Command Center

With Mari down in Atlanta, and I having gotten everything done yesterday that I need to accomplish this weekend. I settle in for a day of slothdom. What more could a bum need? Laptop on one side, phone, Wiimote, remotes, and cold beverage to the other.

Vinyl

And here it is, the celebrated album itself.

Heathern Rock

Heathern Haints headline.

Mood Music

Oh Barry, you so smooth.

Mega Deth

The opener was 84001, but I missed them. Brent reported they were pretty decent. Next came Taiwan Deth. Aptly named. They definitely murdered music.

Hainted House

Brian's band the Heathern Haints threw a Release Party to celebrate their first album coming out. It was at the Groove, a very cool indy music store.

DNC Makes His-Tor-Ry.

And finally, after an introductory video made by and narrated by Martin Scorsese no less, the main event. Barak Obama accepted the nomination and gave a speech that I am sure whatever the outcome of the election will be added to the list of famous speeches in history. It was that good. You know it was good because when it was over and they broke to the CNN commentators, who through the rest of the convention always had something snarky to say...every. single. one of them was either dead silent, or had nothing but gushing things to say. In fact one of the more critical ones (Republican David Gergen) even said "Wow, I feel sorry for whoever gets picked to be the Republican VP tomorrow." Now I know it's all in the moment, and the Republican convention will fire right back next week, taking some of the shine off. But damn, it was a good moment. Savor it.

DNC Does Denver 2

Al Gore gave a fantastic and charismatic speech of Bill Clinton caliber. Where was this guy when the Mr. Roboto version of him ran for president? Maybe like Jimmy Carter, his true calling wasn't the presidency, but what came after.

DNC Does Denver

The fourth, and final day of the DNC started with Bill Richardson. He addressed the trashing of the constitution, civil, and the bill of rights by George McCain, uh. I mean Bush.

The Power Of Words 4

But the real show stopper was earlier in the day, when Dennis Kucinich spoke. The little guy (who got my vote in the Democratic primary...see Hillary nuts? Its OK to move on), was fired up! You Tube his speech for more.

The Power Of Words 3

VP Joe Biden. Another great speech, but his son Beau stole a bit of the show. His introduction for his dad was excellent. I was also impressed that Beau is a soldier and is soon going to be deployed to Iraq. It reminded me of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" where he went to congress and asked congressmen who were willing to send soldiers to die, to sign their own children up for the army. None of them had kids in the military, and none of them would sign. Of course it was a publicity stunt for the movie, but it did make a point.

The Power Of Words 2

Then Bill Clinton. He is definitely still the master of charisma. I thought both Biden and Kerry's speeches had better content, but no one delivers like Bill. After Bill came the headliner....

The Power Of Words

Last night was strong at the DNC, starting with John Kerry.

The Scene

Ah, the South.

Talk Hard

Hillary Clinton capped off night two of the convention, and she came through. Very good speech despite my new political pet peeve. My peeve being the trend since Bill Clinton started it, to point out specific people in a quick series of examples (like "I remember the mother in Iowa who blah blah blah, and I remember the soldier in Pokipsi who blah blah, and I remember the struggling worker in Detroit who blah blah....and for them I do this.....".) Every damn speech on both sides has one of those segments in it now.

Denver Donkeys

The highlight of the Democratic Convention's first day, Edward "Ted" Kennedy. Word is Michelle Obama was very good as well but I didn't see her speech. Tivo did though, and I'm sure it will share later when I have time.

Made In China

The closing ceremony for the 2008 summer Olympics.

Dune Lynched

Mari and I watched the movie tonight, neither one of us had seen it. I knew it would be a hard book to translate into film, and I was right. If you hadn't read the book I'm not sure you would understand what was going on.

Eeevil

Starting a new game. 1 and 2 were classics, three not so much.

Mo' Mass

It's a Mass around here. Matt lives in Mass. Brent is visiting Mass. And I'm reading a Mass book based on the Mass game. Who knows what the Effect will be? Alright, I'm done. (Mass.)

The Scene

Nashville's condo boom.

No Limp Noodles

I was proven very wrong. Best meal I've had in a long time. I'll be taking Mari soon.

Sushi Me

Then he took me to Wild Wasabi across the street, a place I'd never heard of (though someone had probably mentioned it before and I just didn't file it.) They have an all you can eat sushi lunch for around 9 bucks. I was a little skeptical.

Glass Ceiling

I forgot my lunch today and it turned out to be a good thing. Brian needed to walk to the post office, so we thought we'd grab lunch after. Right next door is the famous Union Station Hotel. I mentioned I hadn't seen it the inside since they remodeled so we walked through. The new stained glass ceiling.

Fear Is The Mind Killer

As good as I was lead to believe. Easy to read yet hard to completely grasp. It might take a second reading or some online research. The hardest part really, will be taking Brent's advice and not picking up any of the sequels, which he says only diminish how good Dune is. Having seen things like Star Wars 1-3 and the Matrix 2-3, I'm inclined to take his word for it. So on to other worlds.

Books And Coffee

One of the best scents in the world. (Editor's Note: I guess I rushed this shot and started moving before it finished. That's supposed to be Barnes & Noble, where Mari and I spent a pleasant morning.)

Problem Child

She's damn lucky she's cute.

Gnawing Issues

Did this to the carpet (the corner wall is her work as well.)

Not So Evil Empire

We had the Empire guy come out this morning because a puppy who shall remain nameless...

Tumbling Down

I stumbled across this bit of art and it called to me for whatever reason. "Voices In My Head", artist unknown.

Streetscapes

Waiting to pick up Mari after work.

The Scene

Two pieces on the Titans.

Dune

At the promptings of Brent, and I believe Matt back in the day, I have finally gotten around to reading Sci-Fi's supreme masterpiece Dune. I know it's a supreme masterpiece because it says so right on the cover.

French Surrender Gold

We aren't really big swimming fans, but Mari and I both really got into the Freestyle Relay race tonight, it was the epitome of what makes the Olympics great. Not even knowing much about the sport and being that drawn into it. The French were heavily favored and had even told the press they would "destroy the Americans". And they were winning until Jason Lezak, the oldest mens swimmer, swam the race of his life and overcame what should have been an impossible French lead to win by the length of his fingertips.

More Olympics

We had plans to get a lot done today, but thanks to my foot flaring up, Mari tweaking her back, and Mystic managing to poke herself in the eye on something unknown bad enough we had to take her to the vet, we decided it best to just get groceries and stay home watching more of the Olympics. The highlight was Mr. Bush hanging out with the women's beach volleyball team. One of them turned to have him give the traditional pat on the butt, and he kind of awkwardly patted her on the back and stood there looking stupid. So no different than usual.

Olympics

 

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China opened today. What I saw of the ceremonies was pretty impressive, looks like they're going all out. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand China is still rife with all kinds of problems, on the other hand the Olympics was always supposed be above politics and about the world coming together.

Jazz

All the iterations of Jazz from left to right. What's that? Well yeah, of course I'm a geek.

The Scene

Why Bredesen should not be Obama's running mate.

Leaving... Now

This is what happens on a press night when a short staffed design department meets reps who wait until the last minute to get their ads in, with a dash of special insert thrown in.

Mass Effect

New game for the computin' machine.

Dark Knight

Good movie, little too long. As hyped Heath Ledger was excellent.

Saint Preserved Us

The peaches were ripening faster than we could eat them so Mari made jam.

Anatomy

Last bruise shot, I promise. The strange thing is this is my left leg and it doesn't hurt at all, not like my gimpy right ankle that looks much better (see previous post.)