Archive for January, 2006

Breaking News

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

This just in: George WTF Bush is still a complete moron.

You know who he reminds me of? He reminds me of all the self-important schmucks running around in short sleeves and brown clip-on ties managing fast food restaurants and mall stores. If his last name wasn’t Bush, he would be managing a Dairy Queen or Buster Brown right now. Badly, at that.

The Great Depression

Monday, January 30th, 2006

The 01/30/06 episode of The Chair and Automan is out. Download the MP3 directly here. Or better yet, get a podcatching client and subscribe to this podcast here. Or check out my Odeo channel.

In this episode:

I talk about being depressed. I play songs and babble.

The links:
Sage Francis
Ambitious Pie Party
The Arts and Sciences

Audio feedback/promos are always welcome at jaslusher AT gmail DOT com.

Setting The Bar Too High

Friday, January 27th, 2006

If you are a TWAC, like myself, you play a bunch of silly computer games. I play Freecell, Solitaire, Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire way more than what could be considered healthy. When I say I’ve played thousands of games of Freecell, I’m not only not overstating the case, I’m probably understating it. I’ve probably played an order of magnitude greater than that.

In those four games, two have statistics about how well each individual game is played. That would be Minesweeper which records the best time for any game, and Spider Solitaire which keeps track of the lowest number of moves required to win the game.

Well, I’ve set the bar too high for both of these games. My best score in the intermediate level of Minesweeper is 64 seconds. I’ve tied it at least 3 times but have never beaten it. I don’t think I can. My best score for the easy level of Spider solitaire is 92 moves. It took me months to beat my previous best of 97 moves. I don’t see me beating 92 in the next year or two. Or maybe ever. I guess I’m going to actually have to try the harder levels of these games.

I’m Back

Friday, January 27th, 2006

Rough few days at work. I’m on my week off now and I’m raring to go. Expect a podcast in the next couple of days.

Movies

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

As kind of a take-off of this post by John Rogers and because I was recently discussing this topic with my wife, here are my picks of the 10 movies I would show someone to try and explain what america is. In fact here is the quote:

The challenge is:

Explain America to someone from somewhere else by giving them 10 movies to watch.

The idea is not to give them a history lesson, so you don’t have to start with The New World and end with Jarhead.

What you’re trying to do is give them a sense of who we are — your take on our dreams, our attitudes, our idioms, what we think we are, what we are afraid we are, what we really might be.

So here are my 10 movies explaining what America is (no particular order of importance):

  1. Cool Hand Luke (1967)- The ultimate underdog/fighting the man story full of Christ imagery and gentleman rogue charm. Also my favorite movie of all time. And in my opinion you could probably make this entire list from Paul Newman movies.
  2. Brown Sugar (2002)- A love story based on growing up as hip-hop grew up and maturing the way hip-hop needs to. This hits on all the themes that a true American child of the 80s dealt with.
  3. Silverado (1985)- My favorite western of all times. Touches on redemption, racism and love. The good guys win just like they should. Brian Dennehy, as the corrupt sheriff also delivers the best western line of all time, “We’re gonna give you a fair trial, followed by a first class hanging. “
  4. The Breakfast Club (1985)-An alternate title could have been “High School in America”. Maybe it has changed a bunch in the last 2 decades. But that was us, all of us. I’m willing to bet it still is.
  5. Eddie Murphy Raw (1987)- I know, it’s not really a movie, movie, but it changed the way lots of us viewed the world. So it’s in my list. Now shut the f*** up.
  6. The Thin Man (1934)- Also one of my tops of all time. Just great detectiving by a ne’er-do-well who always does well.
  7. The Big Red One (1980)- World War II. The last war we actually won. And if Lee Marvin can’t make you understand Americans, then go back where you came from, comrade.
  8. Shrek (2001)- Funny, funny, funny. And in my top movies of all time, too.
  9. Ruckus (1981)- Because it is my list and I like Dirk Benedict and Linda Blair. So get off my a$$.
  10. Halloween II (1981)- Scared the crap outta me. And Jamie Lee Curtis is hot. Still, but then whew! When that dude got into the car and died and his head hit the horn and it started blaring and ohmygodshe’sonthedamnfloorboardsohgodgetouttatherehe’scoming!!!

That’s my ten movies. Lot of stuff woefully under-represented, very heavy on the stuff from the 1980s. But hey, it’s my list and that is what you get.

Tag, you’re it. What’s your 10?

Child of the 80s

Saturday, January 21st, 2006



Child of the 80s

Originally uploaded by jaslusher.

Look at the glasses, check out the hair and the hat. If you think I’m not a certified, 100 percent child of the 80s, I have the photographic proof that you are wrong.

And don’t forget the Converse. Gotta love em.

Jonathan Chillin

Thursday, January 19th, 2006



Jonathan2

Originally uploaded by jaslusher.

Here is the absolute best baby picture I have ever seen. That’s my little man to a T.

Great day, Marilyn and I make some beautiful chirren.

MLK Day

Tuesday, January 17th, 2006

The 01/16/06 episode of The Chair and Automan is out. Download the MP3 directly here. Or better yet, get a podcatching client and subscribe to this podcast here. Or check out my Odeo channel.

In this episode:

I talk about racism cropping up in my life and Dr. King. I tell of my work’s “zero tolerance” policy towards such things. I talk about really digging reading essays by a guy named Tim Wise. I play songs and babble.

The links:
Son Of Nun
Nay-Sun
O.D.M.
Tim Wise
Dr. Martin Luther King

Audio feedback/promos are always welcome at jaslusher AT gmail DOT com.

UPDATE: No your ears aren’t playing tricks on you, I did play the Nay-Sun song twice and did not play the Son of Nun song. Sorry. I will go with the “I’m completely stupid” defense.

Dr. King

Monday, January 16th, 2006

I hope that on MLK day everyone has had a moment to reflect on what he did that made his life a great one and his achievements special.

I believe that his efforts helped make America a little more like what it should have been long ago. He gave his life in an effort to make all people equal. How many of us can claim a fraction of that as our legacy?

His work has not been completed. America has a long way to go. As long as we don’t lose focus of what America should be, what it is now and what we can do to improve it, we still have a chance someday of achieving his dream.

Decaffeinated

Monday, January 16th, 2006

I have been making a concerted effort to lower my caffeine intake with the eventual goal of little or no caffeine intake. This is a pretty big deal for me as I drink somewhere in the neighborhood of a gallon or more caffeinated drinks a day.

Let me tell you that getting off it sucks. Big time.

With or without caffeine, almost everything I drink contains some sort of artificial sweetener with aspartame being by far the most common. I have read a number of dire internet warnings about aspartame consumption and it makes me wonder if some of my attention problems aren’t excacerbated by aspartame buildup.

My mind is still not made up over the whole aspartame thing. If I eliminated both caffeine and aspartame from my diet, I would be down to drinking water and beer. And I am not a big water enthusiast.

Then again, maybe getting off aspartame wouldn’t be so bad.