The Wizard Belt Project

What's It Like?

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:29:00 +0000

That America has elected a black president has all the pundits crying out in search of a suitable analogy. I've heard the event compared to France electing an Algerian president or Germany electing a Turkish chancellor (which, presumably, would also make it like the UK electing a Pakistani prime minister or Ireland electing a Polish Taoiseach). I don't really see these comparisons as valid, as these are immigrant populations. The analogous American event would be a Hispanic president.

A more fitting analogy would be if the UK or France elected a black president. But the fact is, there's no country quite like America, and I don't think anything is really going to be analogous. We did something that's incredible without it being necessarily like other things that may have happened, may happen later, or may never happen at all.

Incidentally, a lot of these comparisons have been made in the context of "America is more racially progressive than Europe because ______." It should be noted, however, that the UK has long since beaten us to electing a leader from an oppressed indigenous ethnic group.

Change!

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:21:00 +0000

I had really hoped that Obama was going to start out his presidency with some sort of symbolic (but also substantial) bird flipping directing at the outgoing shitbag, if nothing else then as a sign of good faith to those of us who have been tearing our hair out praying for Change to be more than a slogan. Just a little something to say "This bullshit for the past eight years, this will not be the way I do things." It looks like he is going to be doing just that.

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:06:00 +0000

The post yesterday probably was more cynical than it needed to be. Blame the hangover.

Results

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Ok, we got done what we needed to get done nationally and Washington did things right. I-1000 and Prop. 1 pass, I-985 and Dino Rossi get the heavy boot. That's awesome. Hopey hopey changey mcChange.

On the other hand, FOUR STATES passed aggressively anti-gay legislation. And one of those states was CALIFORNIA. Also Nebraska celebrated our election of a black president by ending affirmative action.

Still, on most issues it was a good night. California, Colorado, and South Dakota rejected shitty anti-choice legislation, and Michigan voted in favor of medical marijuana and stem cell research. I've got my victorious playlist going and I'm wearing all blue.

As a side note, I had this weird moment of cynical paranoia a few minutes ago where I thought that maybe they (I mean They) just let us win this one because being hopeful makes us easier to control. But then that's (probably) crazy.

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:06:00 +0000

Just a couple more days and I can start thinking about non-politics things.

Obama Quote of the Century

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:20:00 +0000

Sometimes I question how great Obama is. Then he says stuff like this:

"In some cases, Republicans have good ideas. And, you know, I've always been more than happy to steal good ideas from whatever the source."

Also Sarah Palin spoke to a group of solar energy workers and tried to sell them her "drill baby drill" shtick. Best Election Evar.

Gonna Be a Good Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:39:00 +0000

Spam of the day: "Try the cosmic power of Viagra Professional!"

Also, my bass is finally in Seattle. Fuck yeah!

Lute

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:17:00 +0000

I got $689. It's very hard for me to not just buy a lute right now. Very hard.

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:36:00 +0000

Felony fraud charges: Truck or series of tubes?

A Sample of How the World Sees Us (I mean US)

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:26:00 +0000

Awesome

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:56:00 +0000

Sarah Palin thinks "Real America" is in small towns.

Notably, the majority of America's population is, and has been for some time, in suburbs.

Just saying.

Memories: My Dying Bride

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:21:00 +0000

It's and unescapable fact: Metal is ridiculous. Flaming swords, ten minutes keytar solos, King Diamond, multiple murder; metal is crazy music for crazy people, and usually tries far too hard to look intense to not look silly.

That said, even a ridiculous and over-the-top band like My Dying Bride can be brilliant, without it being an accident. I listened to these guys a lot when I was 17 through 19 or so, especially after I bought their concert DVD For Darkest Eyes (which very sadly stopped working a couple years ago, but now we have YouTube!). At the time I was way into doom metal, especially of the dark, pseudo-gothy variety MDB perfected. These guys, early Paradise Lost, Morgion, and their ilk were all kicking my ass at the time. MDB in particular put out two of the best doom metal records ever, Turn Loose the Swans and The Angel and the Dark River. But eventually, I got bored or distracted or something and haven't listened to them in a good while (I have three songs by them on iTunes; one of them I ever listen to). They're still putting out albums, I'm not sure how good those are.

Then I thought about them earlier. And then I went on the YouTubes. And wow.

The video above was always a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, this is not the full 12-minute version of "The Cry of Mankind", but it gives a good idea of the great use of the main riff, which never stops throughout the song. Just six notes, completely brilliant. That's exactly what doom metal should be about: heavy, beautiful repetition. That said, the sad pasty Jesus singer was probably a step too far.

This other video ("Black Voyage") is from the DVD I owned, and is another song from The Angel and the Dark River. This is them notching up the heavy, and also giving some idea of what you are missing in the abridged version of "The Cry of Mankind" in the middle.

Executive Decision

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:40:00 +0000

From now on, music in 7/4 is to be referred to as being in "Independence time". Alternately, it could be called "America's Time Signature."

A Missed Step

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:18:00 +0000

So the debate last night. Joe the Plumber and all that.

As usual, there was one line of attack that I really feel was missing that seemed pretty obvious to me. This one in particular I feel could have been a really amazing jab at McCain:

When the talk turned to the campaigns themselves, and negative ads, McCain's main zinger was that Obama spent more on negative ads than anyone ever. This is technically true, but only because Obama has spent more on everything than anyone ever; only about a third of his ads were negative. Obama could have said this, but THEN he come back to a point he had briefly made, that campaigns will always get tough. That by seeming to expect basically no negative campaigning (apparently), John McCain was being naive! OOOH!

Or maybe it just would have made him look like an asshole, I don't know, people are weird about stuff like that. The point is, Joe the Plumber.

False Equivalence

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:55:00 +0000

I just watched this clip of the Rachel Maddow show. It made me realize that there is a particular tack the Republicans have not been going with in trying to draw equivalence between the Obama campaign's attacks on McCain and the McCain campaign being race baiting sleaze bags. Specifically: they have not taken the (slightly more valid) line that Obama is being ageist. Certainly all the times that the Obama campaign has called McCain "confused" has to count for something in this regard, as that is a pretty loaded word.

I'm not saying it's as bad as what McCain is doing - I do not presume false equivalencies like that. McCain, Palin, and all their cronies are being thoroughly vile, and know just what they're doing when they mention a brown person's name in the same sentence as "terrorist," especially when that brown person has a funny/scary name and says words they've never heard like "arugala."

But, it is certainly a more valid attack than comparing McCain insinuating treason to Obama insinuating (with much better evidence, no less) some amount of political corruption, to say nothing of comparing it to Rachel Maddow being sarcastic on her TV show.

Of course, McCain himself has taken to simply making shit up.

(thanks to Sadly, No!!)

As a side note, when do you think the words "Barack" and "Obama" will be added to standard spell check dictionaries?

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:54:00 +0000

Happy Colombo Day! Get back to work!

In Honor of the Moderator

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:31:00 +0000

John McCain's campaign died today. He looked 93.

How to Moderate Debates

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:10:00 +0000

The question of who should moderate the presidential debates has been raised lately in light of how things went with Gwen Ifill. The notion that she might be biased in favor of the Obama campaign given her upcoming book on the subject was not without merit, and certainly it is because of that potential bias that she was so easily bullied into being overly submissive to Sarah Palin. Of course, while this did not make for the best debate, her restraint is certainly more admirable than the behavior of, say, George Stephanopolous during the Democratic primary debate.

But who would be a better moderator? Mostly, political pundits are chosen, but, as you have not doubt noticed, they are rarely without bias (the upcoming debate with Tom Brokaw as a moderator is likely to skew very much towards McCain). The standards of political journalism in this country, especially on tv, do not favor neutrality, as it is seldom entertaining. So we need someone who is not a journalist.

There are two ways to go here. Ideally they could both be used for a total of three debates.

The first is to go with someone who can truly and skillfully give us neutral moderation.* For this I suggest a high school debate coach. Certainly he or she would not put up with deviations from the questions asked, or fallacies ad folksium.

The second is to go with two different people, with two extremes of bias. BUT rather than pick two people who have a stake in each candidate respectively, pick two people who may lean more towards each of the candidates, but have specific stake in neither of them succeeding. For this the best option is to use third party candidates, or other political extremists from each end of the spectrum, ideally who actively do not support either party. For the former, Bob Barr and Ralph Nader. For the latter, Ron Paul and Jello Biafra.

To make things more interesting, perhaps the debates could be placed in front of audiences specifically hostile to the moderator's bias. A liberal debate in front of southern conservatives, a conservative debate in front of San Francisco liberals, a logical high school-style debate in a church.

*Possibly the dullest combination of words ever

Debate Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:23:00 +0000

Palin is just talking about whatever she wants to talk about. You have to ANSWER QUESTIONS. Also, what the fuck is this about McCain not saying different things to different people? That's all he does!

Sound byte: "How long have I been at this, like five weeks?" -Sarah Palin

John McCain has an "all of the above approach" to climate change. Sarah Palin has one on reading magazines.

Alternative energy. This is where it's at right here. Go Joe!

Sarah Palin: Faux pas machine.

Joe Biden is (almost ) a rainbow hero. Sarah Palin digs out her lesbian pals. And he really threw her off trying to make her say there'd be no practical difference between gay and straight couples.

"Um..."

The "I respect you for that" thing is a good jab, but he's punching back even harder.

Can't stand "which is better/which is worse" questions. Fuck you dichotomy!

Great foreign policy answer by Biden. He rips.

STOP SAYING NUCULAR!

The Castro Twins, they look the same! Good gowd.

Christ, here we go with the "hate America" refrain.

Hitting the Spain thing! Woo!

Aw, we both love Israel!

We can't change if we criticize the Bush administration!

"Would you ever use nuclear weapons?" "NO ONE ELSE CAN HAVE THEM!"

Hey, she asked to change the topic this time!

Wow, that was an epic sigh by Joe Biden (who referred to himself in the third person, by the way)

Sarah, it's so obvious that you're a Washington outsider.

He knows what evil is!

They're a team of mavericks! Like from Dallas?

So what the fuck is this with saying you can't change if you criticize Bush? SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK! Change is not arbitrary you stupid SAOIRJSDOF ;

She's watched Schoolhouse Rock now. Good to know.

Biden attacks the Man Sized Safe. Go Joe!

Diverse support for McCain: Lieberman, Giuliani, Romney. Three northeastern neocons?

Boom! Hit that maverick nonsense!

And of course the media is so unfair to her. God, this was basically just what I wanted it to be.

To be fair, Joe, in retrospect 2000 was actually way more important. Look what it's accomplished. Otherwise, amazing job.

I have to be honest

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:41:00 +0000

If on just one occasion in my life, a monkey stole a banana from me, it would be amazing. If it were a daily issue, I would want a monkey actor to help me resolve the situation.

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Somehow the idea is being floated that the Bailout bill failed because Nancy Pelosi gave a mean, partisan, San Francisco Liberal speech.

When you hear someone claim that the failure of this bill was somehow partisan point out the following numbers to them:

Democrats were 136-94 on this bill. Republicans were 63-129. Bipartisan disagreement.

What Senator ____ Doesn't Understand...

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:59:00 +0000

This just in from eBay:

It is mine now.

Also, debate, huh?

Everything that's rad about metal.

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Republican Party Unity: A Play in Three Acts

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:46:00 +0000

Act 1: Washington Republican refuses his own party's name three times before the cock crows.

Act 2: Conservative House Republicans shit all over their presidential candidate's favorite bill.

Act 3: The National Review, the publication of choice among crypto-nazis (you queer), calls for GOP VP candidate to bow out.

That's all.

Unbelieveable

noreply@blogger.com (Mephisto) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:14:00 +0000

People still think that McCain is a straight talker and Obama just tells you what you want to hear.

WHAT THE FUCK PEOPLE.