House of Squeak

mrsqueaky @ 2006-08-18T00:54:00

2006-08-18T05:07:32Z

I know, I'm trying. :)

Now, I bring you...

Using the transportation crate we were given as a bed/hutch for my office, the stage is set. Iorek, fierce warrior of the wastelands, launches head-first into the attack.

Bringing forth the limp carcass as evidence of his savagery, Iorek gloats for the spectators.

Iorek lays down the conquered hedgehog as an offering, but is that a glint of fear in his eye? Does he suspect that the beast will rise, phoenix-like, to wreak havoc on his world once more?

Perhaps -- but for now, the exhausted victor prepares to partake of the spoils of battle.

"Like a cookie? Huh? Can I have a cookie now?"

mrsqueaky @ 2006-08-14T08:57:00

2006-08-14T13:01:59Z

Because zoomardav asked so nicely...

The little guy got tuckered out on the journey home. Hopefully, today I'll be able to get some pictures of the eternal struggle between pug and hedgehog.

mrsqueaky @ 2006-08-10T01:24:00

2006-08-10T05:53:37Z

Well, hello.

I know it's been a while, and I know I make a bunch of excuses, but things are finally settling down.
I'm in Atlanta now. Well, Lawrenceville, to be precise -- one of the suburbs in the Metro Atlanta area. We moved in about a month ago, and Constant Companion Jenn had to start her job right away. This meant that pretty much all of the "getting stuff taken care of" bit went to me. On top of that, I started working soon afterward, so it's been hard to get through anything without interruptions, whether it's dealing with exterminators, the garbagemen, job-related stuff or whathaveyou. But things are getting into a groove, the place is starting to make some semblance of sense, and I think I can find the time to actually update more often and talk to folks again.
I'm working from home, and getting the rhythm of that down has been one of the bigger challenges. I know, it sounds like a totally sweet deal (and trust me, it is), but getting used to it has been a bit of a stretch. For one thing, dealing with the aforementioned distractions has been a bigger deal than I'd have thought. It's hard to focus, especially for someone as notoriously non-focused as myself. For another thing, it's *extremely* easy to get stir-crazy in here, especially when there's nobody but me and the cats. And when CCJ gets home after a full day and an hour commute, she often doesn't feel like going out and doing anything, so if I want to be around her at all (and I do), I have to continue to stay in. But for all of that, I think I'm finding out ways to get past the obstacles and eventually enjoy what I'm doing.
The cool outweighs the lame, to wax surferesque.
I've found a couple of cool hangouts: a decent local comic shop and Eat More Records. The grocery store down the street is excellent, there are any number of good restaurants nearby (I had a great time the other day eating Buffalo wings and talking with my waiter about Black Metal and how much Ozzfest sucks), and downtown L'ville -- about 5 minutes away -- is a nice spot to hang out. Very pedestrian-friendly and comfortable. In addition, there's a great tattoo place nearby so I can continue on my quest to get more Cthonic inkworks done. I'm relatively impressed, and I haven't even made into Atlanta proper more than once (again, frenzied activities get in the way).
And in somewhat big news, we're getting a pug tomorrow. Thanks to zoomardav and his Roscoe pics, neither me nor CCJ could withstand the attraction of the wee beasties any longer. We're going to pick him up tomorrow. His name's Iorek, named after the armored bear in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.
I have pictures, and more things to tell you about, but it's late and I'd have to upload the pics to the compy anyway (I *just* found the camera in a box).

More to come later. Missed you guys. I'll be back soon, I swear!

mrsqueaky @ 2006-05-23T15:31:00

2006-05-23T19:35:11Z

Well, it's done. We're married. It happened Thursday, May 18, at approx. 9 AM. I have pictures, but not here at work. They will follow.
Also, moving to Atlanta in about a month's time. Constant Companion Jenn got offered the Big Position I may have mentioned previously, and took 'em up on it. We'd be wildly stupid not to do so, as she'd be making almost precisely what we both make right now all on her own. I will probably continue to do exactly what I'm doing now, but from home, which is a brilliantly cool development (I do love what I do).

Life is crazy.

Fifty Albums.

2006-04-12T15:20:58Z

It's a meme thing. Big news later. Maybe only sorta big. Actually, may not be big at all. But news later, nonetheless.

Create your own Music List @ HotFreeLayouts!

Musical Meme

2006-03-09T22:42:31Z

Oh, while I'm here and remebering things, a happy birthday to someone who faced death and spewed profanity in its ugly, bony face, tikireaper. Enjoy yerself, sista.

Ganked from weaselwoman13...

1. What are you listening to right now?
Johnny Cash, At San Quentin (1999 complete concert reissue/remaster)

2. What song makes you sad?
"This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush tears my heart out, stomps on it, and fills my head with salty, salty teardrops.

3. What is the most annoying song in the world?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say every song by Jimmy Buffett. There is not *one* that does not make me want to kill.

4. Your all time favourite band?
DEVO. The greatest band to ever walk this puny planet.

5. Your newly discovered band is?
They've been around a while, but I hadn't dug into them 'til recently. They're Sunn O))), and they will liquefy your insides.

6. Best female voice?
Billie, Billie, Billie. And Ella.

7. Best male voice?
Totally typical answer, so I'm sorry, but I have to go with Sinatra. Not technically the greatest voice (same goes for Billie, who was one of Sinatra's inspirations), but a master of timing, expression and control. Probably one of the greatest interpreters of material ever.

8. Music type you find yourself listening to most?
All of the above.

9. What do you listen to, to hype you up?
DEVO, Parliament/Funkadelic, Cradle of Filth (yeah, I know...), X-Ray Spex, Wu-Tang Clan, AC/DC, Carl Stalling, Blondie, the Ramones, Motorhead, the Damned, Wanda Jackson, and the Cramps' Songs the Lord Taught Us. Among others.

10. What do you listen to, to calm down?
Exotica, the High Llamas, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Coil, Ella and Louis/Ella and Louis Again!, and the Cramps' Psychedelic Jungle. Among others.

11. Last gig/concert you went to?
DEVO.

12. Band you find yourself listening to the most right now?
The Damned and Camper Van Beethoven. And Cradle of Filth (I already said, I *know*).

13. Most hated band?
Oh, I have to agree with weaselwoman13. Creed, and any hellspawn they produce (I'm looking at you, Scott Stapp).

14. Song that makes you think?
"Beautiful World," DEVO.

15. Band that you think the world should love as much as you do?
The Damned. Everyone goes on and on about how fucking great the Sex Pistols were, and how "punk" it is that they turned down the R&R Hall o' Fame, but the Damned were always my faves, and they oughta be yours as well.

16. Coolest music video?
Again, "Beautiful World," DEVO. The greatest video ever made? Oh, yes.

17. Music video with the most babe watch?
Hunh? Whaa?

18. What do you play in the bedroom to spice things up?
Scrabble.

19. Can you play a musical instrument?
I make a horrible noise on guitar.

20. Ever been in a mosh pit?
Oh, yes.

21. Are you in a band?
Nope. Almost played bass in one, though.

22. If yes, what kind of music does your band play and what is your role in it?
It wasn't yes.

23. Ever dated a musician?
Not that you'd notice.

24. If yes, what kind of music did he/she/they play/instrument/band?
Nothing you'd know.

27. If no, would you consider?
Sure.

28. Do you wish yourself that you were a musician?
Who doesn't? Even musicians wish that.

29. Best chick band you know of?
Chick band??? Christ. Who *says* that???
That being said, though, I'll go with the 5,6,7,8's.

30. Best guy band you know of?
How many times to I have to say DEVO???

31. Last song that you heard on the radio/...etc...?
Johnny Cash, "A Boy Named Sue"

32. What do you think of Classical music?
Like anything else, I like some, some I don't.

33. What do you think of Country music?
I don't like most contemporary pop-styled country, but I love lots of other stuff like Emmylou, Loretta Lynn, Neko Case, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, June/Carter Family, Buck Owens, Steve Earle, Webb Wilder, etc.

34. What do you think of Death metal?
Black metal. And apparantly I don't like it unless it sucks at the corporate teat, like CoF.

35. Last BIG band that you saw live?
Does DEVO and/or Ween count?

36. Are you a groupie?
I'm a *grouper*. I live in the water and have fins.

37. Do you listen to music in foreign languages?
Yep.

38. What famous musician would you like to have sex with?
Hmmm...Debbie Harry circa 1978 or so, Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Neko Case, Ville Valo, and for some reason I have a thing for female bassists or drummers. I dunno why, but I swoon.

39. Worst concert moment?
Constant Companion Jenn nearly having an asthma attack while being crushed at a Marilyn Manson show in Vancouver, British Columbia.

40. Funny Concert moment?
Ween *almost* breaking out into "Purple Rain."

41. Sad Concert moment?
Having the sudden, crystalline realization at a Black Crowes concert that the marriage was simply not going to work.

42. Best local act you can think of?
Local to me? Ummm...Thievery Corporation now, Fugazi then.

43. If you were a musical instrument what would you be?
Probably not typing.

44. Do you listen to the radio?
After realizing that I could get no decent college station, and that the only interesting local station (which played nothing but old-school funk and soul) was going belly-up, I haven't listened to the radio in at least 5 years.

45. Do you watch music TV?
I'll watch "We Are the '80s" on VH1-Classic, but aside from that, no.

46. Do you follow the music charts, like the top 40?
Not since quitting Tower.

47. Have you met any famous musicians?
Lots. Gary Numan, "Weird Al" Yankovic, DEVO, Hammerin' Hank Rollins, Beck, Sascha Konietzko, Layne Staley, Courtney Love (and it was as painful as you might imagine), 4/5 of Marilyn Manson (back in the Daisy days), most of Anthrax, Flava Flav and Terminator X, Eartha Kitt, etc.

48. Are any of your friends/family etc musicians?
My uncle and aunt.

49. Do you know how much Hello Kitty weighs?
Can you weigh love?

50. Name one celebrity Kraftwerk fanboy.
Beck. Afrika Bambaataa. The guys in Death in Vegas.

51. Do you know the names of all the band members that you listen to?
No. Just most of them.

52. Does a musician’s physical attractiveness play a role in the music that you listen to?
No. A musician's physical attractiveness only plays a role in whether or not I'll think about them late at night whilst alone.

53. What famous musician do you want to marry?
My dearly beloved Steven Patrick Morrissey.

54. Favourite movie sound track?
Suspiria, by Goblin.

55. Any musician pet hates?
I love all animals.

56. What do your parents listen to?
My mom likes lots of mainstream pop, and is deeply in love with Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Matchbox 20. My dad listens to a lot of rap, country, and 70s AOR.

57. What are you listening to right NOW?
Myself typing.

58. Do you wear band etc T-shirts?
Periodically, if I see a particularly cool one.

59. What do you think of people who do?
I guess they might be okay.

60. What music sub-culture do you feel like you belong to?
The KISS Army.

61. What song is stuck in your head right now?
"Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond.

62. Do you sing in the shower?
Yes.

63. If so, what? If not, why not?
Whatever is stuck in my head.

64. Would you rather marry a musician or be one yourself?
I'd be a musician and marry myself.

65. What is in your walkman/discman right now?
I don't have one.

66. How important is your partners taste in music to you?
Very, because I am picky like that.

67. Hanson moves in next door to you, do you go introduce yourself, or do you arrange to beat them up?
I'll intro myself. I'm sure they're good kids.

68. Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll, you dig?
Right back atcha, skip.

69. Do you cook to music?
If I don't, then I start making up fake Tom Waits songs as I work.

70. Do you sing in the toilet?
No, I sing *to* the toilet.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-12-15T23:26:00

2005-12-16T04:27:41Z

Me 'n' Seph

My nephew and me, Thanksgiving.

I look like a total doofus. I get that way.

Meme sturf. More to say later, I swear.

2005-12-12T21:49:53Z

Like *this* was any surprise...

Feminine
You scored 36 masculinity and 73 femininity!

You scored high on femininity and low on masculinity. You have a traditionally feminine personality.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 4% on masculinity

You scored higher than 87% on femininity

Link: The Bem Sex Role Inventory Test written by weirdscience on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

mrsqueaky @ 2005-10-23T17:56:00

2005-10-23T21:59:50Z

Man, I've been away for too long again.
To try to make it up to you, here's a Hallowe'en gift for all a-y'all.
Did this last year, but if you missed it, it's worth going back for it!
Ghouls With Attitude!
Two CDs worth of groovy monster music and trailers! You can never have enough Criswell in your life, admit it. So go get it, already!

That political meme thing...

2005-09-23T18:00:23Z

You are a
Social Liberal
(90% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(6% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Socialist

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Excuse me.

2005-09-15T01:19:38Z

962840e3d0e0bd26082b377130234d40

Meme sturf

2005-09-07T18:43:11Z

Look at your LJ interests list. If you have fewer than 50 interests, pick every fifth one. If you have between fifty and seventy-five interests, pick every seventh one. If you have over seventy-five interests, pick every tenth one. If you have fewer than ten, pick all of 'em. List them on your LJ, and tell everyone exactly what it is about these things that interests you so much.

boris karloff - The first horror film actor I took to, due to an early exposure to the Universal horrors of the 1930s and '40s. I loved Frankenstein as a kid, and had posters, toys, busts, etc. Still love the monster a bunch.

coil - The magickal childe of Jhonn Balance and Peter Christopherson, Coil produced some of the most dense, spare, harsh, tranquil, ugly, beautiful, dark, light music ever created. Springing fully formed from the forehead of Psychic TV, Coil made ritual music that could be enjoyed out of the ritual context. Balance crossed the threshold on November 13, 2004.

david sedaris - Oh, I hate listing him because everyone likes him. Not much to say. I'm a big fan of his sister Amy as well. His preferred genre, the literary memoir, has become something of a cliche at this point, but his work in this field (as well as on NPR's This American Life) still remains vibrant and funny.

elephant 6 - This loosely-organized musical movement has long since disassembled, but encompassed such bands as Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Apples in Stereo, Of Montreal, Circulatory System, Elf Power, Dressy Bessy, and others. I tend not to listen to the more explicitly Beatles/Beach Boys-inspired acts (Apples, Of Montreal) as often as the more experimental OTC, NMH and Circulatory System, but I like 'em all.

garth ennis - He wrote Preacher. 'Nuff said. (I like just about everything else the man's written, but Preacher would get him listed on its own.)

horror movie hosts - I'm surprised nobody else has listed this. My dream job is to host horror movies on TV. I never really grew up with any outside of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, being in a rural Alabama town as a lad, but I've long had a fascination with them. From Zacherley to Ghoulardi. From Vampira to Morgus the Magnificent. From Svengoolie to The Ghoul. They were the proto-MST3Ks, riffing on the movies they'd be showing, all the while providing their own cheesy horror atmosphere. Like MST3K, the show itself was as important as the movie being shown *in* the show.

lucio fulci - Damn, do I love Fulci. An accomplished filmmaker outside of the horror context (his Don't Torture a Duckling and Four of the Apocalypse are classics of the giallo and spaghetti western genres), his series of "undead" films has forever etched his name in the annals of horror history. Zombie (aka Zombi 2), City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and House by the Cemetery are fantastic, misanthropic, ugly pieces of bleeding art. His The Beyond may be one of my favorite horror films of all time. It's a complete shattering of reality, and remarkably accomplished for a cheesy horror flick.

neutral milk hotel - Of the Elephant 6 bands, NMH are my favorite. The album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful pieces of music ever composed and recorded, and is essentially about finding joy and fulfillment in the face of certain death. Anne Frank is referenced a lot. Over-earnestness tends to turn me off, and while there's nobody more earnest than NMH's Jeff Mangum, he pulls me into every song. There are few songs that affect me more than "Oh Comely."

pootie tang - Pootie Tang! Seepa chow, my haddy dee. No panny sty to the rammy kind, geepa? Maisie bang down to the frennie, too. Hah!

satan - He's more fun than Yahweh *or* his kid.

silly putty - I get a new egg full of Silly Putty every year at Easter. It's a thing.

the cramps - Lux and Ivy are gods walking this planet. Do not question them. Do not question even the questionable albums as of late. They ooze, you'll throb. In their prime (from Gravest Hits through A Date With Elvis), they could do no wrong. Even when they're not in their prime (from then to now), they *still* rock my feeble soul more consistently than a band a third of their age. They are the Platonic Ideal of coupledom, in my mind.

the velvet underground - What can be said about them? Nothing you haven't already heard. Even the post-Yule stuff is good (aside from the post-Reed stuff). (edit: I said "post-Yule," but I actually meant the stuff after Doug Yule joined the band, hence the post- prefix. I oughta said "post-Cale.")

werewolves - My favorite monsters. Ever. I can't explain why. Ever since I was a little kid. It's just one of those things.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-09-05T23:46:00

2005-09-06T03:49:10Z

One of the greatest editorial smack-downs of the Bush administration EVER (video). Keith Olbermann is a god amongst newsmen, and I want to bear his children.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-09-03T17:15:00

2005-09-03T22:00:43Z

There has been a handful of conservative bloggers and pundits who, upon seeing that people have seized upon the point of the lack of response provided by the federal government in the aftermath of Katrina, have been making the counterpoint that the onus was on the state and local levels of government to make the first move and specifically request whatever aid was needed. Here's some information regarding that...

One of the prime examples cited by these schmucks of the city's failure to respond is a picture circulating (which I can't find now) of a parking lot full of school buses sitting in 2 or so feet of water, with the question being asked "why weren't these buses deployed during the forced evacuation?" The answer is that THESE WERE NOT CITY BUSES. The New Orleans school districts' bus service is provided by Laidlaw, a private company, rather than the city. Laidlaw is the parent company of Greyhound Bus Lines. There were no drivers available for the buses, and the city couldn't just steal them (under current instructions, they would probably be shot if they tried). This is George Bush's Ownership Society -- privatization of formerly government-run facilities. And it failed.

The notion of a failure to formally request federal aid also comes up. If you had heard (or read the transcript of) Mayor Ray Nagin's radio interview Wed or Thu night, the issue got raised there, and he kept insisting that they'd continually asked for help, and pointed out that neither the tsunami victims nor Iraqi citizens made a formal request of the US government. Well, it seems that Louisiana did, in fact, request federal aid on 9/28 (warning: .pdf file).

Lastly, but certainly not leastly, it seems that those making these arguments simply have no idea what they're talking about, as the onus was never on the local-level authorities to take action. According to this administration's own Department of Homeland Security Website:
"In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort." (emphasis mine)

Was local response perfect? Hardly. Local evacuation plans were spotty, and didn't really account well enough for people unable to make it out of the city on their own. A better evacuation plan on the local level could have ensured that more people made it out of the city before flooding began. But given that local funding for emergency response was cut, potential mass transit via school buses were hamstrung by privatization, combined with a complete detachment from the situation on the federal level, it's a wonder they were able to be organized enough to get 80% of the people out. And at least neither Mayor Nagin nor Governor Blanco did anything like take trips to San Diego to make speeches comparing the Iraq war to WWII, fly out to Arizona to celebrate Senator John McCain's birthday, go fly fishing in Wyoming, attend Spamalot, play tennis with Monica Seles, or go on a several-thousand dollar shoe shopping spree on NYC's Fifth Avenue.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-09-02T12:15:00

2005-09-02T16:59:41Z

A bit of personal history, as to why what's going on in NOLA is bothering me so much (not that it shouldn't otherwise)...

I grew up in Alabama in a small town called Valley (actually for the first few years, in Lanett, which bordered Valley...and historically speaking, Valley was comprised of several small towns like Fairfax, Langdale, Shawmut, and others, which incorporated as Valley the year we moved). Went to college in Alabama. But never really went to NOLA that much. The few times I went, I loved it, but I neglected it for the most part. I married an Alabamian, and we honeymooned in New Orleans. I loved every minute I was there. But then we moved to Seattle, and our marriage disintegrated quickly. We divorced after two years, and New Orleans suddenly had some lousy emotional connotations.

For a while, I had been developing this online friendship with a female from Baton Rouge. Being young and silly, and a huge Gaiman fan, she was operating under the screen name Thessaly, and we were both on a couple of mailing list communities. Things happened, and we became a lot closer, though we'd never met. She'd seen Manos: The Hands of Fate theatrically. She practiced magic(k). She knew more about Voodoo/Voodoun/whatever your preferred spelling is than I did. She was quick, smart, funny, sarcastic, and just about as goddamned perfect as one could be. But we'd never met. Strangely, we'd been in the same places a *lot*. I'd shopped in the Books-a-Million she managed in Mobile (on the way to my previous honeymoon!) while she was on the floor. We'd both been to the same Ramones shows in Atlanta. We'd both been to the same shows at the University of Alabama (and were damn close to each other at the Camper Van Beethoven show). But actually meeting face-to-face, no.

So we made a plan. I came home to Valley over a long Hallowe'en weekend. She picked me up at my house, and we drove back to her place in Baton Rouge. Not for long, though. We shortly got back on the road.

And we spent the weekend in New Orleans.

As I said, I'd loved the city before. But not as much as I could have possibly loved it that weekend. It wasn't the same city I'd ever been in before. I fell in love -- both with New Orleans and the woman I call Constant Companion Jenn -- deeper than I ever thought could be possible. Paradoxically, I saw less of the city itself than I had before. We spent far too much time in our room. Despite that, the city stopped being the place I'd been to with my parents back on our trip to Texas. It stopped being the place I'd been to in college. It stopped being the place I went on a honeymoon (where a palm reader told me that my marriage was not going to last). It became the place where I finally met the person I would share the rest of my life with, as a month and a half later, she moved into my tiny Seattle apartment.

Since then, both of us have had a long-distance love affair with New Orleans. Being broke (and on the West Coast) for most of our subsequent days, it was lucky enough if we were able to visit our parents, much less take a real, live, vacation on our own somewhere. When we moved to Maryland in 2000, the fact that we'd be closer to the city we both loved so much was a big reason why we decided to make the move. But life got in the way, and we never made it back.

When Hurricane Katrina was plowing its way up towards NOLA, we pledged that if it missed the city, that we would go back at the beginning of the next year (when we'd both have vacation time again). When it did miss the city, we were overjoyed, even at the same time we were hurt by the devastation caused along the Gulf Coast region (we both have family and friends scattered along the Gulf Coast, who have suffered the brunt of all the hurricanes from this past year -- Constant Companion Jenn's parents live just outside of Pensacola). Then the flooding started.

I'm just rambling. I know. And I know that there are plenty of other people with a much more personal investment. My story is superficially no more compelling or meaningful than that of any tourist, since that is pretty much what I am. Just a tourist. I never lived there, never had a lot of friends there (those I did have, moved, and I lost touch). But it's where I fell in love. It's where my heart lives. And it's where my heart is breaking.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-09-01T17:06:00

2005-09-01T21:44:16Z

Fuck it. Civility is over.

I don't care who the fuck thinks it's wrong to politicize the tragedy in NOLA right now. I could not give two shits less. The reaction by the federal government to what is going on is pathetic. Repulsive. And bordering on criminal. And the actions leading up to the flood? Pretty much as fucking bad.

FEMA, in early 2001, assessed the three greatest catastrophes the country faced. They were (1) a massive earthquake in California, (2) massive flooding in the New Orleans basin, and (3) a terrorist attack on NYC. Bush's response to this? Cut funding to efforts in NOLA to prepare. $14 billion was needed to repair the levees, and only a stream of $540 million was diverted over a period of 4 years (an act of congress initially opposed by Bush). Because of these cuts, this reparation was essentially halted (as described in the New Orleans Times-Picayune as excerpted here). Why was the budget for these much-needed repairs cut so drastically. The US Army Corps of Engineers comes out and says it...
"The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars."

So, tax cuts for Bush's rich cronies and an uneccessary war in Iraq siphoned off the money needed to help ensure that this didn't happen.

And what's the response been like? Take a look at the reports coming in from NOLA's Convention Center...
(transcripts from CNN reports from NOLA)

Spellman: Right now, and for several hours, a stream of people have been heading down Canal street heading for the the convention center looking for help. The Convention Center is along the Mississippi river on the southern side of town. They'lll be shocked at what they see when they get there. It's thousands and thousands of people who hav ebeen there all nigth sleeping out on the streets on the sidewalk wherever they can find a spot.

There's no one in control. No national guard. no police. And certainly no FEMA.

Inside we've gotten disturbing news of many dead bodies and nothing to be done with them. CNN's Chris Lawrence got word to us that right in front of him an infant died. That's where people are going for help and there's simply none for them.

Kagan: And Jim, when you were talking to us earlier you were saying among these thousands of people who are there, they're there with perhaps a false hope of immediate helpd, that they believe they are standing by waiting for a bus or a boat or someone to come get them. There's really no indication that's going to happen anytime soon.

Spellman: Indeed... it's rumors spreading throughout the group. The convention center sits on an area called the riverwalk which is a sort of promenade along the river. There's two riverboats, the last time I checked down there, that are sitting there, the Cajun Queen and another one I didn't get the name of. They're sitting there empty with no activity around them and many people believe these boats will take them away to safety and where they can start to regroup. Also buses, they think that buses are coming for them but there's been no indication that any buses are coming to the convention center. The only buses that we've seen leaving the downtown area are buses provided by hotels only for their guests.
=====
It's hard to describe. It's something I never could conceive of ever seein gin a major city like New Orleans. It is hard to believe. This is New Orleans Louisiana we ware talking about. We spent the last few hours at the convention center where There are thousands of people just laying in the street. They have nowhere to go. These are mothers. We saw mothers. We talked to mothers holding babies. Some of these babies are 3, 4, 5, months old living in these horrible conditions. Putrid food on the ground. Sewage, their feet sitting in sewage. We saw feces on the ground. These people are being forced to live like animals. When you look at some of these mothers your heart just breaks. We're not talking about a few families or a few hundred families. Thousands of people are gathered around the convention.

I want to warn you. Some of these images that you will see they're very very graphic. But people need see this. The people that are down there have been down there for days. People need to see what it is really like here. We saw dead bodies. People are dying at the convention center and there's no one there to come get them. We saw an older woman, someone's mother someone's grandmother, in a wheelchair. Her dead body pushed up against the side of the convention center with a blanket over it. Right on the ground next to her another dead body wrapped in a white sheet.

People are literally dying. Right in front of us as we were watching this a man went into a seizure on the ground. It looked like he was dying. People tried to prop his head up. No one has medical training. No ambulance can come. It is just heartbreaking that people are just sitting there without food or water waiting for the buses to come tak ehtem away. People keep asking us - when are the buses coming. And I just have to say, I don't know.
=====
Kyra: Do you get a sense at all, Chris, that I mean... Is anything getting through with regard to food or water. Is anything... where are the supplies? We've been talking so much about food and water being dispatched. Are there absolutely no trucks getting in to New Orleans at all?

Chris Lawrence: They say that there have been National Guard units that have come by. Tossed some MREs out. Very little. Here and there. People have been eating potato chips that they can scrounge up, looting some of the stores that are nearby for food and water, for juice, for drinks. Not the kind of food that you need to feed these thousands of people. What these people are saying basically is give us some water, give us some food, don't leave us here to die or get us out of here. They're saying we're stuck here. We cant leave. They don't send the buses. They won't take us out of here and yet they won't come in with truckloads of water and food to feed us. You've got sick people there, sick You've got old people there, these young babies there. What are they going to do? Are they going to leave us here to die?
=====
From the Associated Press:
Fury rose among many of those evacuated. Outside the Convention Center, the sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement. Thousands of storm refugees had been assembling outside for days, waiting for buses that did not come.

At least seven bodies were scattered outside, and hungry, desperate people who were tired of waiting broke through the steel doors to a food service entrance and began pushing out pallets of water and juice and whatever else they could find.

An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.

"I don't treat my dog like that," 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. "I buried my dog." He added: "You can do everything for other countries but you can't do nothing for your own people. You can go overseas with the military but you can't get them down here."
=====

Meanwhile, Bush denies on Good Morning America that anyone could have predicted that the levees would fail. Bullshit, as usual. Scott McLellan proclaims about those people suffering in NOLA that "there are ways for them to get that help." And Condi Rice takes in Spamalot and buys thousands of dollars of shoes while on a New York vacation.

Fuckers. The lot of them.

Pointless yet appropriate lyric posting

2005-08-30T14:31:46Z

Louisiana 1927
(Randy Newman)

What has happened down here is the winds have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tyrin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, "Little fat man isn't it a shame what the river has done
To this poor cracker's land."

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

Louisiana, Louisiana
They're tryin' to wash us away
They're tryin' to wash us away

mrsqueaky @ 2005-08-19T21:21:00

2005-08-20T01:26:52Z

Since I've never met any of you people in person, I can't really do that meme thing that's been going around. I feel left out. It's like gym class all over again.

As I mentioned before, here are the pics of the nephew from my trip down South Carolina way...

mrsqueaky @ 2005-06-17T23:32:00

2005-06-18T03:42:50Z

One of my favorite people on this planet, tikireaper, is in the hospital. ICU. She's suffering from septicemia, and it's bad. I know that a handful of you reading are already aware of the situation, and are thinking of her. But it would really mean a lot to me if anyone out there who isn't a friend of hers would keep her in your thoughts, if only for a moment. She needs all the help she can get.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-04-23T22:27:00

2005-04-24T03:09:20Z

Ganked from weaselwoman13, one of the coolest people around these parts. Get better!

1) Using your Current Initials, choose a different name for yourself.
Daniel Bartholomew Bialystock. Or, using the initals everyone knows, Aloysius Bialystock.

2) If you were born outside of your era, when would you want to be born and why?
At the right time to enjoy the 1920s through the 1940s. And enjoy a late-in-life career renaissance in the late 50s that would last through the end of the 60s. Whenever Karloff was born, in other words.

3) If you ran a store, what would you sell/have?
Actually toyed with this idea once. It'd be a bookstore much like Atomic Books in Baltimore, with a fairly extensive section on LHP magic(k) and bizarre pop culture. Of course, now that I'm within a stone's throw of Atomic, my needs have changed.

4) What part in a movie would you love to play?
Vincent Price in a Roger Corman biopic.

5) In your opinion, why do people suck?
Guilt, repression of indulgent joy, and the notion that everyone should be as miserable as they are.

6) If you had your own state, what would you put on your new quarter?
Coop's "Wheel Girl".

7) Whats the oldest article of clothing you own?
A sharkskin jacket from the 1950s. Elvis Costello once complimented me on it.

8) What piece of furniture have you replaced the most?
DVD storage.

9) What instrument do you wish you could be more than great at?
The guitar. Typical response, I suppose, but I have one here that's doing no one any good.

10) Record, Tape or Cd?
CD, I suppose.

11) What do you think would be the best concert ever? (max: 4 bands)
DEVO already is, and no one can top them. I have a sneaking suspicion that Gogol Bordello are simply AMAZING live, and want to see them badly.

12) What's the best part of your favorite movie?
The scene in Citizen Kane during the Thatcher flashback -- when we first see Kane in his prime. Welles at his verbal-sparring best ("As Charles Foster Kane who owns eighty-two thousand, six hundred and thirty-four shares of public transit - you see, I do have a general idea of my holdings - I sympathize with you. Charles Foster Kane is a scoundrel. His paper should be run out of town. A committee should be formed to boycott him. You may, if you can form such a committee, put me down for a contribution of one thousand dollars."), and as attractive a man that's ever walked.

13) What do you think is the most over-rated candy ever?
Cadbury Eggs.

14) If you were writing out your will, who would you give your CD collection to?
tikireaper, since Constant Companion Jenn dislikes most of my stuff.

15) If you could only debate two topics the rest of your life, what would they be?
Gay rights and the fallacy that our culture is "declining."

16)Out of your friends, who would you say you are most jealous of, artistically?
Constant Companion Jenn. She's a great painter who never gets to paint.

17) Most jealous of....intellectually?
orobouros and geekygabe

18) What do you collect?
Images of Satan, Godzilla toys, DVDs and CDs.

19) What is broken that you have, that you wish was fixed?
My LaserDisc player.

20) What do you do when you're home sick?
Drape myself over whatever piece of furniture is nearby and moan sadly.

21) Why does this survey rock?
Because these are questions that demand answers! Or something!

22) Story behind your username?
Mr. Squeaky is the name of a hunchbacked groundhog who used to have a career in the film industry and who now lives in a penthouse in the upper section of the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland (which he won as the result of a fraudulent lawsuit againt the theme park).

23) Current Favorite Article of Clothing?
My pink flowery long-sleeved shirt. Hard to describe.

24) Line from the last thing you wrote for someone?
"It’s 9:30, and the cats are yelling at me, so I must go attend to their every damned need."

25) A famous person you have met?
Mark Mothersbaugh.

26) Favorite way to waste time?
Bad, bad, bad movies.

27) Last thing you bought yourself?
The "Herschell Gordon Lewis Collection" DVD set from Something Weird.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-04-18T22:34:00

2005-04-19T02:37:44Z

Oh, and nursemarbles and ladywerewolf, your CDs are in the mail. I had cards for you both, but I left them at home while the CDs were at work, and rather than wait another day, I just sent them as is.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-04-15T15:52:00

2005-04-15T20:42:53Z

nursemarbles and ladywerewolf, I still have your CDs. Taxes and work have consumed my time, and I have not had a moment's rest. I am a cad and a scoundrel.

On the music front, the new Nine Inch Nails leaked. Now, I was -- for a few seconds there, from Pretty Hate Machine through The Downward Spiral -- enough of a fan to own the albums and some singles. Saw the band live once, primarily because of David Bowie headlining, and secondarily because I was hoping that the show I attended would be the one where Bowie would eventually hit Trent in the head with a saxophone for ripping off "Crystal Japan." But I never thought enough of NIN to be as devoted as a lot of people I knew were. They were (or, rather, TRez was and is) just a pleasantly dark enough pop band with aspirations to Ministry-hood. And, hey, he had Foetus and Coil remix his stuff, which was cool by me (as I liked both of them better than TRez anyway). I wound up with a free copy of The Fragile and listened to it one time too many. Which means I've listened to it all the way through the one time. I occasionally think about re-evaluating it (I mean, MJK of Tool seems to like it quite a lot, so maybe it's got *something* that I've missed out on), but I can't get past "The Day the World Went Away" without shuddering and taking it out of the player before I get the urge to hunt down and harm Reznor, an urge which followed me for weeks after the sole complete listen I gave it. So, it was with some trepidation that I downloaded the leak of the new record. And, what can I say? It's a NIN record. It's the same damn album he keeps putting out, only produced better this go-'round, and with fewer Bowie/Eno "atmosphere" pastiches. It's a formula, and it seems to work for the guy, so he keeps doing it over and over. There are three generic types of NIN songs (excluding his Bowie/Eno rip-offs), and they're all here: the piano-based ballad, the guitar-heavy riffmonster, and the "tukka-tss-tukka-tss-tukka-tss" fast alt.industrial speed thingie. Mix and match those approaches with his three lyrical themes -- "I'm angry!" "I'm sad." "I'm horny!" -- at random, and you've got yourself a NIN album. Oh, and don't forget to use the phrase "nothing can stop me now" at least once per album, or else people will think you're Stabbing Westward and accidentally file you in the cut-out bin. That being said, this *is* a more song-oriented record, with pretty unambitious structure, which is where TRez is at least somewhat acceptable. It's not original, but it's not horribly unpleasant. It doesn't make me want to rip my ears off, let's put it that way. I'd much rather hear it again than The Fragile. Which ain't sayin' much, but hey. I still say he should just retire from recording and devote himself to producing other people's stuff. Or devote himself to playing Doom. Whatever. Just stop recording and go do something else.

I did, however, finally download Kaizer's Orchestra's album Ompa Til Du Dør, which is a fun little piece of polka-flavored banging-on-oil-cans rock. I enjoyed that one quite a bit.

Constant companion Jenn is going to be gone for two whole weeks, and I'm trying not to think about it too much. Hong Kong. Taipei, Taiwan. It makes me sad. So tonight, my friends, I drink.

mrsqueaky @ 2005-04-04T14:55:00

2005-04-04T18:41:10Z

Saw Frank Miller's Sin City this weekend. Blissfully misanthropic. Beautifully brutal. It's a lifetime of the worst of human depravity crammed into a hard-boiled 2 hours and 6 minutes. It's like a Mickey Spillane wet dream. Which, of course, is also true of the Miller comics, but it takes a bit more time to chew your way through them. Seeing these comics -- almost perfectly, in a rare display of the page translating nearly flawlessly to the screen -- depicted is like having the panels driven into your cerebrum with a sledgehammer. It's a pretty kind of pain. And it's a film buff's flick, which helps. It's the world of the film noir translated from the grim, rain-soaked streets of the metropolis into a realm of pure, bleakly gorgeous fantasy. It's a world where the definition of good and evil depends solely on who's brandishing the weapon at the time. It's as mean as sin and twice as tempting. (Almost saw it twice this weekend, but I forgot to change the clocks, and I overslept.) Plus, any movie that can make several people I generally can't stand appealing (Brittany Murphy, Josh Hartnett, Jessica Alba) has to be some kind of work of genius. The only thing that'd make it better would be if Foetus had worked his crime-jazz mojo over the thing, but the Robert Rodriguez/Graeme Nevell/John Debney score works just fine in its absence. Hell, I even loved the way the credits were worded, with a full screen devoted to Frank Miller's comics, and Rodriguez' "Shot and Cut by Robert Rodriguez."

Constant Companion Jenn's mother left the building on Friday, which is a HUGE relief. Finally back in a real bed, rather than sleeping on floors and sofas. Jenn's back gave way to a pulled muscle (or something -- she wouldn't go to the doctor about it, so my diagnosis should be taken with a grain of salt) on Wednesday, which threw their plans for the rest of the week straight out the window. I had to leave work to take care of her, but she was improving by Thursday, so I was able to come back to the office. It's a shame, though, that they couldn't enjoy the vacation for half the week.

Not much else going on over here. nursemarbles, your CD has been burned, but I've yet to get it ready for shipping. I'll try to stay on top o' that.

mrsqueaky @ 2004-12-10T00:22:00

2004-12-10T06:11:17Z

Ganked from tikireaper

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:

1. Aleck
2. Brian
3. Mr. Squeaky

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:

1. Aleck
2. Mr. Squeaky
3. House of Squeak

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:

1. I have an excellent sense of humor.
2. I write well.
3. I'm a loyal friend.

THREE THINGS YOU HATE ABOUT YOURSELF:

1. I anger easily.
2. I am overweight.
3. I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
(that I know of, not counting the mystery that is my father's heritage)
1. Irish
2. Cherokee
3. British

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:

1. Cockroaches. Esp. the flying ones.
2. Spiders, but only if they're the size of Volkswagons or larger.
3. Abandonment

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:

1. Jenn
2. Music
3. Internet access/Restraint from killing people (tie)

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:

1. Target Halloween shirt
2. Pajama bottoms with bongos and palm trees on 'em
3. Glasses

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS:

1. DEVO
2. The Beatles
3. Parliament/Funkadelic

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT PRESENT:

1. MF Doom - "Kookiez"
2. Camper Van Beethoven - "Tania"
3. XTC - "Senses Working Overtime"

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:

1. Dim sum
2. Writing something based on this idea I had (no details at the moment)
3. Actually socializing.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP (love is a given):

1. A Little Respect, just like Erasure
2. Romance
3. Surprises

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE:

1. I own a lot of albums by the Electric Light Orchestra
2. I have an unhealthy fixation on Corey Feldman
3. I once killed a man with my mind.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX (or same) THAT APPEAL TO YOU:

1. Eyes
2. Fingers
3. Lips

THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:

1. Make it through Ulysses by James Joyce, no matter how I try.
2. Get into Sonic Youth, though I know I should
3. Relate

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:

1. Writing
2. Watching movies
3. Reading

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:

1. Go to sleep
2. Finish this list
3. Find a copy of King Geedorah's Take Me To Your Leader on CD.

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:

1. More Home Video stuff
2. Writer
3. Raconteur

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:

1. Disneyland/Walt Disney World
2. London
3. Mexico

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:

1. Get a book published
2. Become known as the best bald children's author since Shel Silverstein (I will shave my head again for this)
3. Establish the name "Patinkin" as a synonym for "ass" -- as in, "I got kicked in the patinkin!"

WARNING: Cutesy Baby Stuff

2004-12-08T16:04:15Z

Just got a picture from my sister...

Christmas Seph

I imagine him saying "Yeah, I'm wearing a Santa hat...what are you gonna do about it, punk?"