Ok, I’ve begun work on the site again. This is the fourth
time this year, I think. I’ve come up with a design that I think
will work this time though. It’s simple, for the most part, allowing
me to focus on updating content along with aesthetics. It’s also
not going to be very graphics intensive.

I’ll still have graphics, of course. I love cool stuff like that too
much… but I’m going to K.I.S.S. this time in an effort to make the
redesign process actuall possible to finish without killing all of my
freetime.

Wish me luck.

We’ve all heard the question before. If you had it to do over again,
would you do it differently, knowing what you know now? It’s been applied
to lives, marriages, careers and I most recently heard it applied specifically
to high school.

So, I thought about it (for about a second) and came to the conclusion that,
hell yes, I would do it differently.

I wasn’t exactly the most popular kid in school. Fairly geeky with odd
interests and few social skills. (I’m not saying I had no friends,
by the way… I’m merely applying my own status against the entire scale of
high school popularity.) I was fairly uncomfortable in my own skin until my
senior year or so when the method to dealing with school and other people
finally started sinking into my brain.

Now, with my knowledge about how people and societies work combined with my
super-keen arm-chair psychology… I’d love to take on high school again. Funny
thing is, I don’t think I’d be any more popular and I still wouldn’t get the
girl… but I would have a lot more fun.

The intricate politics and fragile egos of even the most popular kids
would make fun playthings for a kid with nothing to lose. I mean, what
could happen? I’d get left out of the popular clique? So what? I now
know two important things about that. First, I never would have made it into
the popular circle anyhow and second, I don’t want the popularity.

I’d have spoken more openly and told more people what I felt… (including
teachers). (Speaking of teachers, I’d like to take a moment to give a shout out
to the typing teacher who flunked me my freshman year. I now type faster than
you ever did and… more importantly… make more money than you ever made.
-0= dickhead.) (Not that all my teachers were bad, mind you.
I had some fucking awesome teachers in high school.)

In the end, I’d have probably left high school with the same number of
friends… but the people who didn’t like me just for being me, would have been
given really good reasons hate me.

Of course, if I went to high school now… I’d be in trouble. I’d be one
of the kids getting
harrassed
because I might match the Littleton profile.

Given all the choices tho… I’d rather not go at all.

I know a lot of very intelligent people who are, for the most part, fairly in touch with what’s going on. One of the common traits I seem to run into is a disdain for television.

I don’t quite get it.

I mean, I understand some people’s point of view that television has usurped religion as the new opium for the masses. At best, that argument is weak though. They spout that it’s all mindless sitcoms, action/cop shows and soap operas. Appealing to the lowest common denominator, if you will.

First of all, that’s bullshit. I’ve got digital cable. That means that I’ve got more channels than God†. Among those, I have a plethora of movie channels and the Discovery network. The Discovery network is the best thing on television, hands down. You’ve got the Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, the History Channel and Animal Planet. Hardly mindless drivel.

Not all the noteworthy content necessarily comes from the ‘high-brow’ channels, though. HBO’s The Sopranos is an excellent modern mafia drama. Really some of the best writing and acting I’ve seen in a long time. Oz, also an HBO production, is a winner too . It’s a prison drama with very compelling stories, plots and subplots featuring a plethora of characters. My favorite action/drama, however, is Showtime’s Stargate SG-1. It’s basically a continuation of the Stargate movie, which was entertaining… though not exactly my favorite flick. Richard Dean Anderson (That’s right, MACGUYVER!) stars as O’Neil (previously Kurt Russell’s character), and he’s awesome. The storylines are complex and interesting. They play a great deal on old myths and modern fringe theories. Very cool.

Now, a word or two about sitcoms. Sure, they’re mostly pointless. They’re supposed to be. The best comedies are. I really don’t want a ‘message’ stuffed down my throat when I’m trying to get a healthy dose of laughter anyhow. This does not mean that all sitcoms are mindless, however. Far from it.

There are quite a few of these much maligned shows with superb writing and more than decent acting. It may be uncool to like mainstream stuff, in some circles, but Friends is a damn funny show. That 70’s Show is freaking brilliant. Malcom in The Middle is clever and creative. The Family Guy is hysterical. My new favorite show, however, is Titus. Titus is fucking classic. (If you’ve seen Titus more than once, and you don’t think it’s funny, you should probably get off my website.)

Anyhow, it’s fine to not like television, I suppose. You’re free to do and feel what you want. Just don’t think yer better than me because I watch TV. That’s ludicrous. If you cut out an entire medium containing some quality stuff (see above) because you don’t like Springer†† and Days of Our Lives… you’re the one losing out. Get off yer f’n high horse.

PS: MTV-X is awesome.

† Er, technically speaking… I am an atheist. So, it’s pretty easy to have better cable access.
††: Low-brow, trash TV like Springer is fine too, if that’s your bag. I suggest small doses, however.

Original date: 11/19/00

I’d be a bad jedi. I really would. And I don’t mean bad like a
bad-ass jedi… I just mean bad.

I like to think when it came to the big things, like fighting the Empire,
rescuing princesses, killing intergalactic gangsters to save my buddy
and stuff like that, I’d do the right thing. I mean, I think it’s kind of
easy to be noble on the big things when everyone is watching.

No, where’d I’d screw up is the little stuff. I mean the everyday things.
That jedi mind trick stuff would be the real killer. I’d use it all the time.
Just think of all the possibilities.

Never have a traffic ticket again, that’s for sure.

Oh man… would I ever get through lines at the supermarket quick or what!
“You don’t want to be in front of me in line…” …all the way to the front,
baby.

I’d surely get great deals at the car dealership too! “You don’t need that
dealer mark-up. You’d be happy to pass the savings on to me.” I’m pretty
sure the A/C, CD Player and the rest of my options would be fairly easy to
finagle at that point.

I suspect the lightsabre might get me into trouble too. Anyone know if
there’s a jedi code against using it as a bottle opener?