living in the future.

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The worst thing about buying a spider droid from a Jawa after a long day on the moisture farm is moving it around. Not to worry this one climbs easily into the back of your el camino.

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After sorting out his comb-over Bob gets to work at a simpler task of organizing the wires.

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This place is called Xanadu The house of the future.

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In 1985 I was 7 years old. These kids look to be about that age and let me tell you if I had known them at the time I would have hated their guts. My family got our first TV when I was 5 and it was black and white. Also when I was in Elementary school there was 5 computers for our whole school and they were commodore 64's. These little bastards have 2 TV's in their room alone and a computer not to mention that they live in Xanadu the house of the future.

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by the looks of things the prissy, tie wearing, $4 haircut having, motherfucker is about to take a harsh beating from the other kids.

As long as we've got each other

The other night on Larry King live there was a "Growing Pains Reunion". I was watching it during the commercials of something else (I swear). I'm always interested in these situations to see how the actors justify their current career without admitting to the fact that they're golden days of stardom are long in the past.

As they were going around the table asking everyone what they were up to I couldn't wait for it to get to Jeremy Miller (who played Ben Seaver). This guy disappeared! I mean he vanished faster than a lazy roommate when its time to clean the kitchen. So he says he's been doing acting work in China. But here's the disturbing part Growing Pains is apparently huge in China due to the fact that they only ever have 2 American shows playing there at one time.

According to Alan Thicke in the 80's the only 2 American shows were Growing Pains and Hunter (if you remember Hunter its even stranger that it was the only other show to play). To compound all of this they said that in China they don't think of Growing Pains as a comedy. They take is as a serious show which teaches life lessons etc. The show did have a fair bit of veiled preachyness but what I find disturbing is that there may be a generation of Chinese people who think that growing pains is an accurate representation of the average American family. I mean if that's the only window they were given into the American life its quite possible.

I am also trying to imagine a situation where all the Chinese government officials were sitting around picking through all the 80s sitcoms for one that would be acceptable.

Full House - Possible homosexual undertones OUT
Cheers - Promotes lavish and excessive western gluttony OUT
Perfect Strangers - Balki???????? OUT
Family Ties - Alex P. Keaton is an obvious capitalist OUT
Alf - Family harbors alien but doesn't report it OUT
The Cosby Show - Family with 4 daughters?? OUT
Night Court - Democratic justice system OUT
Growing Pains - Father works from home, Mother is professional, 3 kids, morally wholesome, Mikes best friend's name is Boner IN

Really Bad Tattoos Part 3

In my opinion a celebrity tattoo is probably never a good idea, but some are exceptionally bad.

* I'm not going to criticize someone for being a fan of Weird Al but don't you think a T-shirt would suffice?

* I think that the Celine Dion tattoo must have been drawn from memory or something because it barely resembles her.

* Lastly to the person with the Kevin tattoo: Do you realize that you are a super fan of a band that is directed towards 12 year olds and I think they even broke up about 5 years ago. In 20 years people will just assume it's a tattoo of some creepy dude you used to date.

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Continuing with the celebrity worship but with a twist.

* Anchorman was an OK movie but definitely not amazing is it really worth this amount of devotion?

* The Mariah Carey Tattoo doesn't even look like the original picture and for some unknown reason they have added things to it.

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And in the most bizarre case of celebrity worship... For some fucking reason this person got a tattoo of Angelina Jolie's adopted son Maddox. This completely boggles my mind. Has celebrity obsession actually reached this point? I guess it has. What the fuck has happened to the world.

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Do people not realize how short sighted it is to get technology related tattoos.

* I bet the DVD guy has a VHS tattoo on his other leg, a BETAMAX tattoo on one arm and LASERDISC on the other.

* Martha Stewart served what was it a 6 month prison term? Good thing you decided to get a tattoo so the world would never forget how much suffering the billionaire went through in a minimum security prison. You're right it really was a grave human rights tragedy. Hey have you ever heard of Nelson Mandela? Oh OK I didn't think so.

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I like to imagine 2 different scenarios relating to Mr. Cool Ice:

1. His friends made up the name purely as a joke and mockingly called him Mr. Cool Ice.

or

2. He came up with the name himself, No one actually calls him that but he constantly refers to himself as Mr. Cool Ice.

both are hilarious in their own right.

check out:
Really Bad Tattoos Part 1
Really Bad Tattoos Part 2
Really Bad Tattoos Part 4
Really Bad Tattoos Part 5
Really Bad Tattoos Part 6
Really Bad Tattoos Part 7
Really Bad Tattoos Part 8

Idol worship (American style)

American Idol is back and as great as ever. For those of you who haven't read all the posts on this site I will have to do a recap on a few points. For me American Idol would be what most people call a guilty pleasure except I think that the concept of guilty pleasures is bullshit and I'm not going to let anyone dictate how I should or shouldn't feel about things (and in this case pop music).

To re-iterate my points on pop music: You can only really hate pop music if you are confused by its motivations. But lets get it straight pop music is nothing but candy. It's overtly sugary, it offers no sustenance and too much of it will make you feel sick. It's unfair to complain about pop music by comparing to other forms of music because that's like comparing a healthy and substantial meal to a bag of lollipops and pixie sticks. Pop music has its place in the musical landscape but you cant live on it because you are in danger of dying of malnutrition.

Now that those points have been reinforced onto American Idol. I am a huge fan of music (all art really) and I think what I am drawn to primarily is truth and honesty. A lot of people tend to think that pop music and specifically American Idol have no merit and lack any type of credibility. But In the musical spectrum some people aren't meant to be songwriters. They are best suited as a singer/performer of songs. And just because someone doesn't write a song themselves doesn't mean that they are incapable of performing with powerful conviction and/or emotion. The singers that are truly great take the time to find something they can relate to in a piece and sing it sincere emotion. When a good singer sings a good song you can feel it. And although there are usually only a few truly amazing moments or songs per season of American Idol when it happens it is a great thing to see.

Ignoring the musical aspect of the show American Idol is completely in step with modern society. We live in immediate times where we want everything now! now! now! And generally don't care if it is disposable and forgettable. In this situation we want the product before it exists. This isn't a case where the end justifies the means. The means justify the means. Being a fan of the show doesn't mean that I would ever in a million years buy a CD from any of the contestants (or even be able to recall the names of anyone lower than the top 3 from the year previous). This doesn't even matter though. The album sales are nowhere near the millions and millions who watch the show but as I stated above we are buying the process not the product (and they make enough money on the show that they really couldn't care less if the artist is successful afterwards or not). Its like that show on the discovery channel where you see how stuff is made in a factory. No one (well almost no one) is running out and buying the stuff they see made at the end of the show but watching how it goes from raw goods to the store shelf is the fascinating part.

I just want to add that I predict at this early point that Paris Bennett will be in the top 12

Devolutionary thoughts

About 20% of the world lives on less than $1 a day and about 50% live on less than $2 a day. The gross domestic product of the poorest 48 nations is less than the wealth of the worlds 3 richest people.

These are the types of stats that many of us have seen before and yes it is staggering to see how imbalanced the world is but the more I think about it the more I wonder what implications this has in the grand scheme of things.

From an evolutionary stand-point we (the western world) are doomed if a major catastrophe should happen to us (be this major weather events, or full on climate change due to global warming, or severe depletion of natural resources and/or fuel/energy sources etc etc.)

We live with unprecedented creature comforts and if you look at how our world has changed in the past 100 years (and again how much it has changed in just the last 10 years) you can imagine the vast differences there will be in in just a few generations down the line. If by some major disaster (as stated above) everything we know was turned on its head and we were forced to revert to basic survival how many of us would be able to make it? I can't imagine myself doing too well.

By contrast if you have made it to adult-hood in an area where it is not uncommon for children to die before their 5th birthday there is a good chance that you are among the strongest in the gene pool. And with that process (sadly) repeating itself for many many years the ones who have made it are surely destined to share genes with future generations. More so than the 400 pounder in Houston sitting on the couch eating Doritos watching the Jerry Springer show.

In terms of natural selection the strong survive. In our culture everyone (with very few exceptions) survives. But this is only because we have figured out a way to stave off the forces of nature and other elements for the time being. I don't however think this is a permanent fix. In the end nature (the planet) will always win. In general we don't give the planet enough credit and are seemingly more worried about the environment than our place in the environment. Sure we should be respectful of the planet but it is arrogant of us to think that anything we do will really affect this earth (in the long run, which is in fact a very very very long run. The earth is about 4.55 billion years old we aren't even a footnote). Have you ever seen a parking lot that has been forgotten about for say 5 years? Its faded, warped, worn out and there are all sorts of plants growing through the cracks. That's what nature can do in 5 years. If we were wiped off this planet the world would make short work of all the crap we left behind.

I guess my point is that while we are moving at light speeds (technologically) we are most likely devolving in terms of basic survival skills. Come the next ice age I don't think anyone will be looking for a php programmer (no offence to any php programmers just the first example that came to mind).

This makes me think back to when we had that blackout (August 2003) which lasted a day or two. What if all the electricity went out and the powers that be said "That's it! The powers gone! and its never coming back! Sorry there's no more and there never will be! We ran out! We didn't want to worry you by telling you earlier!"

Seriously if that happened where do you think you and everyone you knew would be now (two and a half years later in the dead of winter). I can bet you where the guy who lives on less than a dollar a day would be (the exact same spot regardless).

Digital Vinyl

Saddle Creek and Merge records (home of some of the best indie rock going today) are offering free MP3 downloads of any albums that their customers buy on vinyl. It is refreshing to see an idea like this when all we see from the majors are lawsuits and threats to the customers. The indie's realize that it is best to keep your customer happy and offer them what they want.

If history has taught us anything it's that you can't win a battle against technology. Things change and if you are in business you must be able to adapt to new changes as they come along or you will be ruined. There was a time when record companies (such as Brunswick) stamped "Not for radio play" on their records because they feared it would harm sheet music sales. How's the sheet music industry doing these days?

The other day I watched a DVD and the first thing on it was a big warning saying that buying pirated DVD's was the same as stealing. But they didn't seem to do anything when this day was clearly coming. I remember saying just as music downloads were really starting to take off (the late 90's) that it will be very soon when the same thing is happening with movies. I think the next 10 years will show a major shift in companies that have technological foresight vs. the ones who have been doing things the same way for decades. The world is a very different place than it was even 10 years ago. With a home computer and few extras people can record their own albums and edit their own movies and the quality is damn good. Plus with the internet connecting people like never before, modern word of mouth spreads like wild fire.

Golf shoes and the path to the Lord.

I was in the Goodwill today as I often am and just as I was about to leave an older woman sitting on a chair trying on shoes says to me "Golf shoes are really comfortable" she proceeds to take off a shoe and says to me look at all the padding in this thing. I just smile and say "nice" she goes on to say that she walks a lot and they are the most comfortable shoes. I thought our conversation was over there but no there was more. Just as I was stepping to leave she asks "Do you have any New Years resolutions?" At this point I figure she may just want someone to talk to so I'll play along. I say I do not. She says her New Years resolution is the Learn the Language of Love. I'm thinking wow this is becoming quite an interesting dialog. She says "Feeling love is different than knowing the language and being able to communicate it to others also that her friend has a cassette titled the language of love but that you probably need a video to learn it". She also says I can have that resolution and proceeds to try to think of some others I can have. I half wished that I had just said I wanted to start eating healthier. She says her last years resolution was Wisdom and she goes on to stumble over a bible verse to do with Solomon. At this point I knew where the conversation was heading, the next question was.... "Are you Christian?". I never really know how to answer these questions. I pause and say "No I'm nothing, I was raised with nothing". She mishears me and asks "You're Muslim?" I say "No I'm nothing I don't follow any religion". She goes on to tell me about the 2 different churches that she goes to and that I should come by. She then asks where I grew up and I say "On the West Side" she says she did too and tells me the street she grew up on and surprisingly I grew up on the street right next to her's. I tell her this and she says "oh yeah, that new street" I found this humorous because the house I grew up in is at least 50 years old. The conversation went on a bit longer and she dropped the church thing a few more times. Saying it must be hard to step into a church if your not part of one but she said "The door swings both ways". I'm not exactly sure what that means does that mean that its easy to walk into a church but then if you don't like what's going on inside its just as easy to get the hell out of there. At this point I figured I had better get out of there before the "faith" questions become more pressing. I told her I had to get going so she shook my hand and told me here name and again said that I should come to the church on Sunday. I said "Maybe I will" but doesn't maybe mean no the majority of the time. I think it does.

King Kong (the new one and the old one)

I should state a few things off the bat for those of you who don't know me or haven't read all the posts on this site.

I was not a very big fan of the Lord of the Rings movies.They were ok but I certainly wasn't blown away by them and I certainly don't think any of them should be in the top 25 movies of all time

I am also not a very big fan of CGI For the most part scenery looks ok these days but I really dislike it when characters and "living things" are computer generated.

Before watching the new King Kong I decided to watch the original. As we all know the original is regarded as one of the greatest films in history, but I have to say that it really doesn't stand the test of time. I realize that I watched it for the first time in 2005 (72 years after it was made). But this brings me to an idea that my brother introduced me to. For films there are "classics" and "timeless classics". King Kong is certainly a classic (the film was revolutionary in its day) but it isn't a timeless classic. I honestly found parts of it extremely hard to get through. In comparison there are many films from the same period that are still amazing and relevant today. But that's an argument for another time.

The 2005 remake was pretty good. It was nice to see Jackson put his own spin on the original he even added a few clever elements to the script in reference to the original. King Kong actually looks O.K. for a character created with CGI, much better than Golem or anything from Star Wars parts 1-3. There are however a few things that I take issue with.
* The CGI dinosaurs look like a bag of shit, they look no better than the ones in Jurrassic park which was made in 1993.
* Jack Black although a great comedy actor is not very good in a serious role (at least not this one).
* I'm no animal expert but I don't think a giant gorilla would ever stand a chance in a fight against 3 Tyrannosaurus Rex's no matter how "in love" he was.
*I was kind of annoyed by the way that Ann Darrow "fell" for King Kong and had genuine feelings for him. By Contrast it was almost comical that in the original she felt nothing for him and didn't even care when he was killed. But I guess those were the days before the idea of Stockholm syndrome was popularized.

There is a scene in the new one that takes place in a cavern with a bunch of giant bugs and it is one of the creepiest things I've seen in a film in a long time.

Apparently the original King Kong is Peter Jackson's favorite movie of all time and it is what inspired him to get into film making. I like to think that Jackson was driven to make this film because he considers himself to be the King Kong character. If the ladies could only see past his simian appearance they would actually love him.

Tiger in pictures

Over the holidays (on Christmas day to be exact) My families cat "Tiger" died. He was between 12 and 15 (we arent exactly sure). He was a good cat so I dug up a few photos.

a couple of norms and a couple of double exposures.