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romanian impressions 3
it was time to walk. our pack of 20 obviously american tourists wove our way through the city, stopping to snap pictures of monuments and chat amiably. we walked through the beautiful cismigiu park, admiring the foliage and ...packs of feral dogs. walking on, the bride-to-be pointed out the national theatre, library, and talked about what existed before communism. she talked about the churches that were destroyed and neighborhoods razed to make way for ceausescu's grandiose vision for bucharest. the city is scarred and much of it is crumbling from numerous conflicts in recent years, but many buildings showed signs of recent restoration and construction was going on in earnest. we found our way into a beautiful, ornately decorated restaurant and were led into a back room festooned with ornate clocks and mirrored sideboards. I ordered goulash but received pork. no matter, the harried waitress had enough to contend with, serving 20 people none of whom spoke the language or knew the words for what they wanted. we imbibed the exquisite romanian wine, talked and laughed, and admired the delicious gogosi dessert. relaxation set in quickly, and by the time we had made it to a bar near the hotel for drinks, my brain and body were demanding sleep, immediately. I submitted, the sound of traffic floating through the hotel window as I drifted into nothingness.
domain name disputes get personal
just when you thought the napster mess was the height in internet legal wanking.
anus
sebastian stirling dead
I never liked that guy anyway.
the big dig
opinions differ as to the practicality and necessity of the $13b boston central artery/tunnel project, aka "the big dig," but everyone respects its truly massive scope. the biggest public works project in us history, this site is filled with information on how they're doing it, cool photos, project maps, and even an artist gallery.
the attorney
domain zero
so five days ago I was talking to a transylvanian programmer about this site and today I see a banner- is it that I just ignore almost all banners, or is there some sort of mind-control at work? regardless, the deal with domain zero is this: in return for free domain name registration, the registrant (that's you, tony) has to tolerate "a minimum number of money-saving offers from our clients on everything from air travel to office supplies" via email. umm hummm. free, y'say?
romanian impressions 2
emerging from the airport to a hot bright sky, our group now swollen to around 20, we made our way to the rented bus that was to bring us to the hotel. I hung my lomo out the window as we passed filthy peasants framed by huge billboards for tires, cigarettes and gasoline. our esteemed hosts pointed out majestic landmarks as we passed them, each seemingly built by communism but serving some other function now. we soon found ourselves on a broad shaded boulevard before passing into the heart of the city; crumbling concrete buildings rose like rotten teeth from the ground. it wasn't long before I saw the first of what would be many of the feral dogs of bucharest, head hung low and sly, making its way along the sidewalk.
soon we were at the hotel, with its black marble floors and tiny elevators. the room was small but contained one essential element: air conditioning. oh, delicious air conditioning, how I love thee. I decided to take a shower and puzzled over how exactly to achieve that given the apparatus at hand. there was a tub and spigot with a 4-foot long hose coming out of it topped by a shower head of sorts. no shower curtain. I attempted to stand in the shower and operate this system properly, but quickly realized I was hosing down the entire bathroom. so, I squatted in the shower, which seemed to make for less general overspray, and made certain areas of my body more... accessible for cleaning.
everyone met up shortly later to take a walk and get some chow. it was a very interesting group of people: some pleasant whitehairs, a lawyer, some finance people, a teenage boy, a teacher, a romanian couple, a couple of cute new york ladies, and the unimaginably sweet romanian bride. have I not mentioned that the purpose of this journey was to bear witness to a holy union? indeed, and I didn't even know the half of it...yet.
 
romanian impressions 1
apologies first- what should have been merely one tedious day of travel home quickly became two tedious days of travel. I come to you now just mildly lagged, my intestines rapidly recovering from recent battles against unknown invaders.
my first impressions on the journey were not of romania, exactly, but a city I've visited many times before, amsterdam. our group of 5 travellers, given a 2-hour layover, hopped the train to central station. it was a beautiful morning- around 8:30 am, if I remember, and we were seeking a warm coffeeshop and some beers. my companions were, for want of a better word, stoked, and I was looking forward to a lovely wake-n-bake. we found our way to an open bar energized by the frenzy of an english bartender. beers, shots and kif were consumed, austrialian ladies were chatted up, shots thrown down, photos taken, and in the blink of an eye we were back on the train then back in another airplane and it all seemed a foggy half-awake dream.
several hours later, we were touching down in bucharest's otopeni airport. the delicious scent of stale cigarette smoke wafted into my eager nostrils, and I suspected by the unsmiling onlookers and brusque passport control officers that the face of bucharest would be severe and hard as slabs of communist concrete.
I also suspected it after I read about the 600,000 feral dogs living in the city and the mess ceausescu's communism had left behind. more impressions and photographs to follow.
 
interpreter faces trouble over obscenity
"We in Sudan shall spare no effort to achieve these noble goals and to cooperate with all member states on the basis of the principles of ..... oh fuck."
anus
the best hate mail always comes from the artists themselves
"You're [sic] review of my l.p. is vacuous & stupid. Intrumentally the album is "guitar" rather than "organ" lead. It has nothing to do with Meyers (Mike), rather Lermontov (Mike) viz. "a hero for our time" don't criticize what you don't understand philistine/asshole. Pop?....Art!!!!!!
Edwyn"
my understanding is limited to the subtle differences between "you're" and "your," unfortunately
"whassup!!!!
I am the one man record company and the street spielberg.
I am the whole operation.
If you like to listen to great music...eyeball my website at...
http://www.louiegordon.homepage.com.
Thanks for your time,
Louie Gordon
PS
Help tomorrow out today."
ert!
journal e
striking photography and design combined with compelling nonfiction characterize journal e. of special interest is the feature "without sanctuary," a documentary on lynching photography in america filled with deeply troubling pictures and chilling background information.
  
w3 schools
with chapter headers like "after you have studied xml school you will know what xml is," w3 schools has a tall order to fill, as I am largely stupid. however, after just a few minutes of clicking and reading, clicking and reading, I felt something strange: myself learning!
cops butt in on burning man revelry
just one more event quashed by the cops. they sure love the revenue and the tourism but that didn't stop them from poking around campsites and handing out citations. law and order triumphs again over creativity, love and understanding. whoo.
anus
derivatives strategy comix
just when you thought that comix couldn't get any more obscure than jerkcity or leisure town, derivatives strategy magazine delivers up bafflingly amusing strips like "who wants to marry a risk manager" and "life at risk" to restore your faith.
anus
snapfish
I was skeptical- was snapfish really offering to develop my 35mm film, scan the prints, post them to an account on the web and send me a set of prints for just $1.69? well, 12 rolls of film later, the answer is yes.
and the lettuce rolled over the road,
thinking and wondering, thinking and wondering, about that motorcycle it could hear in the distance and salon on big brother, stayfree, cindy margolis, last meals, silent browser, stonerrock, sementest, deepleap, stupid shit, sinfest, eddie breen, links galore, jerkcity, iuma, if ifs and ands were pots and pans, burning man images, so you wanna, indieshite exposed, one new pitchfork review and the new photo gallery. the sun beat down, the motorcycle's scream grew closer, then squip! the the motorcyclist went pirouetting through the air, and all because of last week's wisdom.
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