The Change we Never Believed in

I'm handling the political news. Dragonrane has other news. As you can read here Obama has caved on the public option of his health care reform package. I never counted myself as a supporter of his ideas, but I have to admit I am a little disappointed in him for not pressing through with it.

This was a huge talking point of his and to see him give it up simply because its largely unpopular is disconcerting. If he gives in on things he seems to really believe in then what else could be cast aside as his term wears on? It brings to mind all sorts of questions of if he wants to be a popular president or a productive one and what's he going to do if he can't be both?

I have a few more thoughts, but I'll let others have a go first.

Hi

Hi everyone, yes, we're alive. Even me. I had some issues with Medicaid and pills and things, but I'm still here. I was in the comic store today and found something so odd I had to get it. Here's a photo I took.
















And the variant cover that I missed out on,

Barack the Barbarian. Am I the only one who thinks the hero worship of him is going a bit overboard?

I'm told the crying will stop in a year or two...or four

Eric Christopher Edmont was born Tuesday June 16th 2009. He's got toes and fingers and lungs that work and everything. Wow.
I would have updated sooner, but it feels like I've spent the last week rushing in circles and laying in awake in bed. Right now I should be leaving for work. So bye. The Swoosh doesn't sell itself.

That's something at least

Wal-Mart is going to be opening 150 new stores and creating around 22,000 new jobs in the process.

They're probably not jobs you would want, but at least that's something isn't it?

Evolving perspectives (revolving perspectives?)

(The following post was originally posted by Natalie on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 on the blog Outermost Village Green and is being reposted here with permission. She only got one answer there. We can do better can't we?)

"Looking out from the top of a high tenement, over the housetops of Manhattan, I can see a pale tower with its golden pinnacle gleaming though the soft morning haze; and for a moment all the harsh and ugly lines in the landscape have disappeared. So in looking at our utopias. We need not abandon the real world in order to enter these realizable worlds; for it is out of the first that the second are always coming. "
The Story of Utopias, Lewis Mumford
pg.29


I often struggle between all the things I see that are disappointing in this city, the grimy streets (oh so much more murky with the new slush), the broken down buildings, the trash. When I moved down here I was overwhelmed by it all, having spent so much time in the country (which would be my whole life previous). But as I learned to live here I got used to parts of it, even started to see past much of it, to other aspects of the city. Sometimes those broken old steps and gangly rod-iron messes can look rather beautiful, striking even. and sometimes not..
Anyway, this quote resonated with me because of my experiences here in the city. Having had such a harsh reaction to so many of what I considered the " disheartening" aspects of living here and yet still coming to a place of appreciation. I can draw from these reflections of what my life is here and undoubtedly use it, in my life to come. Which is something I would very much like to be communal in nature ( and involving many, many more trees). Everything comes from what was before right?

Now a question is just what is it that will or could make up each of our realizable worlds? How does community ideally manifest itself?
Food for thought.

Love to all of you,
Natalie

A very simple question

Okay, so I've jumped on the Facebook bandwagon and have refound some of the people we went to high school with. Our old buddy Ian Kilday is working for a company that designs some type of armor for troops in Iraq. Serena, a girl we knew and were friends with, is working for State Street in Boston. Natalie is working at an art gallery in New York. Wong is a teacher at Kennett.

Are we just losers or something? What exactly are we doing with ourselves?

I should be happy, but I'm not. Not at all.

There is an anime reboot of FullMetal Alchemist airing Japan. It began three weeks ago and if you go onto the Funimation website you can catch it with English subtitles. I am doing this right now.
FullMetal Alchemist is one of the best animes I've ever seen. The animation itself is topnotch, the story and concept is very original and compelling, and the characters are all realistic and relatively three dimensional.

I should be happy about a new FullMetal show. But I'm not. Why you ask?

Because we've already had a FullMetal Alchemist show! It had it's run, it was really cool, and we all loved it. We don't need a rehash of something we've already seen with the same characters doing nearly the exact same thing. I don't want something old remade, I want something new newly made.

This new show, as cool as it looks, and it does look really cool, is a clear example of something I've been complaining about for years. A faltering creativity in all forms of narrative media. We can't come up with new ideas so now as we're struggling we're simply getting to the point where we're remaking things we enjoyed before.
I liked FullMetal Alchemist the first time I saw it. I don't need to see it again.

I don't want something cool like FullMetal Alchemist, I want something as cool as FullMetal Alchemist.

Good times ahead!

Gentlemen! Behold! More Mute Math!

MUTEMATH - Spotlight

Lyrics too!

Ahhhhh aaaaahhh (2x)

You got a whole lot left to say now
You knocked all your wind out
You just tried too hard and you froze
I know I know

What do you say? (2x)

Just take the fall
You’re one of us
The spotlight is on

Ahhhhh aaaaahhh (2x)

Oh the spotlight is on

Ahhhhh aaaaahhh (2x)

You know the one thing you’re fighting to hold
Will be the one thing you’ve got to let go
And when you feel the wall cannot be burned
You’re gonna die to try what can’t be done
Gonna stay stay out but you don’t care
Now is there nothing like the inside of you anywhere

Oh just take the fall
You’re one of us
The spotlight is on

Ahhhhh aaaaahhh (2x)
Oh the spotlight is on
Ahhhhh aaaaahhh (2x)
Yeah it’s on

Because everyone would rather watch you fall (All and each other)
And we all are, yeah (All and each other)
And we all are, yeah (All and each other)
Just take a fall
You’re one of us

The spotlight is on!!
Ahhhhh aaaaahhh (2x)
Oh the spotlight is on!!
(Just take the fall)
Now you’re one of us
Now you’re, (oh) now you’re, (oh) now you’re, (oh) now you’re one of us
Now you’re, (oh) now you’re, (oh) now you’re one of us
Oh the spotlight is on
Ahhhhh aaaaahhh (2x)

Another Caravan Contest

We need something to do. Something stimulating that will get us thinking again and being our usual creative selves. We've been slacking in that department a lot recently. So, after thinking about what to do I realized that the last time we had some real fun around here was the Lord contest (Dorkout 07) from Dec. 07.
Rather than just have another strictly macho-fest I thought it'd be more interesting to use our brains and do something creative.
We're going to have a writer's competition. Here are the guidelines we have agreed to,

*Must be a new and original work. Cannot be something you wrote years ago and never showed anyone.
*Must be between 1,000 and 4,000 words. If you hit 4,100 you won't be disqualified, but try to keep it in the range please.
*Cannot be fan fiction of any sort. We're better than that.
*Must be a fiction piece. As interesting as some people can make hospital visits sound.....we've all heard them before.
*Contest will end 4/25 and all entries after will not be accepted.
*One entry per person.
*Winner will be picked up three judges, who will consist of whoever is more bored than we are.
*The prize the winner will get is....they will be the first to taste the new Snapple formula that the tv ads are bragging about. Or something else that the winner wants if they're not Snapple addicts like most of you are. I think it's a bit sad that's the only thing I could think up that you boys might want.

I'm hoping one of the judges we can get will be Nate's mom. She's been the editor of a city paper and has written whole novels that publishers say aren't bad, but not what they need. It'd be really exciting to have someone with that sort of experience as a judge. I don't know who else we can get. I'm looking into it.
To enter you will send me your story via email as an attachment then I'll post it on my new deviant art account. I'll post the link here and that will be that.
Look forward to reading everyone's! Good luck!

What's your mantra?

Web surfing last night I found a site all about television tropes. It's like wikipedia only with devices that writers use on tv, movies, and in other media.

I found a real funny one that you can check out here. It reminded me a lot of Nate and Rich's place with all those weird home made posters they put up.

If you wanted to create your own room full of crazy what would you write over and over on the walls?

I would write, "Oh god, help me with the ketchup."

Creepy stalkers are creepy, not romantic

Last night mom took Martina for the night. Shawn and I had everyone over and Kate decided she wanted a movie. Nate was late and we figured he was home sitting in front of his laptop or talking to Snowy so Kate left him a message to come over and pick up a movie. We didn't feel like watching anything in particular so she told him to just grab something.

He came over with Twilight. (For our play by play thoughts on the movie click on our Myspace page link below to the right and then go to the blog named, "Never send a masochist to do a hedonist's job.")

The main character, Bella, is a complete moron. It becomes fairly obvious fairly quickly that Edward, the teen vampire super hunk, is not quite right. Even when she realizes he's a vampire she should still think that some of the things he does are creepy, but she doesn't.

When people are arriving to school he'll stand by his car and just stare at her. He says things like, "I feel like I have to protect you." She goes out shopping with friends and when guys start harassing her he'll suddenly show up out of nowhere and save her and then as they're driving off say, "talk to me. It'll distract me from wanting to go back and rip their heads off!" She'll wake up in the night and see him standing in her room watching her sleep. And the real sketchy one. He says, "I don't think I have the strength to stay away from you." She replies, "then don't."

This is all before it's been made clear he's a vampire. Things only get weirder after the big reveal.

I haven't read the books, maybe me, Alice, or Kate can take a page from Nate's playbook and hate ourselves enough to do that. I can only imagine how weird the books are. It's a fantasy I know, but I can't imagine what kind of damage it does to teen girls minds. Having a stalker vampire, or any boy for that matter, telling you he doesn't have the strength to stay away from you is creepy. Not romantic.

It's April. Do we want to starve again?

Tomorrow is going to be April 1. As we've done for the last two years it's time once again to go without the internet all month. It may be much harder this though. Where we're more scattered this year and trying to avoid long distance calling, the internet provides us with a safer, cheaper way to stay in touch.

I'm willing to try it this year, but I think we don't have anything to prove. My vote is no. What about you guys?

I like the world today...

So everybody it's once again time to explain song lyrics to Boykind and why the song is popular. I have a feeling I already know the answer, but I'd like someone to say it anyway.

Now that I have a daughter I'm probably going to be giving myself many a more headache over these types of songs that don't yield anything constructive to minors.

Anyway, explain this

Lady Gaga, Just Dance

I've had a little bit too much, much
All of the people start to rush, start to rush by
A dizzy twisted dance, can't find my drink, oh man
Where are my keys? I lost my phone, phone

What's going on on the floor?
I love this record baby but I can't see straight anymore
Keep it cool, what's the name of this club?
I can't remember but it's alright, a-alright

Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance
Dance, dance, just, j-j-just dance

Wish I could shut my playboy mouth, oh oh oh-oh
How'd I turn my shirt inside out? Inside outright
Control your poison babe, roses have thorns they say
And we're all getting hosed tonight, oh oh oh-oh

What's going on on the floor?
I love this record baby but I can't see straight anymore
Keep it cool, what's the name of this club?
I can't remember but it's alright, a-alright

Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance
Dance, dance, just, j-j-just

When I come through on the dance floor checkin' out that catalog
Can't believe my eyes, so many women without a flaw
And I ain't gon' give it up, steady tryin' to pick it up like a car
I'ma hit it, I'ma hit it and flex and do it until tomorr' yeah

Shawty I can see that you got so much energy
The way you're twirlin' up them hips 'round and 'round
And now there's no reason at all why you can't leave here with me
In the meantime stay and let me watch you break it down

And dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm

Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance
Dance, dance, just, j-j-just dance

Woo! Let's go!

Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic
Got my blueprint, it's symphonic
Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic
Got my blueprint electronic

Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic
Got my blueprint, it's symphonic
Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic
Got my blueprint electronic

Go! Use your muscle, carve it out, work it, hustle
I got it, just stay close enough to get it
Don't slow! Drive it, clean it, Lysol, bleed it
Spend the last dough
(I got it)
In your pocko
(I got it)

Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm

Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance
Dance, dance, just, j-j-just dance

What's your story?

When I was little my mother would tell me bedtime stories. I was tucking Martina in recently when it dawned on me that it'll be time for me to carry on the bedtime story tradition sooner than I think.
I've started thinking up plots and characters and trying to maybe come up with ways to sneak morals and life lessons in.

My story would be set in Setara, a land of many kingdoms, where the peace is threatened by an evil warlock from the frozen north. The main hero would be Princess Jesara, who would travel the land on her runner dragon with her cousin Jermos as they struggled to unite the land against the common enemy. They would fight zombies, trolls, and all manners of things while meeting people that would wind up traveling with them. These people they meet and befriend may closely resemble you guys.

So what's your story?

Byzantium

James and I were discussing how he and I have become "Caravan West." James has as little problem with this as he does with anything, but I, however, take some issue with it.

On our very Myspace page James is listed as the founding member and often I heard Rich refer to him as the "Spirit of the Caravan." Why then are he, Sue, and I not the Caravan of Insanity and the rest "Caravan East?"

As the founding member shouldn't the name be carried with him?

I'm sorry but this guy bugs me

I tried. I did. You all know I did.

I can't find it in me to like Obama. All that talk of hope just doesn't reach me. I've never been one to believe in people, perhaps that's why I can't believe in him. I just find myself wanting to laugh when he talks about his plans and ideas.

They sound like they'd all work on paper, but in the real world things fall apart. In the real world ideas don't move mountains. Ideas don't fix things. I don't think he's going to realize that before it goes wrong. I don't think he's going to see the truth.

And the truth is that ideas don't work because people don't want them to work. People will stand and cheer and applaud you, yes, but secretly they don't want to see you succeed. Deep down people want to rip you down and tear you apart because they want to show you that you're just like them. They want to show you that despite all your talk and bravado you're just as weak and sad as they are.

The Training, The Prayers, The Fight Club?

Out here we're starting the training of the next generation of Caravaners. I've got Ben and his friend Max, Nine Tails and Maximum respectively, slowly learning how to develop and perform bits, how to be Caravan cool, and of course to up hold the standards and practices of all the is Caravan.

However, I hit a road block. I was explaining something and I said, "But that's like talking about Fight Club, it's just not done." They then asked what Fight Club was and why it was bad to talk about it. It hit me that they haven't seen Fight Club and that as ten year olds perhaps they shouldn't see Fight Club.

But I want to sit down and watch Fight Club with them! That movie is beyond awesome and we all saw what it did for Nate. It gives us so much and asks for so little in return. It would be wrong to withhold such a film from them simply because they're too young.

My question, should I rent Fight Club and watch it with them or should I try to explain the concepts in the movie without the violent visual aides? It's not that bad is it? We watched far worse when we were younger than them didn't we? I can't think of anything right now, but I must have. Well?