wildyams

I've been wanting to write something about cat people for a while now, but haven't for fear of being lynched by a herd of all the cat people I know. I want all of you close cat people friends of mine to know, I hold no ill will to you guys at all, and I don't look down on you or think you're losers (at least not for being cat people, I might look down on you or think you're losers for something else though :lol), so please don't string me up for this post. The thrust of my post here is this: why? What makes a cat person the way they are? Where does the intensity of your feelings for cats come from? What is it that pushes interest over into infatuation, obsession, or in some cases insanity?

Let me be clear, I can understand having a close bond with your own cat (or even more general, with your pet), but cat people have this almost manic reaction to all cats in general. I've been told that dog people are the same, and to be honest I don't have any idea if that's right. I've never seen anyone get crazy over a dog before like how cat people get over cats, but that could very well be because I've just never met any dog people. Those people that enter their dogs in contest sure look pretty nuts to me, so I know they're out there, but either they're not as prevalent, or I've just never been around one before. Actually, I take that back. I dated a girl once who was pretty intense about her dogs (she had 4), but then again she had 7 cats and she owned a pet-sitting business, so maybe she's an exception.

I myself have never been a big pet person. I grew up with 2 cats in the house and we had at one point for about a year or two 3 dogs when I was a kid. When I was in college I got one snake, then sold it and got another one, and also got a scorpion at one point, but it didn't last more than a couple months, but that's pretty much been it for me with pets. I haven't had a pet since my last snake died about 10 years ago. I do like pets, and have fun petting or playing with cats and dogs if I'm around them, but I definitely don't lose my mind over the sight of them. As I said, I do understand people having a strong attachment to their pet. What I'm mostly curious about, is (and I know I'm making a generalization here) why are cat people so much intense in their feelings towards cats than other pet owners seem to be about their species of pet?

Keep in mind that I'm not saying that everyone who is a cat owner is a "cat person", just like everyone who watches Star Trek is not a "Trekkie". Also, please keep in mind I'm really not condemning people for being this way, I really am not looking to hold anyone up to ridicule or anything like that. I am genuinely looking for some kind of explanation about what it is about cats that makes some people have such an intense reaction to them? I'm just very curious about things that inspire fanaticism. Why do people go more crazy for cats or Star Trek or Morrissey or Apple computers or whatever than the fans of the alternatives do?

When I was maybe a junior in high school I had the good fortune of seeing Skinny Puppy play live at the Hollywood Palladium with Dave, my good friend Darin, and the guys from Fear Factory. I say I had the good fortune not just because they are a fantastic band, but because up till that point I'd never listened to them before. I'd heard of them, but back then the only band I listened to that was not metal, speed metal or death metal wsa Godflesh, and that was mainly because one of the two members of that band (Justin) was a founding member of Napalm Death, one of my favorite bands at the time.

Anyway, I went to see Skinny Puppy simply because Godflesh was opening for them, and since I wanted to see Godflesh, we figured we'd stick around for Skinny Puppy (the guys from Fear Factory were there mainly to see Skinny Puppy; we were clearly in the extreme minority of people there that night to only see Godflesh). Even though I didn't know anything by Skinny Puppy, and wasn't even into that kind of music at the time, I was impressed by their show. Dave was more impressed, and he went right out and bought the album they were touring to support, "Last Rights" (I later followed Dave's lead and bought a bunch of their albums as well).

One of the things that Dave and I both thought was odd about "Last Rights" was that the band seemed to have put the track starting points all about 40 seconds into the song, so if you skipped to a song it would already been well into it. Because Skinny Puppy is so experimental, we just figured they were being weird and tinkering with the CD format (other bands were into doing weird stuff like this too, with Nine Inch Nails releasing the EP "Broken" with 8 songs on it, but 99 tracks, which was the most allowable on a CD, where after the 6th song, the CD had 91 straight blank tracks before getting to tracks 98 and 99, which were the last two songs on the CD).

On a CD putting the track points at weird places like that didn't matter too much as long as you were playing straight through, since there were no gaps at where the track points were; but now having put my entire music collection into mp3 format, it was annoying as there is a one second gap at each track point. I got annoyed by this and went in and used SoundEdit to re-do all the trackpoints so that it would play properly in mp3 format, Skinny Puppy's weird stylistic choice be damned. However, I learned yesterday that the weird track points was not a stylistic choice at all, and was in fact a mistake on the first pressing of the CD. The reason for the mistake was that apparently they were going to include a 40 second clip of Timothy Leary speaking, which he had agreed to, but which his agent (or whomever) nixed at the last minute; so when they yanked that audio, it screwed up the track points and it threw them all off. Skinny Puppy later re-released the album with a sticker on it that said "Quality Control by Skinny Puppy" which had the fixed track points. Anyway, being someone who does quality control for a living, and being a big Skinny Puppy fan, I thought this was an interesting tale, so I thought I'd recount it here.

I don't have much new news to report, but it's been a few days since my last entry, so here goes. On Friday Dave and I both procured tickets to go see Nine Inch Nails perform down in San Diego at a general admission show there on May 30th. NIN is one of my all-time favorite bands, and seeing as I have only seen them once about a decade ago at a big arena in Colorado, this should be a nice treat. It will also be nicely timed as the new album will have been out for almost a month at that time, so I should be well acquainted with the new songs when we see them. Friday night Dave and I went to dinner at Crown City Brewery, and then later played a couple quick games of Halo 2 against each other while we tried to figure out how to make copies of DVDs without buying an expensive program to do so (we were unsuccessful).

Sunday night I ordered pizza from Pizza Hut, and that turned out to be a mistake as I was up most of the night with, uh, stomach problems (to put it delicately), so I ended up taking yesterday off from work. My stomach issues were gone by last night though, so I'm back at the office today. I hadn't had Pizza Hut in a while, so I'm thinking I should probably just avoid them in the future. Better safe than sorry.

Technically Jon doesn't turn 30 till Friday, but he came down from Mammoth a couple days ago and tonight a bunch of us all got together out at Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach to say hello and to get him hella drunk. I can safely say that we accomplished both of those things. Jon's been living up in Mammoth working as a snowboard instructor, and is sporting a bleached mohawk and working on qualifying for his level 3 instructor credentials (it's quite an achievement, evidently).

When he left to go up there back around my birthday, he wasn't really sure what his plans were gonna be beyond this ski season, but he said he was gonna take the winter and figure it out. Well, apparently he's figured it out, as he basically plans to travel a lot after he leaves Mammoth in late June. Between then and around the end of September, he said he plans to go to Chicago a couple times, come down here to LA a few times, go to Europe, go to Australia and New Zealand, go to Hawaii and go to South America. Then after all that he plans to rotate back here to LA for a bit, then head back up to Mammoth again for next winter's season. This means he's not going to be an LA resident again until May/June of 2006 at the earliest. I've been missing Jon, so that means I'm gonna miss him some more, but he does plan to take trips down here, so I will get to see him (I hope). Anyway, he does seem extremely happy, so I'm very happy for him.

Towards the end of the night, after he was well on his way to being three sheets to the wind, he decided that he and I should attempt to call the number I had got a long time ago for one of our old college friends, Collin Terrell. So Jon got out his cell and called Collin (whom we haven't either of us spoken to since 1997) and from what Jon said Collin answered the phone by saying "What's up, Chicago." Which is truly remarkable if you ask me, being that Jon is, of course, from Chicago. Collin was leaving one nudie bar and heading to another one, so we just briefly chatted with him, but we all agreed to talk more later, and Jon and I may make a trek up to Portland to see him at some point this summer. Who knows.

After that, Jon insisted I buy him a shot for his birthday, so I asked him what to get him and he said "anything you want." Now, I don't drink, and never have, so I don't know what the hell a good shot is. In fact, the only ones I've ever heard of that have stuck in my head were the ones that were supposedly notoriously bad (cement mixers, 151, praire fires, etc...), so I told Jon I was gonna get him a shot of 151. He was drunk as a lord, so he said sure, so off to the barkeep I went and ordered it. I brought it back, and clearly this was a serious shot I ordered, because everyone wanted to have a look (and a smell) before Jon drank it, so it got passed around before settling back in Jon's hands. Jon seemed very confident and just slammed it back, then told me in a hoarsey whisper "thanks man." He seemed to take it ok though, although about 2 minutes later he kinda fell off the short stool he was sitting on when some girl held up a lighter and asked him to breathe on it to see if he'd make a fireball :lol

Shortly after that, most of us left, but it was a great time tonight, and it was even worth sitting in mad traffic for about an hour and 45 minutes to get there. Happy early 30th, big guy. I hope you're not too wrecked tomorrow :grin

"Beware the ides of march" - soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar

Seems like I'm making a lot of birthday entries lately, but that's what happens where there's a lot of birthdays. Today is John's 33rd birthday, so hopefully it's a good one for him. Here's a pic from his birthday lunch a couple years ago which we all enjoyed:

Happy Birthday John :grin

Tonight was another round of "let's get drunk on the company's dime", this time presumably either to celebrate the fact that we are all getting bonuses cause we slaved for the company and it paid off, or just to thank us for slaving for the company. Either way the crew met up at Dalt's for "Happy Hour" and it was an entertaining experience, as all the company outings are when free booze is involved. Naturally I stayed sober (seeing as I don't drink), so naturally I observed a lot of free drunk entertainment. However, as Pao-Pao said, "what happens at Dalt's, stays at Dalt's" so I'm not gonna launch into the juicy details of all that transpired. Let's just say it was a good time all around (although judging by the amount of alcohol consumed, for some it may not be worth it in the morning), and it looked like most everyone had a good time :grin

In honor of it being Thursday and St. Patty's Day, here are some quotes from Mike Tyson:

"I want to throw down your kid and stomp on his testicles, and then you will know what it is like to experience waking up everyday as me. And only then will you feel my pain."

"I'll fight any man, any animal, if Jesus were here I'd fight him too."

"If you can control your fear, it makes you more alert, like a deer coming across the lawn."

"I want to kill people. I want to rip their stomachs out and eat their children."

"I come across like a Neanderthal or a babbling idiot at times. But I like to be that person."

"I guess I'm gonna fade into Bolivian."

I don't know how many times you've celebrated this, but Happy 29th Birthday Amy! Since your birthday falls on a Friday, I guess you can really cut loose and party:

At least you'll have the weekend to recover :grin

In the same vein as the age old debate (featured in Stand By Me) of whether Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman, comes a new one (courtesy of Fark): Can a light saber cut through adamantium?

VS.

Discuss :grin

Ok, so I have to admit, I actually have had excitement building for the next Star Wars movie, in spite of myself. The trailer, the page with all the framegrabs I saw, and the rumor that the movie is going to be PG-13 made me think that maybe, just maybe, it could be good. However, after reading this article, that's pretty much all gone. What's about the worst thing you could hear George Lucas say about Episode 3? How's about him saying it's gonna be "Titanic in space." WTF? If that doesn't kill your interest, then how about this quote: “Obviously, fans would love to see a movie about Darth Vader running around killing people. I’m not telling that story, and I’m not interested in that. That’s not what the movie is." Why the fuck not, George?! If you want to make movies that are "tearjerkers" and love stories and whatnot, go make them (you own your own studio, what's stopping you?). But why the hell do you have to trash the Star Wars franchise in the process? If you don't want to make Star Wars movies anymore, simply hire somebody else to make them for you. They'll be just as successful (if not, moreso), and then you can spend your time making whatever the hell you want to make. Naturally I'm gonna go see Episode 3 when it comes out, if for no other reason than to just see the spectacle of the crowd and whatnot, but it really would be nice if the movie didn't just blow.

Whoa, I just got home and got this email saying that one of my best childhood friends, Chris Giambelluca (aka "Cella") is gonna be playing on Late Night With Conan O'Brien with John Doe on March 31st. I've already got it programmed into my Tivo, and I'll put the video up as soon as it happens. Way to go, Chris! :grin

Just FYI, The Ring Two is a piece of shit :nono

A couple weeks ago I was in the mood to see LA Confidential, so I went to look through my DVDs when I realized I didn't own it. I was a little surprised I'd never bought it, but I didn't have it, so I went ahead and ordered it. Anyway, it arrived the other day, and I went ahead and watched it last night, and man, I had either forgotten how good it was, or years ago the last time I saw it I just hadn't realized how good it was. I was really really impressed watching it again, and am very glad I finally added it to my collection. I love re-discovering a movie like that :smile

Afterwards I watched the David Cross DVD I also just purchased, Let America Laugh, and that was pretty interesting. One of the best things about the rise of digital recording equipment, in my opinion, is that it easily allows for stuff like this David Cross DVD, which is basically a documentary about a comedy tour he took back in 2002, although in reality it was just that he had a friend of his come on the tour with a small handheld camera and just hang out with him and film everything. It's the kind of thing that if you're a fan of someone, you really like to see them do, because it's a glimpse into what it's like for them to just be out there doing their thing. I like to see stuff like that, kinda unobtrusive behind-the-scenes stuff, and hopefully there will be more of it. It's the difference between what digital video cameras today allow you to do versus, say, Rattle and Hum or something. Anyway, it made for a quiet little evening :smile

Republicans in Florida are trying to pass a bill which would allow college students to sue their professors if they try to teach something that they don't believe in:

“Some professors say, ‘Evolution is a fact. I don’t want to hear about Intelligent Design (a creationist theory), and if you don’t like it, there’s the door,’” Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala said, citing one example when he thought a student should sue.

Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, warned of lawsuits from students enrolled in Holocaust history courses who believe the Holocaust never happened.

Similar suits could be filed by students who don’t believe astronauts landed on the moon, who believe teaching birth control is a sin or even by Shands medical students who refuse to perform blood transfusions and believe prayer is the only way to heal the body, Gelber added.

Teachers are already afraid that they'll be sued for trying to maintain any sense of decorum or for using any disciplinary procedures at all; but now we're also going to make teachers afraid that they'll be sued just for teaching the stuff that's in the textbooks? What kind of bullshit is that! One of the best things about college courses is that they teach you to think and debate by having your ideas challenged and being encouraged to defend them. When you bring in the fear that a controversial idea may result in a lawsuit, you're effectively killing this. If people want to only learn things which reinforce what they already believe, they have no business going to college in the first place.

Living in a theocracy fucking sucks :angry

Yesterday I posted about something worrisome going on in Florida, but today is Friday, so how bout a nice uplifting story for the weekend. Check out this article about a guy who made millions in the dot com boom in the 90s, and was going to take all the money he made to build libraries in remote villages in Central America when he heard about a struggling company that was trying to get a new treatment for diabetes approved by the FDA. The guy has a daughter who is diabetic, and he saw a real potential for good with this company, so he became the main investor in it back in 1999 when it was about to go under. Here it is 6 years later and the company finally just got the drug approved, it apparently is the first major breakthrough in treating diabetes since 1921, and as a result the guy made some $200 million by investing in the company. His daughter is now doing great on the drug, and the guy has taken the money he made and has built more than 20 libraries in Guatemala and Honduras, and has founded a merchant bank which seeks out other pathbreaking scientific discoveries to help commercialize them. It's definitely the kind of article that makes you smile :smile

I came home from work tonight and went right to sleep. No dinner, just right to bed (like I was being punished or something :lol). So now, here it is almost 2 am and I just woke up. Now what am I supposed to do?

As I was coming in to work this morning I was listening to Howard Stern (as I often do), and I heard something which really distressed me: they played the 911 call of a 5 year-old girl who found her parents shot to death in her home. The call was real, and the little girl really did have both of her parents shot to death by someone who later shot himself. Apparently the little girl is now in the custody of family members. Clearly there is a lot to be distressed by with this whole situation, but what really upset me was that a tape like that got released to the media at all. I can't blame radio stations or websites for playing it or posting it, because they just feed the desires the public has; but why does a tape like that need to get released out there? Because that tape is out there and is being played on places like the Howard Stern show, that virtually guarantees that for that girl she will throughout her life be most known finding her parents dead and doing the right thing in calling 911. Why do they release a tape like that to the public? Do the 911 people hope for good publicity because the operator helped out as best she could, or are they hoping it will be a reminder to people to call 911 if there's an emergency? Is it just a sick fascination with wanting to hear a little girl at what will probably be the worst moment of her life have to describe it in detail? I can see releasing a tape like this to the media if there was some procedural problem during the call (like if the operator acted inappropriately or something), but if a 911 call goes as it should, why do they release it? Certainly a five year-old girl can't give her consent for it to be released, so they must not have even needed it. The whole thing just bothered me.