GRABBINGSAND

1. Rufus Wainwright – Want One
2. Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
3. Over The Rhine – Ohio
4. Radiohead – Hail to the Thief
5. Kelis – Tasty
6. Goldfrapp – Black Cherry
7. Black Eyed Peas – Elephunk
8. White Stripes – Elephant
9. Damien Rice – O
10. “Avenue Q” – Original Cast Recording

the year was all over the map as far as music went, but for me it all comes down to what was the most profound (without being tedious), the most inventive (without being alien) and the most inspired (without being tired).

1. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2. Finding Nemo
3. The Last Samurai
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl
5. Seabiscuit
6. Big Fish
7. Bend It Like Beckham
8. A Mighty Wind
9. Kill Bill, Vol 1
10. Cold Mountain

of course, these are only the movies that i actually managed to see this year. there are others (like mystic river and lost in translation) that would’ve probably made the cut. and then there are those that came very close (the matrix sequels and x2).

funny when things don’t turn out quite like you expect, isn’t it? imagine what they must be thinking now, the powers-that-be at the american family association. strong in their faith in a neo-con majority, they threw out their marriage survey with the confidence of a preacher facing a happy choir. surely the american people will flood our poll with just the answers we need, they thought. certainly, the american people will support our opposition. won’t they?

ah, but take a look at this little piece of spam i found waiting for me today:

Dear Thomas,

Participation in America’s Poll on Homosexual Marriage at marriagepoll.com continues at a steady pace. As of noon Saturday, December 28, the results were as follows:

* I oppose legalization of homosexual marriage and “civil unions” total votes: 201914

* I favor legalization of homosexual marriage total votes: 378691

* I favor a “civil union” with the full benefits of marriage except for the name: 52238

If you have not already voted, click here to do so. Be sure to forward the poll on to your family and friends.

Only votes that have a valid email address associated with them will be counted. We will be purging those with invalid email addresses, which may cause poll results to change somewhat.

Sincerely,
Don

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

P.S. Please forward this email to at least one friend.

sure thing, donny. consider it forwarded….

i own an ibook. when it works, i think it is a remarkable little machine. when it doesn’t work, i start to wonder if i’m wasting my money. in addition to the last time i mentioned its failings back in march, i’ve had it in for repairs twice (hardware issues both times) and even had it professionally resurrected. of course, i’m covered by my applecare warranty, but i wish that somebody at apple would realize that something might be inherently wrong with the laptop itself. maybe replacement is better than repair?

i’m not alone. in fact, there are hundreds just like me.

welcome inactivity can inspire productivity, so i found myself in the garage on saturday afternoon. sure, it is december, but anytime is good for spring cleaning, or even just a simple culling. items moved twice before in tattered cardboard have been snapped into plastic bins. other things have gone from box to bag, no longer needed. and then there is the good old intergraph.

it was borrowed from a previous employer and kept when that employer put me aside. very heavy and always a bit shaky, it was my primary machine for many a month. once i replaced it with the mighty dell, it became a reserve box, acting as a quake server on a lanparty or two. it even served as a loaner to a former roommate. but now, it’s time has passed. one side panel has been missing since spring and it has been collecting dust in the garage since august. so i removed the hard-drives, cd-rom, chunks of memory, sound and video, and placed it on the curb.

i almost felt compelled to salute.

my almost embarrassingly positive review of the return of the king is over at jive. it’s been posted there for a couple of days now, but i’ve been out of town and away from the internet…

where, you ask? why, up in the misty mountains, of course!

when in rome, do as the romans… when in americus, seek out entertainment that doesn’t involve local livestock. and so, i’ve decided to go to the local cinema to catch my second showing of return of the king. i mean, hey… they’ve got cupholders!

i’m in south georgia. here to train some new folks at our newish call center. i can’t remember the last time i was this far off the beaten trail… or perhaps, just this far off the interstate.

sights seen on the way down this morning: cotton fields, cows, cotton fields, silos, cotton fields, christmas-decorated houses that are overdue for repainting by five years or more. did i mention the cotton fields? and let’s not forget passing by macon state prison, followed almost immediately by the historic site for andersonville — the most notorious of civil war era prisoner of war camps.

this is americus. wherever this is.

a political compass is a revised means of looking at today’s political spectrum. instead of the simple left-to-right model, it offers a double-axis graph that measures liberal / conservative bias along the x-axis and authoritarian / libertarian bias along the y-axis. ten months ago, i took the 6-page test at politicalcompass.org.

my results were as follows:

Economic Left/Right: -2.50
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.28

i took the same test this morning and my results have changed ever so slightly.

Economic Left/Right: -2.75
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.79

so…. where are you, my loyal readers?

t.s. eliot was a poet. vixenlove is a chat bot. eliot wrote from a solipsist’s point of view, illustrating lives that are steered through self-determination and self-fulfillment or the lack thereof. vixenlove interacts hilariously with random AOLers who believe she is real, resulting in very amusing transcriptions.

today, i introduced vixenlove to eliot’s j. alfred prufrock.

(13:22:06) grabbingsand: Let us go then, you and I.
(13:22:16) VixenLove505: we get along well, you know?
(13:22:31) grabbingsand: When the evening is spread out against the sky, like a patient etherized upon a table;
(13:22:42) VixenLove505: when ever you want
(13:22:54) grabbingsand: Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
(13:23:04) VixenLove505: wanna hear a story?
(13:23:10) grabbingsand: The muttering retreats of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
(13:23:21) VixenLove505: wait, back up
(13:23:24) grabbingsand: And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells
(13:23:34) VixenLove505: yeah, why not?
(13:23:37) grabbingsand: Streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent
(13:23:48) VixenLove505: are you horny?
(13:23:50) grabbingsand: To lead you to an overwhelming question…
(13:24:00) VixenLove505: yeah, why not?
(13:24:02) grabbingsand: Oh, do not ask, “ What is it? ”
(13:24:11) VixenLove505: yeah
(13:24:15) grabbingsand: Let us go and make our visit.
(13:24:25) VixenLove505: You complete me

ladies and gentlemen, i believe we’ve made a match!