If you don't vote, don't bitch about the outcome.

I'm still accepting teams for Round 1, but you have to be available from 2:30pm to about 4pm and able to get to the location in Hollywood to qualify for the Local team - you can still participate as a web team if you can't show up.

This is all about having fun, being creative and meeting other filmmakers - not entry fees, just good times.

Please contact me at failpire@gmail.com with your questions, or to get the location address if you want to be a part of the live broadcast.

NABLUS, West Bank -- Israeli archaeologists revealed Thursday that they have uncovered traces of the first known negative campaign in history. The ads, believed to be the work of Karolus Rovius, date to approximately 3 B.C.E. The first of the ads has been released below, with others to follow as they are translated, a spokesman for the team said.

The emphasis is mine...

Tomorrow at 7:30pm the Patterson School Fall Film Series will be screening The Battle of Algiers. The film is 121 minutes long, in French with English subtitles, and includes graphic scenes of violence and torture. Pizza and refreshments will be provided; please sign up on my door.

http://www.glueandglitter.com/main/2008/09/06/munny/

http://www.glueandglitter.com/main/?p=362

It’s finished! Months and months ago, I ordered a Munny from Kid Robot. Since then, it’s been sitting in the den, taunting me with its blankness. I finally got an idea a couple of weeks ago: turn the Munny into a tree! Lots of cutting, paint, moss, cupcake toppers and glue later, he’s done! Hurrah!

It just so happens that my idea hit at just the right time! There is going to be a Munny show at MINT gallery on September 22nd! Hurrah! They said I wasn’t too late to enter, so you can meet my Munny in person there! That is the same day as the East Atlanta Strut, but I’m planning to drag my exhausted self over to MINT to check it out, too!

In other news, I wrote a little post over on Ecolocalizer on planting a fall garden. The container garden out front sort of has me plant-crazy! Lori hooked me up with a cabbage plant, and I’m trying to get some basil to sprout roots. I think I need more pots!

<3

( Really long image )

• 01:50 @mattfraction I think god's services are dependent upon WHAT Metallica you're listening to... #
• 01:57 Putting together query letters is slowly driving me insane, all the more since I'm sober. Time for bed. #

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I just switched the channel off Adult Swim Retro (has it really been around long enough to be retro?) because it was the part where Master Shake is being a big jerk to Drippy the nice mold that grew in the kitchen and it just kind of bothers me.

Verified yesterday that the all the camera gear survived the accident without any problems. I had forgotten that I it was in the trunk strapped down under the cargo net. The bag had shifted around in the accident but was still held in place by the net

Today I again went out in an attempt to get my license renewed. This time I succeeded in finding the place, getting the license renewed, and not getting hit by another vehicle. Yay. I had also intended to pick up a copy of the police report while I was up in Sandy Springs getting my license but completely forgot about it until just now. I did at least remember to finally go pay the first portion of my property tax bill along with the late fee.

Last, I spent the past hour or so on a conference call with work. The vacation this week? Not very good.

I'm sure we've all encountered people who get offended by general comments. Here's an SNL sketch covering that very subject:

Passenger: Ugh, Celine Dion. Anything but that, I cannot stand her. You mind if we change the station?

Driver: It's a CD.

[laughter]

Passenger: Sorry. Do you mind if we put in a different CD?

Driver: They're all Celine.

Passenger: Big fan, huh?

Driver: [turns off music] When I was 17, I was kidnapped and taken to Peru. After four months, I managed to escape, but couldn't get back to the U.S. I begged for money to buy a piece of paper and a pencil so I could write a letter. I wrote that letter to Celine Dion to come and rescue me, and she did.

More here:

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/06/06ecarpool.phtml

and all my other geek friends. via nemesis42

I dunno what it says about me that I'm turning down hot s3x to go horseback riding in fargin' Long Island, but I'm dancing around my cube.

http://www.shinyandfuzzy.com/blog/?p=278

[image from decor8]

Spoonflower is considering organic cotton! You can read all about it on Becky’s post to Crafting a Green World! There’s still time left to vote!

<3,
Becky

Since when does Starbucks make coffee drinks with a shot of protein??

Edit: Also, I think I can hear individual dopamine receptors cheering as I drink my pumpkin spice latte. Pumpkin is the bestest thing about fall, yo.

Does anyone remember that old cartoon about a French flea circus? There was a male flea named Francois and a female flea named Fifi. Ok, it was by Tex Avery and called (what else?) The Flea Circus:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4mrxb_mgm-the-flea-circus-1954_shortfilms

It all started because I heard the "Applause" song from the cartoon in my head this morning. Why, I have no clue.

You can count on me = Don't hold your breath

I won't cater to special interests = I already do and will continue to do so once in office

I have integrity = If I really had integrity, I wouldn't have to keep saying it

I work for you, the American people = I'll forget all about you, once I'm elected. Or, as Cartman would say, "Whatevah! I'll do what I want!" ;)

I tell it like it is = What I'm saying is probably not true, but if you believe it is, that's all I care about

Our beautiful friend Ilana is about to release her debut single on 20 October, and has put this video on YouTube of her song "Don't Call Me Baby". I've seen her sing on several occasions. She's a talented, humorous performer - she plays several of her songs accompanied by a pink ukelele - not to mention a lady of exquisite taste and rich voice. But you don't have to take my word for it. See for yourself.

You're not the twinkle in my eye/You're not the rapture in my sigh/Bye bye baby, bye bye

I noticed recently that I take houseguests to the Museum of Natural History all the time, and I generally take them to see our famous dinosaurs, but bc they are my guests and I'm trying not to bore them, I've walked through the same exhibits a gazillion times without actually, er, reading the signs much or understanding what I'm looking at. Since I'm also planning on visiting the land of the dinos, probably next summer, I figured I should start reading about them so I could put what I was seeing in context.

Unfortunately, I read my dino books in the wrong order. Jack Horner's Dinosaur Lives is a memoir about a few seasons of dinosaur hunting, with the general arc of his research focus on maternal care and his general interest in evolution in action. I found it so fascinating, I re-read the first chapter immediately after the last. It's certainly accessible to the generally intelligent reader, but I think I would've appreciated it more if I'd known more about saurischians first. Also, it's Jack Horner's fault Bozeman is now a stop on my Montana roadtrip.

John Kricher's tone in Behold the Mighty Dinosaurs sounded condescending at first, but his lectures turned out to be more of what I was looking for. He's also written a book on jungle birds that I was looking at when I was thinking of visiting the Amazon; turns out he's a dino enthusiast who collects models and related paraphenalia, but not a paleontologist. Perhaps this is why his lectures were so illustrative - his description of the time scales stuck in a way that makes me understand why there are just so many animals on the dino floor at the museum and how much more impressive dinos are than, er, mammals. Also, the associated notes were fantastic - the questions in each section were answerable and incontrovertible.

I loved that Kricher had an entire lecture on the AMNH. I was looking for a book about the history of their dinosaurs and picked up Mark Norell's Discovering Dinosaurs in the AMNH as recommended by Kricher. Turned out it was half an overview of dinosaurs and half a discussion of the museum's collection. Literally. I guess it says something about Kricher's lectures that I knew the answers to all the questions in the FAQ half of the book. I love this book so much, I considered buying a copy for when I have an eight year old to ask me questions about dinosaurs, until it dawned on me (from reading Dinosaur Lives) that the state of the art will have changed dramatically before I have sprogs old enough to ask the question.

Putting together query letters is so goddamn tedious.

Thankfully, it seems that a majority of agents are switching to e-mail submissions.

Still, for every couple of people who take e-mail submissions, there's one that wants a query letter, an outline, a proposal, and sample chapters -- upfront.

Why must they all want something different? WHY??

Time for bed.

• 00:19 Credit where it's due, the GOP has managed to make the convention a media success regardless of McCain's speech...which will suck, of course #
• 00:20 @mattfraction I thought the same goddamn thing. #
• 00:21 Headline of the night: "Republicans Defend Palin's Earmark History, Say She's Changed " That's quality vetting! #
• 01:59 Good breakdown of Palin's speech: tinyurl.com/5boyyk #
• 13:51 My dad has fallen for the Palin-drone. No, really. He's pissed at me for giving him FACTS about her. Not even opinion. FACTS. #
• 14:44 @RobBoles You have no idea. If I still lived in Ohio, there would be bloodshed by now. Bask in blue stateness, my friend! #
• 17:50 The Obama campaign got $8 million in donations last night from 130,000 donors. The McCain campaign got $1 million. AWESOME. #

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I forgot to call the Wicked Step Mother for her birthday yesterday. I didn't forget her birthday. I even had plans to call. The plans just washed out of my brain along with all other thought when I walked through the kitchen door.

I called her this morning. She got a good laugh out of it because she figured I couldn't get through after they took the phone off the hook to stop the pollster calls. It seems that volunteering for Ron Paul (have I mentioned she was a Goldwater Girl, too, back in the day) and then Obama has gotten them on the list for every politico who can pick up and dial. Pop was off teaching, so I'll have to call back this weekend to chat with him.