Yahoo! News - Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself - Police

Yahoo! News - Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself - Police


RIP

More Rain

It's now the wettest season on record in Southern California. I'm enjoying the pitter-patter that lulls me to sleep, though I do not own a house near a hill. Many people unfortunately have experienced flooding and slides, and it proves how natural phenomena can be both blessing and curse....

Three day weekends are also fun. I can't think of much else to do, which is great.

Going to a seminar on string theory tonight.

cool

Scenes 67-75, Annapolis.

There we go. Film in the bin. Old Skool style. My 2nd conformed scene. What that means is that the editor finished editing these scenes on the Avid computer, the 1st assistant printed out a list of each shot in the scene, and my job was to pull the film from the rolls in which they lie, then assemble them using sprockted scotch tape.

Old skool.

Mule Design Feed Store | CephaliPod

Mule Design Feed Store | CephaliPod

Squidpod!

Back in the USA

Splice with Pandeiro

Well, I'm back and I brought back a nice chest-cold from South America. Thankfully this isn't one of those flesh-eating kind you always hear about from the movies, so I lucked out this time. The jury is still out on whether any super-spiders or anacondas stowed away, but if Counselor declares me a deadbeat blogger, you know who - or what - to blame.

How was Brasil? How can I begin to describe it? I started to take a travel diary as I did for China last year, but after the first day in Rio de Janeiro, I literally lost track of the days. Brasilians have a preference for partying all night long (at least during Carnaval) and our 'days' did not get going until 11pm at least. One night I found myself at the "Terreraio de Samba", i.e. 'Sambaland' the open air concert-fairground next to the Sambadromo stadium with about 4,000 of my closest friends and we decided to leave at 4am. There were still 3 acts to go and it took us about 30 minutes to completely find our group.

Party-Hardy indeed.

Carnaval was intense. Parading with Estacio Primera de Mangueira Samba School, the first established, was an honor and the parade itself chaotic and full of adrenaline. There's nothing like wearing spandex and gold foil and singing and dancing for 50,0000 people or so and millions more on TV. And apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Splice made it on OGlobo TV! I'm trying to acquire footage of that, so I'll report if so.

After the parade, we collapsed into our beds and slept until 5pm the next day.

That kinda encapsulated my experience in Rio. Lots of amazing people, BEAUTIFUL landscapes, warm rich culture, amazing music and one hell of a Party. Mrs. Splice had spent the prior week in Bahia, so she had more culture than I, but Brasil is a vacation place I highly recommend to anyone. And it has two more things that appeal to the average American: You can drink the water, and EVERYONE takes Mastercard/Visa.

Beijos!

Carson, Fantasia, Rumpole, Clinton, Precinct 13, and shopping carts - Uncle Orson Reviews Everything

From Carson, Fantasia, Rumpole, Clinton, Precinct 13, and shopping carts - Uncle Orson Reviews Everything: Review of Morris "Because he could", book on bill clinton.

"....The remarkable thing about Because He Could is that at the beginning, Morris does what I would never have thought possible: He actually makes a convincing case for Clinton having been responsible for some real achievements during his years in the White House.

At the same time, Morris also lays out Clinton's most disastrous mistakes and shows why Clinton did what he did -- and failed to do what he failed to do.

There's nothing in this book for a diehard Clinton supporter to like. But it brings some needed perspective to people like me, who recognized his deep dishonesty and detested his smarminess long before he locked up the Democratic nomination in 1992.

I spent the 90s barely watching television news, because I got nauseated -- or maybe just sick at heart -- whenever I saw his face on the screen as President of the United States.

Morris doesn't change my mind -- I still see the fact that he was elected twice as a permanent black mark against American civilization. But he does make it plain why good and intelligent people served this man, and continued to serve him even after his (and his wife's) utter selfishness and dishonesty were fully exposed."

Well, Card again displays a deep outporing of emotion and stance, without conceiving that the other side could share the same feelings and position about the current president. I expect that sometime in 2013 we'll see a similar book on GW Bush and read the same kind of reviews from a 'blue state' person.

I do give Card this: he perfectly explains the position of a republican-voting person living through the Clinton years. And the marvel of his writing is that, word for word, you can say exactly the same thing about a democrat-voting person today.