"Dear California" written by James on estrip.org

11/07/08 09:26 - 57ºF - ID#46582

Dear California

Can you vote on prop 8 again in two years when voter turn out it low?

kisses,

James

Permalink: Dear_California.html
Words: 17
Location: Buffalo, NY

11/02/08 08:18 - 42ºF - ID#46477

Oh hell yaroswell

I am writing my cover letter for a job I am applying to at Roswell. Cover letters are so tough to write, I have been in front of the computer for an hour banging my head against my desk. It is such a parched writing style, devoid of any personality.

Wish me luck. I really want to work there.

james writes at 03:42:07 11/09/08 - Comment #41852: Mike: the hubub happened today. I am sorry that I applied for the same job as you. It was completely unintentional.

mike writes at 03:12:28 11/09/08 - Comment #41850: ahh sorry i didn't respond. I have not been keeping up with my e-mail or checking estrip. I did get your e-mail and I think it is the same job . it happens, i didn't think you heard about it from my journal, i figured you found it on the site just like me. maybe they are hopefully hiring two people? I didn't realize all the hubub it was causing in the comments.

jim writes at 03:06:31 11/09/08 - Comment #41849: Yeah, James still doesn't know what Mike is applying for...

james writes at 02:53:51 11/09/08 - Comment #41848: I am not sure what you want me to delete Tiny O_O

Matthew. No worries.

tinypliny writes at 02:39:53 11/09/08 - Comment #41847: (e:James), please read your email!!! Please delete that abstract comment!

matthew writes at 02:38:14 11/09/08 - Comment #41846: yeah, I assumed that. After re-reading my comment, it sounded pretty harsh. Sorry about that, it wasn't my intention.

tinypliny writes at 02:22:40 11/09/08 - Comment #41842: Hey! (e:james) and (e:jim) told me that (e:james) would love to work at Roswell and gave me good idea about the kind of skills they were targeting and I have been actively looking at job-postings that satified the criteria ever since (e:jim) posted that (e:james) was looking for a job! This was one of those jobs!

james writes at 02:20:41 11/09/08 - Comment #41841: I did not find out about it through Mike's journal. I actually emailed Mike several days ago to find out what the situation is but haven't heard back yet.

matthew writes at 02:14:13 11/09/08 - Comment #41840: You are applying for the same position as (e:mike)? I hope you didn't find out about the job from mike's journal, 'cause that would make you a real asshole.

james writes at 10:18:42 11/02/08 - Comment #41449: It is the Clinical Navigator position. If it is the same job Mike I hope they are looking for two people ^_^

mike writes at 10:13:59 11/02/08 - Comment #41448: i hope its not the job i just applied for

fing writes at 08:46:09 11/02/08 - Comment #41444: What job are you interviewing for?

paul writes at 08:33:13 11/02/08 - Comment #41443: We could be lunch buddies.

Permalink: Oh_hell_yaroswell.html
Words: 59
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/31/08 10:09 - 52ºF - ID#46443

Hamster on a Piano

enjoy the ear worm

Permalink: Hamster_on_a_Piano.html
Words: 12
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/30/08 01:49 - 44ºF - ID#46428

> Rock the Vote

much, much, much better than Aerosmith urging you to vote for whoever.

Permalink: _gt_Rock_the_Vote.html
Words: 20
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/28/08 12:49 - 38ºF - ID#46385

Halloween Movie Madness

Movies don't scare me. I love horror movies for the pure cheese, without a trace of felt terror. Movies like The Exorcist, The Shining, The Omen, are all good horror movies, but I don't get a chill up my spine at any point. Never have I been actually terrorized.

Until Freaks.

Todd Browning's Freaks is the only movie to creep me out. To make me so uncomfortable I had to take a break and untangle the disgust in my brain.

The film takes place in a carnival. There are the big ring circus folks, and the sideshow freaks. Plotting brings the big ring people into the world of the freaks. The freaks are so other that we can't help but empathize with the plotting, evil characters. The viewer is the villain.

The movie is filled with little scenes of simple humanity. Like a man born without limbs rolling a cigarette.

Or take a look at this iconic scene. Just prior to it, the woman was mocking her new dwarf husband (all part of that evil plotting) at their wedding. The sincerity of the freaks response is one of the most chilling things on film.

And the ending... if the ending doesn't keep you up all night you aren't human. But I wont spoil it. Go out and rent it.

Permalink: Halloween_Movie_Madness.html
Words: 235
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/27/08 01:11 - 42ºF - ID#46366

Mustmayostarayonnaise

In regard to Jim's most recent post on Baconnaise (e:jim,46365)

A trifecta of an outstanding sketch.

god I love throw away culture

Permalink: Mustmayostarayonnaise.html
Words: 46
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/24/08 10:56 - 44ºF - ID#46298

WTF McCain-Palin?

Does it ever end?

It was recently revealed, through the magic of campaign financial disclosure, that $150,000 was spent on wardrobe and accessories for Sarah and family. Which, from the convention to election day is over $2,000 a day in clothing. Hockey Mom indeed.

But what gem surfaced this morning?

Who would you guess is the highest paid staff member on the McCain-Palin team?

A hot economic advisor?

Campaign manager for Ohio?

Makeup artist?

That is right, the highest paid staff member is Palin's makeup artist. Amy Strozzi picked up $22,800 in the first two weeks of October as Palin's traveling makeup artist. To put that in perspective, McCain's top foreign policy advisor only made $12,500 in the same period.

McCain's new campaign slogan: MILF the vote!

Permalink: WTF_McCain_Palin_.html
Words: 130
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/23/08 04:37 - 49ºF - ID#46282

On a happier note

So, I find it difficult to not get angry sometimes. And I don't fault myself for getting angry. The trick isn't never being angry, but dispelling that anger. And so, to no longer be angry at Sarah "me so awesome for not aborting fake person" Palin I just had to look at this video.

You should watch it, even if it looks familiar. Trust me.

Permalink: On_a_happier_note.html
Words: 73
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/23/08 02:29 - 49ºF - ID#46278

Palin: I'm so AWESOME!

Way to go Sarah Palin!

You are such a great, principled woman. You could of had an abortion, but you didn't! You would have been tempted to abort one of those horrible, ugly, demi-human's with Down's syndrome. But you are so filled with conviction that you didn't kill this disgusting offspring.

Dobson reminded Palin that he sent her a letter after her infant son, Trig was born saying the baby's birth was "a powerful testimony" to the "sanctity of human life." Trig was born 6 months ago with Down Syndrome.

She told Dobson that Trig's birth was "an opportunity for me to really be walking the walk, and not just talking the talk" on her opposition to abortion.

maybe I am just a little pissed off at this woman, maybe I am a little sensitive about this issue lately, maybe it is the way this article was framed. But these remarks do not come off well, as if there was doubt that an absolute stance against abortion applied to other human beings we value less.

gardenmama writes at 04:55:38 10/23/08 - Comment #40805: Absolutely with you on that - mom could use a little humility and compassion. I have alway had the same difficulty with the limiting access issue - it's a brutal class distinction that frequently makes me want to just scream.

james writes at 04:48:26 10/23/08 - Comment #40803: Mr.Mike. She is a voice by proxy. Because of her genetic closeness to Trig she is magically an advocate. And having lived with this for six months I doubt she has any real idea what to advocate for, not that her life's entirety has given her particular insight into much of anything.

G-Mama: That is why I have always found the state's right argument to be false. Limiting access only grants access to those with the means to obtain them. And while I don't believe in a utopia where anyone can get anything, this is an unnecessary restriction. I will say for Trig though, how great that he is born into a family that can afford to give him a high-quality life that families of lesser means can't afford. Good for him. I hope he teaches his mother a little humility and compassion.

gardenmama writes at 04:31:21 10/23/08 - Comment #40802: Maybe it's because I'm a woman, but it seems to me that the real point here is, she had a CHOICE. She can blow her own horn, and so can everyone else who wants to - but she still had a CHOICE!!!

Maybe someone else wouldn't have made the same decision because they know how difficult it can be on a family and on the individual with a disability, or because they just don't feel they have what it takes to give a child what it may need (disabled child or not). Life is different when you have money and power and can access what you and your children need.

mrmike writes at 03:52:32 10/23/08 - Comment #40799: I don't know. I'm the sibling of two special needs guys and she isn't the advcocate that my folks could used when my brothers were young. Only six months in, she is just starting down a what is going to be a tough road for parents, child, and the whole family. I don't say this to denigrate but it rings sort of hollow at the moment. If you are an advocate, you advocate. To pronounce yourself as going to be a voice seems a little empty. Be a voice, that brings people in and would give her some actual credibility.

jason writes at 03:23:18 10/23/08 - Comment #40798: I don't particularly like John Roberts pretty much immediately talking about Trig's paternity, or Capitalists talking about how he and others like him are a financial burden to society, or any of that stuff.

I don't think anyone should be given "credit" for not destroying their baby. Okay Sarah, yeah you walk the walk, that's nice I guess, but most parents don't destroy their children. Oooh fer sure!

james writes at 03:04:36 10/23/08 - Comment #40794: Bravo, way to not abort a disgusting retard!

I don't think the value of an individual is any less because they have Down's syndrome (and I am not implying that you do). But there is an element to these stories that prop up the notion that they are worth less.

And this baby has been on a non-stop PR campaign for mommy dearest since the convention. She is using him constantly to talk about abortion, and that I find deplorable. "See, I should have flushed it but I didn't! Way to go me." barf.

joshua writes at 02:56:31 10/23/08 - Comment #40792: I think she should be applauded for that particular choice she made. She did do the hard thing, after all. I don't think the insinuation is too unreasonable, given that it seems that many people might not have made the same choice knowing the truth about the health of the baby.

We know you are chafing at the mentioning of the lady's name, but c'mon man. Please set it aside for just a second!

Permalink: Palin_I_m_so_AWESOME_.html
Words: 182
Location: Buffalo, NY

10/23/08 09:13 - 38ºF - ID#46269

Jacob Bronowski

There has been some chatter about Carl Sagan's Cosmos being available online in the chatter pannel, which got me thinking.

The first series that got me hooked on these epic, far reaching TV series was Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man. He was a prominent mathematician, but his mind was not bound by mere numbers. He was more of a numbers-based anthropologist, able to dissect what it is to be human through the lens of science. Much like one of my favorite authors, Lauren Eisley.

The Ascent of Man talked about not just science, but the scientific mind and the unraveling of the human story. Filmed at the height of cold war tension, the series is an appeal to the scientific reason which both brought us to the verge of annihilation, and could being us back. Here is the final clip, where Bronowski goes to Auschwitz, where many of his friends and family members were killed.

It is one of the most moving pieces of film I have ever seen.