Gpoyw

That's Jack Morgan getting to work on Wednesday. Ready for a long
weekend.

Good times

Sometimes it just takes a song to get you Outta yo funk.

Paranormal Activity

Despite its kind of cheezy last second, this movie is profoundly eerie and nightmare-promoting. If you like horror movies that widen your eyes in the darkness, you will like this one.

And OK, I'll ruin something, there's a part when she's standing next to the bed just looking at him, and the clock speeds up to let you know that time's going by. It's unsettling.

I miss movies like these that are clever enough to draw you in but don't insult you once you're there with a puppet show or something. Clever films are few and far between in the horror genre. This is one of those clever few.

Reporting on my vegan Thanksgiving.

Yesterday, the News Leader published an article that mentioned (my) veganism. That's really nice of them. Some of the comments on the article are not so nice.

I think my main problem with holidays is that everyone hates each other more than usual on them because they can't seem to grab what they really want: to love each other more than usual. It's as if there is such a huge expectation for everyone and that everyone feels obligated toward one another, something that is never pleasant and seems as arbitrary and ridiculous as dressing your girlfriend up like a squaw on a Thursday and forcing her to roast you a hideously large, genetically modified, flightless bird.

Then there's tradition.
Tradition is an obligation to nostalgia. Nostalgia is just a rosy version of the past. Yesteryear was not all that great. Every civilization has had a strange notion that the golden age was yesteryear, and now we're circling the drain, waiting for the end of the world.

I am a thirty-year-old heterosexual American with an iPhone. The end of the world is far from my mind. I think we are living in the most exciting times in human history. We are relatively peaceful, most of us aren't starving in America, we have time for art and literature and science, and most people I know have a computer in their pocket that can access more information than anyone ever thought would be available to a person born to working-class parents.

So just relax. No one cares how you were brought up or what you think of the way I eat. It's nice to be nice, and now that we all have the luxury to do so, let's! I don't have to kill animals to survive, and I live such a pampered life that I can act on my compassion and follow my conscience. I can live super-healthy and live as long as possible. Science has taught us what causes heart disease and other killers, so now we can avoid them! How great is that?! I'm thankful for all of that. I wish more people would be. If animals have wishes, that's what they wish for, too. Especially hamsters and flightless birds.

I'm also thankful for my girlfriend and her family, who have gone out of their ways in the past to make me feel welcome. They probably felt obligated. I hope they didn't.

Anyway, chill out, people. This holiday season doesn't have to be "the best ever." It doesn't have to match some imaginary version of holidays in Coke commercials or sit-com specials like Family Ties and Growing Pains. If you just act nicely toward one another, we'll all have a good enough time.
I'm also thankful for Indians. I love reading every year about how Thanksgiving is really celebrating brutality and war. Do you remember that episode of Buffy when the spirit of some Indian warrior was terrorizing the Slayer and her friends on Thanksgiving? I think Angel was int hat episode. Joss Whedon is a creative genius.

I've always disliked Thanksgiving, and I thanked the Indian tribes of the USA every year for giving me a reason. Now I kind of like it I guess. I mean, it's not Christmas or anything.

Hammer no more fingers and Born Empty

Darjeeling cafe was totally full tonight.

Dickie Bell Shocker

So. Dickie Bell hates firemen. That's clear. When they want to apply for a grant to for "free" money, Dickie needs "convincing." The "free" money would keep firefighters alive by providing enough money for six new firefighters' salaries for two years. Staffing is the biggest problem for firefighters all over the state of Virginia and probably all over the US.

So the law around here is this: if you get to a fire, two people have to stand outside of the burning building no matter what. This is a good law. People want to run into burning buildings, and firefighters have to keep them from doing so. If people come running out of the building, the firefighters outside have to give them first aid. And if there are firefighters inside, there needs to be someone outside who can observe the situation and communicate with the guys risking their lives in there.

As it stands, the trucks go out with two guys on them. Only one truck gets there, and there are only two guys! So they have a choice: follow the law and stand outside the building, letting everyone and everything inside perish; or say "to hell with the law" and do what they can at a much greater risk to themselves than is necessary or tolerable. I think we know, after 9/11 especially, what firefighters choose. These men and women put their lives on the line for all of us.

How should we thank them?

Dickie Bell voted against firehouse #2 in Staunton. He has voted against every public safety measure in Staunton. And now, the fire department, reduced to writing grants like college students, has found a way to save their own lives and ours, but Dickie Bell is against that, too.

The fire department cannot afford to remain non-political. I'm not going to tell them what party they need to start endorsing, but maybe after two years of Dickie Bell voting against helping the families of fallen heroes, they'll figure it out for themselves. Two years is a long, tough time to learn that lesson.

Here's an article about Dickie's latest travesty of public service. It's a pretty conservative paper; bare that in mind.
I honestly wonder what kind of statement Dickie thinks it makes to claim that we don't have enough money to save lives while we have plenty of money for things like golf courses.

Strange fruit