What to Read

If you've ever found yourself at a loss for what to read next, you should join Goodreads. You can use it to track all the books you want to read and all of them you've read. And, if they join, you can also peruse your friends' lists of books they've read, along with their ratings and reviews, to help you decide whether or not to read that old classic that you've always been meaning to read or discover a new book that you've never heard of.

I suppose, if you were clever, you could also look through a friend's list of books marked "to read" to get good ideas of what to get him as a gift, say for Christmas or maybe his birthday next year or maybe just because he's a good friend.

Sad Admission

I love whole milk. It is obviously the most superior of milks. I think 2% doesn't have enough of a milk taste, and skim milk might as well be water with white food coloring. And soy milk? Don't get me started on this lactose-lacking, faux-milk wannabe!

I find no shame is proselytizing for whole milk, and I ignore those detractors who claim that I "might as well be drinking cream." All other milks just won't cut it; they will not sate my milky appetite.

However, I was just reminded how much I like cereal with soy milk. The Magster is lactose-intolerant and chugs soy milk like it was Gatorade, so that's all she has available. I usually scoff at this mockery of milkiness. But poured over my cereal it is quite delicious.

KC Renaissance Festival 2007

catch a dandy ...

I uploaded pictures from this year's Renaissance Festival. Of note are these photos:

• rawr 1
• surrender the booty
• kansas city in the distance 2
• bugs 1

Wise Words from a Wise Man

If you're going to waste your time, at least jack off.

--Jaysix Usaustin

Wrestling Is Fake

I watched several episodes of A Haunting the other day with The Magster. Each episode of the show is a re-enactment of a "real" haunting, interspersed with interviews of the people that experienced it. I watched an episode about a family whose house was a portal to the netherworld. Another episode was about a couple struggling to keep their marriage together while living in a haunted house.

It was all very interesting to me, but The Magster seemed a little confounded by my enjoyment of the show. I'm sure this is for one or more of several reasons:

• She hates scary stories, scary movies, scary pictures, scary thoughts, and the scary faces I make at her.
• I often make fun of her infuriatingly horrible taste in television as she watches America's Next Model, so she wanted revenge.
• I, as a person who scoffs at any conclusion not made by deductive reasoning or by using the scientific method, contrarily lap up these improbable stories of the fantastic.

I am to spooky tales of the supernatural the equivalent of what WWE fans are to wrastlin. No professional wrestling fan (over the age of 7) actually believes the combatants are truly fighting; they don't have to believe it's true to enjoy it. They enjoy it because they like the storylines, the machismo, the occasional scantily-clad woman, and the stylized violence.

Similarly, I enjoy watching pseudo-documentaries on the paranormal, not because I particularly believe that they're true, accurate interpretations of unusual goings-on, but rather because I enjoy being creeped out by the possibility of them being true.

I also enjoy stories about aliens and bigfoot. I think the probability of them existing is minimal, but I enjoy the stories anyway because it's fun to believe them, even just for a little while. And, seriously, wouldn't it be sweet to see a ghost bigfoot from outer space?

Anyway, if you don't believe in spirits and such, watch this convincing ghostly video, and see if it doesn't change you're mind.

Never Wear a Brown Belt with a Black Bible

I think the Bible Belt should be renamed something like the Cravat of the Willfully Ignorant.

Pope Benedict XVI: That's Not a Dunce Cap

This Christian fundamentalist seems to actually have some sense!

Accidentally Artistic

Union Station

In addition to pictures of Mel's wedding, I've also uploaded some random pictures from the last two months. I tried to get artistic with some of them. And by that I mean that I'm taking undo credit because some of my snapshots didn't turn out nearly as cluttered and haphazard as my pictures usually do. So, here are the rare gems:

• purple flower at dusk
• two purple flowers at dusk
• bridesmaids through a wine glass
• shutter-fucked

Stellar Wedding

Hands

I finally uploaded all of my photos from Matt and Mel's (now Mrs. StellarTaylor) wedding.

You can see me in action as a bridseman, check out some crazy dancing, hotel partying, and the coolest wedding cake topper ever.

Erin Esurance

Apparently, I'm not the only one with an usual (and somewhat disturbing) crush on Erin Esurance, the animated, pink-haired spy slash spokeswoman for Esurance.

Also, it is interesting to hear about how Erin was created and what she has to do with GLBT issues (Scroll down about a quarter of the way to read the article.) straight from the mouth of her creator, Kristin Brewe.

Indecisive Vs Apathetic

One should not confuse indecision with apathy. An indecisive person is unable to make decisions because they are incapable, or perhaps becuase they are unwilling. An apathetic person is able to make decisions, but he just doesn't fucking want to, so get off my god damn back already, you harpy!