Category: Livejournal

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Drum Practice

I try to spend an hour a day practicing. I have a little mp3 player I plug into my ears and an hour later, I’m sore, happy and need a shower. Here’s the track list:

1) Don’t Walk Away (ELO)
2) Last in Line (Dio)
3) The Prickly Bush (Steele Eye Span)
4) Teenagers (My Chemical Romance)
5) Hey Hey What Can I Do? (Led Zeppelin)
6) You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Meat Loaf)
7) Nobody Again (The Awful Lot)
8) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
9) Dear God (Sarah McLachlan)
10) Kick Out the Jams (MC5)
11) Something for Nothing (Rush)

I like ending with that last song for a lot of reasons. I can barely keep up with Peart’s basic patterns–let alone his absurd fills–but just trying pushes my abilities to the limit. And the lyrics are great way to end a hard rehearsal.

You don’t get something for nothing
You can’t have freedom for free
You won’t get wise with the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dream might be

Damn, I wish they’d play that live.

So, here’s some Rush, mixed with some Full Metal Alchemist, for your listening pleasure.

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SquareMans

My buddy Matt Colville is keeping a journal over at www.squaremans.com.

Matt says a lot of smart things, has keen insight and is a damn fine essayist. He also infected me with the “mans meme.” (For which, I am eternally grateful.) You should check him out.

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God Hates Fags

In lieu of the Wesboro Baptist Church announcing their demonstration outside Heath Ledger’s funeral, I thought I should make something clear.

He’s right. God hates fags. Says so right in the God Book. You can check it out here.

If JHVH/Christ is your God and the Bible is His Word, you can’t ignore some of His Word. You’ve got to follow all of it. Cherry picking the good parts and ditching the parts you don’t like? That’s not kosher.

It’s God. He doesn’t misspeak. He doesn’t make mistakes. Everything is intentional.

Again: if you are a Christian (don’t matter what flavor) or a Jew (again, don’t matter what flavor), the Bible is the WORD OF GOD. Otherwise, it’s just a book of ideas written in the Bronze Age by humans who were makin’ shit up.

And if you believe that, you belong on this side of the fence. Otherwise, you’re standing on the same side as this guy:

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OK Cupid Dating Persona

Given that I’m really not looking for a relationship right now (I’m too busy), my results were… interesting.

I found myself not liking the answers and compromising for the answer that was better than the other one but still did not fit.

So, here it is.

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There Will Be Blood

Fans of Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love are in for a surprise.

PT Anderson has been possessed by the ghost of Stanley Kubrick, and the results are finer than either director could hope for.

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Cloverfield

A story about regret. A story about how little time we really have to correct our mistakes, and how important it is to say things we feel when we have the opportunity to say them.

A story about human fragility. The fragility of our culture, the fragility of our lives.

About fear and courage and blind love. My favorite subjects.

Oh, and there’s a big, scary monster.

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Reversal Of Alzheimer’s Symptoms Within Minutes In Human Study

ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.

This new study highlights the importance of certain soluble proteins, called cytokines, in Alzheimer’s disease. The study focuses on one of these cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), a critical component of the brain’s immune system. Normally, TNF finely regulates the transmission of neural impulses in the brain. The authors hypothesized that elevated levels of TNF in Alzheimer’s disease interfere with this regulation. To reduce elevated TNF, the authors gave patients an injection of an anti-TNF therapeutic called etanercept. Excess TNF-alpha has been documented in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Alzheimer’s.

(thanks )