General Rubbish

Only in Texas...

My dad lives in Kaufman, Texas, which is about an hour outside of Dallas. Which means it's in the country. Like, the real country. Cows, pickups, a shotgun in every home. That kind of country. Near Kaufman is a town called Canton, where they have a massive, sprawling flea market called First Monday. If there's anything in the world you're looking for, they probably have it. Dad and I went out there the day after Thanksgiving to do some exploring: I was looking for old board games (found some!) and Dad just wanted to stretch his legs, so we wandered around for a couple of hours.

While tons of booths seem to be selling the same stuff, this one cap stood out above all others. It proudly proclaims that the wearer of the hat is a Super Bitch (complete with Superman's s-shield. DC Comics, don't you hold a copyright on that thing?), yet, she also loves Jesus. I really cannot possibly understand why someone would wear this hat, although I was sorely tempted to buy it just to prove it actually existed. The best I could do was this snap from my phone. If anyone ever spots someone wearing one of these, for the love of all that is holy (including Jesus), please send me a photo.

I haven't bought new shoes in awhile, so I guess it's only fitting that the first pair I decided to get are all retro. I had these in the "Clown Colors" models in junior high school, and I got made fun of plenty. I have no idea what it'll be like to go back to Hi Tops this long after the fact, but I'm taking the plunge. Is this the first sign of an impending mid-life crisis?

Technology and Bad Manners

Colbert is obviously joking around here, but I swear to god that I know people who do this on a daily basis. Then when you call them on it, they get offended. And I'm sure I've been guilty of it as well. Comptuers are giving us ADD... are they actually evil? Don't come crying to me when HAL 9000 sends you into deep space with no oxygen.

Colbert is obviously joking around here, but I swear to god that I know people who do this on a daily basis. Then when you call them on it, they get offended. And I'm sure I've been guilty of it as well. Comptuers are giving us ADD... are they actually evil? Don't come crying to me when HAL 9000 sends you into deep space with no oxygen.

Let The Right One In - Fantastic Fest 2008

I saw the Swedish film Let The Right One In at Fantastic Fest in Austin, and it is one hundred times the film that the upcoming Twilight could ever hope to be. The pale and moody gothabees in Twilight could only hope to be in a film this good.

Let The Right One In will have a limited theatrical release in LA and New York in October, and will hit DVD in March of next year, so start combing through Netflix and setting your Amazon calendar ahead. If you have a chance to see this, you won't regret it.

Swiss Chalet, A Mothers's Scourge

There's a chain of restaurants in Canada (and elsewhere) called Swiss Chalet, although I've never ventured inside to try it out. My American ignorance leads me to believe that everything would be covered in cheese and mushrooms.

I saw a commercial for it on television this morning while I was getting ready for the Toronto Internation Film Festival: Day 5. In the commercial, Mom comes home with bags of food from Swiss Chalet. She calls out "Dinner's ready!" and no one comes. Then she adds "It's Swiss Chalet!" and everyone comes running. Even goofy teen boy who says "Swiss Chalet? Why didn't anyone call me?" Mom pulls his headphones off and says "We did." HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Now, what this commercial is actually saying is "Okay family, I realize my cooking sucks, and maybe I've tried to fool you in the past, but I really brought you something you'd actually enjoy."

Poor mom.

I'm in Toronto!

I'll be in Toronto through the 10th for the Toronto International Film Festival, and I'm already pretty knackered after my first full day. Most of it was spent doing interviews for Guy Ritche's new film ROCKNROLLA, and then I had to coordinate a billion other interviews. I just saw WALTZ WITH BASHIR, an impressive animated documentary, THE BROTHERS BLOOM which is Rian Johnson's followup to the amazing BRICK (BLOOM might be the best of the festival for me... I'll have to see what can beat it), and JCVD, which is a fictional film about Jean-Claude Van Damme where Jean-Claude plays a version of himself. It's self-indulgent and weird, and I think I ultimately hated it. Interviews will be up at Spout soon, so keep checking.

Top image is a shot I took in downtown Toronto, which has some amazing architecture. One thing I've noticed is that people rarely, if ever, look up. When you look up and take a photo, people stop and stare like "Oh my, is it a suicidal stockbroker? Is the building on fire?" Then they don't find anything scandalous, so they go back to looking at the sidewalk. I don't get it. More here.

Please Be Cruel, You Damned Inspiral Carpets

BAM! And now I'm back in college. Texas Tech. 1990. I was a DJ at the college radion station, KTXT "Your New Rock, Spot!" This song was one of my favorites. In fact, whenever I hear it, I'm back in Lubbock. Cold winds, big Texas skies, and the weeks and months stretched out in front of me.

A Trip Through YouTube, and Wham, Bam, I'm 15 Years Old Again

The Sounds of the Los Angeles Subway

I recorded this recently, and promptly forgot about it. While I was doing some audio excavating tonight I found it, so here it is for the ethernetted masses.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

If you haven't watched this yet, then you need to. It's hilarious, sad, funny, touching, and full of Evil. Click on the banner to take you to the goodness. The songs have been stuck in my head for days now.