Another cut-up. I like 'em, sue me.

Courtesy of http://www.23degrees.net/cutup/#notice



commendable love of truth universally acknowledged, views of such Bennet replied that invitation enough.

made no answer.

``Do a man may were congregate and thing; for, as want to tell have no objection the hot pool, off mine armour, different from being want of a property of some justice and equality, did prove, there for these, as Mr. Bennet,'' said place where the the pool edge I do conceive, Night Lands. Yet Posterity will be Yet, as it and did have wife.

However little known the minds of so close in lifeboat, harsh though have no objection of humans gotten of the world

Without a true ethics of a in this matter. surely vanity; for least some parts of any dangerous has taken it?'' dipt out mine hot pool, and for I had off mine armour, such thinkings is behind, within the bullocks within. Yet, about it.''

Mr. Bennet it is,'' returned that he is
considered a man may for I had certain thoughts on I had surely have no sure the Diskos upon want of a did I have this State of we govern our come after the that he is
considered wetted, I stript Night Lands. Yet generous with those the hot pool, unrestricted immigration. We so did come hot pool, and foreseeable future, our sharing ethic of satisfied with nothing of humans gotten attracted thereto by did I have Night Lands. Yet to save at Long has just there is no Bennet replied that It is a I do conceive, that he is
considered bank, or of one spot, even were many monstrous did I have who from a they may be. survival demands that as the rightful that they came different from being dipt out mine naked flesh, and I had surely garments. And whilst Night Lands. Yet his lady to and here I the use of our Life, I for these, as I put forward

Without a true Yet, as it actions by the this truth is we govern our bullocks within. Yet, this matter in point to the I put forward horrid power of been
here, and she no great fear should call this lifeboat, harsh though a man may down to the ship that hath dipt out mine the pool edge given entrance unto garments. And whilst having before this Now, being much given entrance unto truth universally acknowledged, Bennet replied that from environmental ruin. views of such unrestricted immigration. We how that the survival demands that who from a were congregate and wife.

However little known very pleasant bathing, must be in did I feel how that the To be generous the feelings or Netherfield Park is ``have
you heard that off mine armour, commendable love of and here I to hearing
it.''

This was Night Lands. Yet made no answer.

``Do gathered about the one or other this matter in were many monstrous come after the To be generous possessions is quite down to the one or other let at last?''

Mr. that they came want to tell no proper assurance sharing ethic of control reproduction and ``have
you heard that the form of to save at cried his wife
impatiently.

``_You_ Long has just of any dangerous commons, either in the great spiritual truth universally acknowledged, did I feel did I feel so did come wondrous a multitude the nearness and survival demands that the spaceship is beasts in that such thinkings is invitation enough.

certainty in my beasts in that naked flesh, and must be in to dryness, I to my hand; available resources, the I found a an earlier place; she; ``for Mrs. has taken it?'' Evil Powers were control reproduction and with one's own actions by the no proper assurance the great spiritual thing.

me, and I ship that hath behind, within the to know who rock was hot, essence of so for these, as Posterity will be we govern our Mr. Bennet,'' said in this matter. property of some justice and equality, the nearness and he had not.

``But must convince them to my hand; gat me into down to the unrestricted immigration. We so well
fixed in impossible. For the the Diskos upon have no sure attention of those impossible. For the property of some as sharks do Reasoning concerning the our Life, I of
their daughters.

``My dear let at last?''

Mr. would institute a man in
possession of generous with those bank, or of cried his wife
impatiently.

``_You_ Country; but never Mighty Pyramid, being this State of less.
least some parts not you want if we wish surely vanity; for justice and equality, Yet, as it certainty in my there is no and more than thing; for, as possessions is quite attracted thereto by least some parts certain thoughts on of posterity. We lifeboat, harsh though be
on his first it did seem, effects from the have no sure ethics of a no great fear property of some and did have left all such ship that hath so close in the minds of his lady to available resources, the attention of those less.
he had not.

``But the surrounding families, To be generous world government to very pleasant bathing, told me all as the rightful an earlier place; down to the would institute a any Evil Force; wetted, I stript were many monstrous ship that hath no great fear the spaceship is did spread my Evil Powers were this truth is system of the as sharks do him one day, of
their daughters.

``My dear entering a neighbourhood, be
on his first I had surely foreseeable future, our how that the commons, either in and did have behind, within the of any dangerous point to the and had a Yet, as it it is,'' returned foreseeable future, our a world food of the world of
their daughters.

``My dear want to tell of posterity. We system of the Mighty Pyramid, being gat me into the surrounding families, we govern our that a single knowing; yet have a good fortune and had a commons, either in so well
fixed in

Without a true no proper assurance

Nominal update.

The Virginia Sister has asked me when I'm going to update my blog, yet it's precisely because of the Virginia Sister that I haven't updated my blog. I'd rather write to the Virginia Sister than post on my blog. Writing nerdy stuff about comics and cartoons is the activity of someone who does not have a Virginia Sister to write to.

Stand, Old Ivy!

I wish we could remount our production of How To Succeed in Business (without Really Trying). The songs are still whirling around my head, and I'm slightly dissatisfied with my work in that show. If we could do it again I can think of a half-dozen things I could do better. And the one-week run just felt too short. I loved doing that show. Plus I feel guilty cuz they paid me a pretty hefty amount of money, and I dunno if they're satisfied that I earned it. On the other hand I'm now working on a Cabaret with some key administrators from Magic City Actors' Theatre, the production company behind our H2$, and I don't suppose they'd work with me again if they thought I wasn't giving the good stuff.

"How to apply for a job..."

Nerd Castle

In keeping with my previous post...

Comics shops, in my experience, tend to double as clubhouses. Guys who start comics shops like to be the King of Nerd Castle, and at my shop of choice there are dorky, awkward, genial kids who appear to be there whenever the doors are open.

The other week I was there and an attractive young woman was doing something I've seen several outgoing but insecure young women of my aquaintance do: pretend to be a slutty lesbian. She was doing this in a roomful of guys, talking in explicit terms about girls she'd like to have carnal relations with (gee, why do you suppose parents are often leery of taking small children to comics shops?). It finally dawned on me why some young women adopt this peculiar tactic. The selling point of public displays of sluttiness, from the "slut's" perspective, is that it gets you lots of attention from boys, which can be delightful. The downside is that it leaves the boys thinking they've got an open invitation into your pants. By fronting as a lesbian, the "slut" gets the boys' attention while making it clear that she's not available to them. It's sluttiness with a safety valve. Perhaps this is why, according to the news, girls kissing while boys watch is a trend among these whippersnappers nowadays. Based on my aquaintance with other women who adopted this approach, I'd suggest getting a less embarrassing schtick quick, because someday you might want to be respectable. I know I seem like a fuddy-duddy, but seriously.

Another ridiculous comic shop goofball: me. Once I was renting anime at that same store, and two guys were talking about anime. They were really swapping dense clouds of nerd trivia. I casually said to the clerk, out loud, in the hearing of these two guys: "I don't know how you can listen to this all day." And I instantly hated myself for saying it. How dare I chastise these guys for talking about anime in an anime store? I walked out of there feeling like an utter clod, and later vowed that if I ever saw them again I'd apologise and buy them a comic or something. But I haven't seen them since.

Who You Jawin' At?

I went to my comic shop the other day, and there was a guy thumbing through the long boxes of old comics, talking out loud to himself. Mostly he was reciting the titles of comics as he thumbed past them, occasionally commenting on whether he had a particular comic, occasionally bursting into snatches of song (that Beck song about being a loser seemed to be a favorite. A confession?). This wasn't a quiet mutter; this was gabbing out loud like he wanted to be heard. Yeah, a misfit in a comic store; who could have seen that coming?

And a few months ago I was at a bookstore, where I bumped into a clutch of old acquaintances. We started gabbing happily. There was a guy nearby, all by himself, looking at us. Then he went back to looking at books, and proceeded to talk loudly to himself, occasionally stealing glances at us.

I suspect that when you don't know how to talk to people, talking near them seems like a compromise worth trying.

Wordsworth I ain't.

I haven't been posting because

1. I have a lovely new e-pen pal and I'm spending all my text on her,

2. I'm still packing on fat even after the holidays, which means I have less energy for things like typing,

and 3. I'm just plain slack.

I'm flipping through a Norton Anthology, rediscovering poetry. It's one of those newly balanced anthologies with lots of unjustly overlooked non-male non-white writers. Lots of cool discoveries. I'll try to do a post on my reengagement with poetry when I can spare the time. If you haven't read any good poetry lately, I encourage you to pick some up. It's refreshing my take on life, which one needs from time to time.

The Lapis Lazuli Wishbone

The first Lapis Lazuli Wishbone award for excellence in being someone I know goes to my friends D and T (so identified because apparently some folks don't like to be named by name on blogs, so now I'm trying to avoid naming anybody just to play safe.) D and T are a married couple living in the Old Country of Chattanooga. They were my friends years before most of my current friends, and kept sending me cool Christmas presents even when I didn't send them any for a few years. One of those gifts, a cool framed japanese print from some antique book, decorates my desk at work and brightens my day every day. I dissed their latest gift here on the blog, a breach of good taste, and by way of apology the Aaron White (I can use my own name, surely) Office of Intangible Awardettes is pleased to award D & T the the first Lapis Lazuli Wishbone.

The Alabaster Hoopla

A few words about the Alabaster Hoopla: as David Mamet has pointed out (in Three Uses of the Knife if memory serves) the Employee of the Month award is not an award the Employer gives the employee; it is an award the Employer gives itself for being such a nice Employer.

And everyday, people presume that by, say, dissing Hitler, they are taking a brave moral stance. No. When The White Rose students
dissed Hitler, they were taking a brave moral stance. For us in this day and age, dissing Hitler is merely correct. We can no more claim moral cred for dissing Hitler than we can intellectual cred for stating that 2+2=4.

But this kind of lip-service morality is a proud tradition among the comfortable, and it is in that spirit that I offer the Alabaster Hoopla, a non-tangible award given to the morally courageous by the morally non-courageous (that'd be me.)

The first Alabaster Hoopla for excellence in demonstrating Moral Courage far in excess of me, Aaron White, goes to Montri Sinthawichai, who has worked hard to save children who have been victimized by the child sex slavery in Thailand. A more noble cause I cannot imagine. Every day he does more to justify his existence than I have in an entire lifetime. Thank you, Montri, for picking up the moral slack and helping damaged innocents! I don't, but I'm in favor of it. Tonight when I lay in my bed watching Arrested Development, I'll think of how you're putting your life on the line to save our fellow humans, and how I'm not.

Ack! Sin-chu-8 the positive

Just for the record, I consider myself an upbeat positive person, a fact which I fear the existence of The Platinum Douchebag Award may obscure. Why, some might ask, don't I have positive awards for people doing good? Since I spend more time being cheerful about the good in life than I do bemoaning the dark side of life, it's odd that I'm highlighting the negative. I'll give some thought to trumpeting the world's good-doers, but so many people I know are good-doers, and my reluctance to mention personal friends by name on the blog complicates matters. Lemmee stew on this and get back to you.

EDIT: The Alabaster Hoopla For Excellence has been created in order to provide accolades to persons whom I do not know personally but whom I wish to praise for doing good things. Also, the Lapis Lazuli Wishbone for persons whom I know and wish to give shouts out to. I'll give out the first ones soon... keep readin'!

Holidaze

Another groovy holiday season! Christmas with the family, which is the best thing about Christmas for me, out of many fine things about Christmas; most of the gifts I gave seem to have gone down well, and I got a slew of Eric Rohmer movies. Rohmer makes films that resonate with me, right down to bone marrow. They are as true as anything in film.

Our play, the Reindeer Monologues, went well overall despite a couple of frustrating nights. I believe it was Noel Coward who once said of a performance that it was a success, but the audience was a complete disaster. I'm less troubled by quiet audiences than most actors I know, since I was raised in a church of the frozen chosen, so I'm accustomed to quiet audiences/congregations, but glowering, unlaughing audiences are a bit demoralizing. I'm sorry, but if you didn't find anything to enjoy in our show, you should seriuosly consider the possibility that your life is a charred pit of misery and failure, and could use some reconstruction.

One of the actresses in our show was visited by her two sisters, who were delightful. Too bad they live far away... I keep meeting delightful women who are only visiting Alabama. Perhaps this is an indication that I need to leave the freakin' state, already.

We had a meeting to discuss the Politically Incorrect Cabaret, in which I'll be playing a part this time. I've enjoyed watching it in the past, and am pleased to be doing it! We're discussing the possibility of my playing Howard Dean and abusing the Democrats almost as cruelly as we do the Republicans. The cabaret members are divided between the "Democrats are perfect" camp and the "Tough love for democrats" camp of which I am a member, so it could be contentious. Still, at the moment there are many Republicans who are need of tough contempt, like the deceptively named Virgil Goode of Virginia, whose recent anti-Islam comments reveal that it isn't necessary to have the mental capacity of an adult human in order to be elected. In fact, I think it's time to initiate a new feature here at the blog, to be titled "The Platinum Douchebag," an award to be given on a semi-occasional basis to people whose mere existence proves that the human race ain't much. (Hey, anything to drive up the ratings.) Congratulations to Virgil Goode, recipient of the first Platinum Douchebag. Wear it with pride.

But hey, he'll get his at some point. Here's hoping we all get what we've got coming this year!