inherently different

Archive for March, 2004

In order to better serve my viewing public, I’ve started a film review blog called Movie Maniac.

UPDATE: I’ve got a number of new reviews up as well as reviews of some worthwhile DVD releases. Begin by reading my review of Dawn of the Dead.

Just so we’re on the same page here, whenever I hear some misinformed fool talk or write about Israel and the Middle East they make the mistake of using the nouns “Palestine” and Palestinian”, and the phrases “Palestinian territory” and even “Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory”. Unfortunately, these terms are used without regard to historical fact and rather than appear astute or intelligent, they appear either vexed by unparalleled stupidity or in a state of complete denial.

“Palestine has never existed . . . as an autonomous entity. 
There is no language known as Palestinian. 

Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of one percent of the landmass. But that’s too  much for the Arabs. They want it all. And that is ultimately what the  fighting in Israel is about today . . . No matter how many land concessions the Israelis make, it will never be enough.” — from “Myths of the Middle East”, Joseph Farah, 
Arab-American editor and journalist.

Here is another one of the many moments in which I find myself saying, “You have got to be kidding me!”

Israel on Monday night faced widespread international condemnation for its assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas leader, as Palestinian militants vowed revenge and all-out war, reports FT.com
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I’ll admit it up front. I’m a war monger. I don’t see a problem with the US attacking Afghanistan. I don’t see a problem with the occupation of Iraq (while I do mind all the nonsense about ties to Al Qaeda and WMDs). The thing that really bothers me is the U.N. and the many countries that run away when faced by adversity.
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I’ve been awake since about four A.M. being a geek. For some reason, I couldn’t really sleep. I’m not tired yet but I’m sure that later today I’ll be worthless.

What kept me awake was working on a piece of literary magic which I have been super secretly working on for a bit now. In between fits of creative energy that isn’t being sucked out of me by my freelance gig writing articles on finance, culinary schools and legal administrative jobs, I’ve been reading Stephen King’s On Writing which is by far the best book about writing I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot). Reading his treatise on the physical and mental act of writing has been really inspiring.

Simply put, over the last few months, since a little before I was excommunicated from the Church of Divine Profit, I’ve focused on writing as much as I could. Nothing really worth writing home about so to speak, but I’ve been writing for myself, which was 75% of the battle. Two things prompted this new found love with writing. The first was my good friend Gunda started writing professionally. He is a graphic designer by trade, an English teacher by necessity, and a new disciple to the houses of the holy word for profit.

The second was realizing that I’m 38 years old and aside from a startling collection of belly button lint, my life has been devoid of substance. I don’t want to save the whales (they’re noisy, fat and slow), hug a tree (the only thing they’re good for is making huge piles of paper) or roust Bush out of office (I’ll leave that to the hurtling juggernaut, Ralph Nader).

So, I started following through on my promise. I’ve been writing a novel. It has been going ok but last night, I found a groove and couldn’t stop. I found myself awake at well past midnight, putting it all down. Then this morning, in the middle of a dream, I awoke with an idea that couldn’t wait. So I grabbed Jezebel (my new IBook) and hammered out another page or two. I decided to stop mid-sentence so I wouldn’t burn myself out.

Then, still reeling from this new fount of creativity, I decided to install Open Office for OSX on my machine. I can’t believe how powerful this free office productivity suite is! If you hate Microsoft as much as I do, you should look into Open Office.

Here are some of my latest Web Albums for you to get a kick out of… or not.

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Writing killed Remy St. James. Many people could argue that point but for all their denials, it is as true as anything else in this world. Granted, the act itself didn’t do it; unlike his wit, his prose was no where near that sharp.

Some might have an argument for placing blame on Remy’s new wife, but, as the detectives working the case were in the habit of telling anyone who would listen, the local criminalists had yet to thoroughly consider all the things that needed consideration.

The consideration should begin with the fact that his new found fame gained Remy a bit of a reputation over the course of the last few months of his miserable life. His writing could explain why he was suddenly a hit with the ladies. Remy was relatively plain and he wasn’t particularly well versed in the art of seduction but he was able to bed more than a few women who were clearly out of his league, possibly not even playing the same sport. Along with those few dispossessed women who might hold a grudge, there were a few men who might not have taken kindly to his new found sway with their wives.

His wife had recently made aware of this due to a few lipstick stained shirts and more than a few numbers scrawled on the inside of matchbook covers. While it was hard to miss bright red lipstick on a dead white shirt, matchbooks might not have been noticed if not for the fact that Remy didn’t smoke.
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Michael Franti and Spearhead are back with a new album. You can download two of the tracks, Everyone Deserves Music and Love Invincible FREE from the FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS section of Amazon.com
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You know what chaps my ass? People who have forgotten how to laugh or people who couldn’t find the humor in a given situation without a GPS. Laughter can cure a variety of ills including something that seems to have infected a number of people in the last ten years or so — false morality.
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Well, it’s 95% official so I think I can spill the beans. I’m moving to Maui on or about May 2, Red Queen in tow. I’ve spent the last few weeks mulling it over, talking to the RQ about it. No hurdles remain. Monday I will start the process of selling whatever I’m not taking with me and arranging shipping of my junk… Woohoo!

This is Kehei and if everything works out according to plan, where the RQ and I will live. Wish us luck!