Re: The Pleasure (And Pain) of Maybe

Thoughts emanating from this article in Natural History.

“pathetic dork of a baboon” … heeheehee, that’s funny.

But seriously, don’t we posture/position ourselves into situations because that is the situation we want? For example, a friend of mine really wanted to be married. Not to anyone in particular, she just wanted to be married. So, she got married. In this case, she situated herself in marriage for the anticipation of said marriage. Perhaps what we call “wishful thinking,” in the non-scientific vernacular.

A good article, but I think the frontal cortex and limbic system are more closely related than is simplified here. For instance, Sapolsky states that “frontal patients are sexually disinhibited, hyperaggressive, socially inappropriate.” How do we know that in the case of Jonathon and Rebecca it’s not Jonathon’s limbic system driving him to Rebecca, and instead his frontal cortex? The experiments were done with pulling levers, and not socializing, as the basis.

All the procrastination may be explained by my underdeveloped frontal cortex (or that my frontal cortex and limbic system are constantly at war). Thank you, genetics and evolution, praise be to you for rationalizing my placing fun as a priority over work. Wonder what part of the brain guilt lives in, however. Must be a special somatic variation that occurs only in Indian and Jewish folks.

Amusing article, nonetheless. Explains why we keep trying. More like why you men keep trying. Women are terrorists. Alternatively, your dopamine levels are terrorists. Either way, Muahahahahahahahahahahahaaa!

December 10, 2003 | culture-society-history, science & technology | 2 Comments »

More Photographic Dishonesty From President Bush

From Misleader.org

In the most famous picture from his trip to Baghdad, President Bush had himself artfully photographed to look like he was serving turkey to the troops. The image was emblazoned on front pages throughout the country – and now appears to be an entirely false depiction.

According to the Washington Post, Bush was actually holding “a decoration, not a serving plate.” In other words, he was holding a prop, not real food, and thus only pretending for the cameras to be serving up the holiday meal.

There is also the sob story going around the web about how Bush started to cry when he saw the gathered troops cheering for him. (”You like me, you really, really like me.”) LBJ and Nixon are rumored to have experienced “heavy hearts” as they prolonged the situation in Vietnam as well. The man is not devoid of all emotion, just the important ones.

SJT on the topic:

“What disgusts me is not the inherent Axis Of Dishonesty of the Bush administration but their ham-handed and incompetent manner of doing it.”

December 8, 2003 | government | Comments Closed

Jingle Bells

Ye Olde Christmas Tree went up last night. Well, two-thirds of it did. It turns out that our New Orleanian home does not have enough free surface area to house an entire tree. I’m getting older, and am moving into smaller and smaller places. Doesn’t make sense. But the tree must go on. Shiny baubles must be put up. “Why?” D asked. “Why do you insist on erecting a symbol of a religion you have or want nothing to do with?”

Let’s get certain things straight: A Christmas tree is not a symbol of Christianity; that’s what a cross is. However, the tree is representative of Christmas, which started out standing for the time allotted to celebrate Christ’s birth, but ended up becoming the season of great googlaphonic you’ll-only-need-the-edge Consumer Mania. Shopping has naught to do with Christmas, so why should my putting up a tree be any different?

More to the point, regardless of the market usurping Christmas, there still is the denial-ridden question of the time of Christ’s birth. He wasn’t born on December 25th, and probably came into this world closer to September or October. Also curious is the strong possibility that the decorated perennial is actually a symbol of a long-forgotten pagan celebration that Christians took over by overprinting it with the birth of Christ. Move Christ’s birthday to stamp out the existence of a popular heathen festivity, that’s the ticket.

I’m taking back the decorated tree. In my home, the Christmas tree pays homage to the lost pagan celebration and to the Judeo-Christian Christmas, but also stands for the celebration of being American. This includes being able to put up anything in your home regardless of your faith, sex, or nationality, and hanging beautiful, shiny objects from it because I appreciate and bought them.

Just yesterday, I ran into and talked with a couple from Milwaukee, WI, and the conversation eventually turned to my origins. They laughed when I told them that, despite not having lived here all of my life, I was “born to be a red-blooded American.” I was, and I am. I just don’t feel that I have to be white or born on this soil to exert that desire. America has so much to offer people that yearn for freedom and equality. With our ever-increasing ties to the rest of the globe and opportunities to understand our true identity, this would be a good time to emerge from columns and boxes. A time to acknowledge that American is a heterogenous creature with a little from every culture and religion that has graced this country’s shores.

The ancient Christians engulfed an ancient observance, and in turn The Big Holiday Buying Frenzy outstripped Christmas. Ironic, isn’t it? From the classifications of White, Black, Christian, Pagan, etc. to Consumers – going from one box to another. This might sound a bit odd coming from me, but keep the Christ in Christmas. Please give as much as you can to someone who has less than you; buy a toy for a poor kid, help out your local homeless, and stop whinging for one day to send feelings of empathy and goodwill to all that suffer the world over. That is really the closest we can get to godliness on this earth.

Good tidings of the season, y’all!

| culture-society-history, family & friends, new orleans | 3 Comments »

Of Sugar Bowls, Umbilical Hernias, and Bush’s Art of War

LSU is #1 college football team in the country and going to the Sucrose Bowl. God help me as they are going to be over the top, out of control, stomping mudholes, etc in and around Looiziana.

I have an umbilical hernia, which does not need to be operated on unless I go back to the hospital with a horrible belly ache. Quit yer belly achin, Maitri (harharhar). Have no bloody clue how it happened; wait, actually I do, I think it’s from my weights class. Walking is the key to strengthening those muscles and helping them regrow, apparently. So here I am with an aborted hernia.

Aborted hernia … sounds like a scene from Total Recall or Alien, doesn’t it? Aaah, aliens!

December 5, 2003 | general, new orleans | 1 Comment »

Writer Given Award For Well-Written Bad Sex

… Or is it good sex poorly-written?

Bunker 13 Author Wins Bad Sex Award from Ananova.com:

Indian writer Aniruddha Bahal has had the dubious honour of winning the Literary Review’s Bad Sex In Fiction award.

Bahal triumphed over a shortlist which included former Today editor Rod Liddle, Hollywood film-maker Alan Parker and authors Paul Theroux, Paolo Coelho and John Updike. Excerpts from his award-winning sex scene – involving a woman who drops her trousers to reveal a swastika shaven into an intimate area – were read out to the audience.

The judges applauded the “exuberance and energy” of Bahal’s fictional sexual encounters and described his writing style as “Andy McNab meets Jilly Cooper”. The award honours the year’s most embarrassing and inept description of sexual intercourse in a novel.

Bahal’s book Bunker 13 is a thriller about a reporter who goes undercover to expose arms-smuggling and heroin-dealing in Kashmir. Sting presented the award during a ceremony at London’s In & Out Club.

The author’s winning scene includes the extract: “She is topping up your engine oil for the cross-country coming up. Your RPM is hitting a new high. To wait any longer would be to lose prime time… “She picks up a Bugatti’s momentum. You want her more at a Volkswagen’s steady trot. Squeeze the maximum mileage out of your gallon of gas. But she’s eating up the road with all cylinders blazing.”

December 4, 2003 | books, funny | Comments Closed

That’s What I Am Tolkien About!

Things not to try when seeing Lord Of The Rings. Someone HOLD ME BACK!

1. Stand up halfway through the movie and yell loudly, “Wait … where the hell is Harry Potter?”

2. Block the entrance to the theater while screaming: “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” – After the movie, say “Lucas could have done it better.”

3. Play a drinking game where you have to take a sip every time someone says: “The Ring.”

4. Point and laugh whenever someone dies.

5. Ask everyone around you if they think Gandalf went to Hogwarts.

6. Finish off every one of Elrond’s lines with “Mr. Anderson.”

7. When Aragorn is crowned king, stand up and at the top of your lungs sing, “And I did it … MY way …!”

8. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone’s finger and fall down the stairs.

9. Dress up as old ladies and reenact “The Battle of Helm’s Deep” Monty Python style.

10. When Denethor lights the fire, shout “Barbecue!”

11. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, stand up and shout “RUN FOREST, RUN!”

12. Every time someone kills an Orc, yell: “That’s what I’m Tolkien about!” See how long it takes before you get kicked out of the theatre.

13. During a wide shot of a battle, inquire, “Where’s Waldo?”

14. Talk loudly about how you heard that there is a single frame of a nude Elf hidden somewhere in the movie.

15. Start an Orc sing-a-long.

16. Come to the premiere dressed as Frankenfurter and wander around looking terribly confused.

17. When they go in the paths of the dead, wait for tense moment and shout, “I see dead people!”

18. Imitate what you think a conversation between Gollum, Dobby and Yoda would be like.

19. Release a jar of daddy-long-legs into the theater during the Shelob scene.

20. Wonder out loud if Aragorn is going to run for governor of California.

21. When Shelob comes on, exclaim, “Man! Charlotte’s really let herself go!”

| funny, movies/tv | Comments Closed
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