I was hit by a confluence of influences today. First, Mr. Vice's recent series on his favorite TV shows got me started about what possible series I could start myself. Second, there was the recent post I did on 150 things about me. And, most importantly, the cover story on the current issue of the Isthmus: 150 Things We Love About Madison.

Basically, it's a list of 150 things that make Madison awesome. I find this particularly interesting since Madison is, by far, the best city I've ever lived in, and I'm kinda sad that I'll (probably) be leaving here in just a few short months. Anyway, whenever I'm running short of stuff to write about, I'll write about my personal experience with something on the list. Some of the things I've done, some of the things I haven't. It's my hope that this will ispire me, and hopefully some wiling cohorts, to do some of the things we haven't done yet. Or redo some of the more awesome things.

This won't be an all-consuming thing. I'll keep posting normal stuff, too, but, interspersed with my rants against radom radio and my gushing about the Wii, you'll find stories about some of the things that make Madison an awesome city. Hope you enjoy.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)| Filed under 150 Things to Love About Madison , General Remarks

This may come as a shock to many of you, but I'm really not that much of a cynical person. I'm more of a hopeless romantic, really. I do my best to be a good person, even if I don't always succeed.

But, the other day, I was confronted with a situation that sort of confused me. There were several possible explanations; one tended to suggest that the person was your standard douchebag-type person. The other tended to suggest that the person was just, well, good. I didn't even consider the possibility that the second interpretation might be the one that applied. I just assumed the person was a douchebag. It wasn't until later, when I discussed the situation with a friend, that I realized that I had been being a jackass.

I felt terrible about the thing--why had I just assumed that someone I had hitherto thought of as a good person was just, well, like everyone else? I guess I've just been so disappointed and let down by people that I assume that, at the first sign of nonspectacularity, the whole thing's about to implode. I guess

When I meet someone, I immediately set up a rebuttable presumption that the person is a douchebag. I think that's fair because most people are douchebags. The burden is on you, the the person I'm meeting, to prove that you're not a douchebag by clear and convincing evidence.

But I realized something the other day that I hadn't previously realized: even after someone's rebutted the initial douchebag presumption, I keep waiting for them to actually be a douchebag, rather than just accepting their nondouchebaggery. As soon as I became aware of this character trait, I hated it. I hate that I've let myself become that cynical and, well, untrusting.

So, I'm going to try to move away from this negative attitude and keep my mind open to the possibility that there might be good people out there that I haven't already met. It's going to be hard, though.

On a side note . . .

I'm sorry if you're having trouble posting a comment. If you have that problem, can you please post about it in the tagboard so I can get an idea of whether it's the blog or the computer or whatever that's causing the problem? Thanks.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 3:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , General Remarks

First of all, the horrible pun that is this post's title is not mine. It's David's. Just so you know.

Anyway, yes, I now have the Wii, thanks to David's heroic all-night Best Buy stake out. I got it home, set it up, and started playing right away. It's really, really awesome to be able to affect things on the screen simply by moving your hand. The Wii Sports game that came with the Wii is pretty cool, although it's also pretty simplistic. But it gives you a pretty good grasp on how the cotrols and stuff work. Tennis is my favorite thus far.

Of course, who gives a shit about Wii Sports when Zelda's right there? I put the disc in the system and started up the game. Right away, it was pretty awesome. Then I had to go to school. Total playing time: about twelve minutes.

Tonight, I've been concentrating on getting the Wii online. That was impeded by the fact that my wireless router was being a huge pain in the ass. Still, after forever on tech support (I swear, those fucking people are incompetent), I've got it up and running. Just in time to be too late for me to play because I've got to start doing homework.

Oh well, the thing's here now, and I'm going to try really hard not to let it cut into my studying for finals time. I may have to put it in a lockbox or something.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Fun Shit I've Done , General Awesomeness , Rants , Things I'm Irrationally Attached To

I am the proud owner of the latest Zelda game, Twilight Princess. How does it compare to the Ocarina of Time and Windwaker? I have no idea. You see, I bought the Wii version of Twilight Princess. This poses a bit of a problem because I don't actually own the Wii yet.

See, people have apparently been camping out in front of stores for the Wii. That's fucking crazy, as far as I'm concerned. There are certain things I'll camp out for (i.e., Star Wars movies), but I refuse to wait out for a new game system. Or, rather, I don't have the time to. I'm told that Best Buy is expecting a shipment on Sunday morning. I'll be there sometime in the morning, but not at 4:30. Fuck that.

I still find it strange that the Wii is selling as well as it is. Honestly, Nintendo hasn't really been on top of its game since sometime in the middle of the Nintendo 64 era. The Gamecube was good, but both Super Mario Sunshine and Legend of Zelda: Windwaker were pretty disappointing, in my opinion. I never even finished Super Mario Sunshine. I'm glad to see Ninendo, the video game company that started my obsession, doing well again. They certainly decided to go in a strange direction with the new controler, but I think it'll pay off--at least, I'm really excited to try it.

Also, who the fuck is going to pay $600 for a PS3? I want one, sure, but I won't get one for years because, honestly, that's ridiculous!

Man, I can't wait to play Zelda.

On another note, I'd like to thank Nidhi for having me over to her place for Thanksgiving. I had a great time, your family's awesome.

Yesterday really made me start thinking about my family a lot. It's strange how I spent a large part of my adolescence barely talking to these people and now I miss them so much. I guess that's the way it goes when you're so convinced that no one understands you.

Anyway, I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and has a good weekend.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , General Awesomeness , Reviews , Things I'm Irrationally Attached To

I saw this over at LawNut and thought it was interesting. Things I've done are in bold.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said "I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)| Filed under Quiz Things

By Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker had come to terms with the fact that Darth Vader was his father, but also believed that the Sith Lord still had some good left in him. Luke willingly turned himself in to the Empire and his father. Meanwhile, Han Solo, Leia, and Chewie, together with the Ewoks, stormed the forest moon of Endor in an attempt to destroy the shield generator for the Emperor's second Death Star. The hope was that the Rebel Fleet, lead by Admiral Ackbar (with Lando Calrissian behind the wheel of the Millenium Falcon) could exploit a weakness in the Death Star's design and deal a final, devastating blow to the Empire.

Eventually, Darth Vader brought Luke to the Emperor's throne room, where the Emporer taunted the young Jedi. The three of them watched as the Rebellion and the Empire exchanged blows in space. After pointing out that Luke's greatest weakness was his faith in his friends the Emperor said "Now witness the full firepower of this armed and fully operational battlestation!" Even though the Death Star was still under construction, its weapons systems were online.

Han and Leia had not been able to take out the shield generator, meaning that the Rebel fleet was unable to attack the Death Star. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Death Star's giant laser destroyed one of the Rebellion's capital ships. Admiral Ackbar, aboard the flagship, surmised that the blast came from the Death Star and ordered a retreat--but the Rebel fleet, overcommitted and outnumbered, was surrouned. It was a trap.

In the end, the Rebels won the day and the Empire fell, restoring peace and justice to the Galaxy. But there were a few terrible minutes during which it seemed like the Rebellion would be destroyed forever.

Those are the risks they had to take: in order to win the biggest victory, the Rebellion had to risk losing everything. I doubt that Luke or Han or Admiral Ackbar questioned--even for a moment-- that they had made the right decision, even as they were becoming more and more aware that they were about to die and that all hope was lost.

Sometimes you have to be bold. Sometimes you have to take risks. Sometimes you have to go all-in. Sometimes you've got to put all your money on 17.

Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you lose everything. Sometimes you look back and all there is is regret and sorrow. But, maybe, sometimes you'll win.

After all, you only need to win once.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)| Filed under Life Sucks Sometimes , Potentially Entirely Unhelpful Analogies , Star Wars

While trolling around the Internet today, I found this awesome poster for the forthcoming Harry Potter movie. I think it's pretty much unbelievably awesome. I also found a few other new Harry Potter pictures, most notably one of Dumbledore's Army. I pretty much love that picture. You can see Harry in the middle, obviously, then Cho to his left, then . . . were both Padma and Pavarti in the DA, or is that the snitch next to Cho? In any event, then Ginny, then Zacharias Smith, then some other dude. Fred, George, and Neville behind Harry, Hermione to his left, then Ron, then Luna, then Colin Creevy, and, finally, Lee Jordan, I believe. In any event, the picture's awesome and I'm really excited for the movie.

I really like the girl they got to play Luna. As I've said before, I really like the Luna character. She's definitely my favorite student character other tha the trio. I think Luna looks perfect here.

Kristin initially disagreed, but she came around after seeing this video (at least I think it was this video):

Anyway, I think the next HP movie's got a lot of potential.

So does next week's episode of Heroes. Seriously, Heroes is my favorite show right now. I think it's really interesting and things are getting really awesome. Again, and Kristin pointed out, it's really interesting to see how the various characters are becoming more ambiguous. Although I think Hiro's a hero through and through. Also check out the graphic novels if you haven't been already. They're pretty short and mildly entertaining, but they totally give you a Heroes fix, should you, like me, need one often.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)| Filed under Harry Potter , Heroes , Movie Reviews , Reviews , Television Reviews

Oh man. This has been a tough week. There hasn't been a single day where I've gotten more than six hours of sleep. Last night I got about five. I took two naps today between editing for the Law Review. Fortunately, it's almost over. Tomorrow won't be bad at all, and I've got Heroes and poker to look forward to. Then a weekend filled with hard work. It's alright, I can deal.

Check out this video:

I think it's pretty awesome. Hat tip: Crackers.

I'm often considered someone who's "too honest." I don't generally pull punches. When I don't like someone, I make that pretty clear. The converse is also true, though: when I like someone (either platonically or romantically) I can't help but make that clear. It's just the way I am. I don't like deception, I don't understand it, I don't appreciate having it done to me. So I don't know why I would lie or attempt to hide the way I feel about things. I'm not in middle school anymore--I'm not ashamed to admit that I find certain members of the opposite sex attractive, fun to be around, etc. Why should I be? Why should anyone be?

I'm always surprised when people tell me that they think I'm too honest because there are several times every day when I think to myself that I need to be more honest. There are so many times a day when I do things that aren't me. Not major things, not important things. Just little things. I often find myself giving into the same sorts of social pressures we all experience, and I hate that.

Anyway, I'm thinking about all of this because I've been thinking lately about how, a while ago, someone told me that I needed to change. This person told me that I needed to be more like everyone else. I've never tried not to be like everyone else--this is just the way I am. And I think I'm pretty fucking awesome. When this person said this to me, it really hurt because no one that close to me had ever said something like that. The fact is that I know that I'm not someone who's always easy to get along with. I'm never going to be the most well-loved person around. I'm not the kind of person that everyone loves. In many ways, the way I am makes my life harder.

I guess I've been thinking about this stuff because I've been pretty down lately, and when I get down, I start thinking about how much easier things would be if I was different in certain ways. But then I remember that an easy life and a good life are two entirely separate things. I've tried in the past to be someone that I'm not, and I can't do it. I'm not ever going to do it.

This is who I am, and it's not going to change.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)| Filed under

Going into the school year, I knew that it was going to be the busiest of my life. Between school, Law Review, the job hunt, and, oh yeah, a life, I knew that I'd be pretty pressed for time. But it's like MTV show: You think you know, but you have no idea.

It's been so long since I've been caught up in classes, I have almost no idea what's going on. I've missed turning in two writing assignments. Fortunately, in both cases, I think the teachers like me and weren't at all bummed that I turned the things in late. Finals are coming up, but I haven't started outlining. In fact, I haven't even begun to consider thinking about starting to outline.

I made a decision while in the bathroom today: I have to pass/fail Contracts II. I really think that, given some hard work, a few good outlines, and a lot of luck, I could get a good to great grade in that class. However, I'd rather not have a terrible grade on my transcript than have a good grade, so it's just not worth the risk. Plus, that'll free up my time to concentrate on the classes I think I can do really well in: ConLawII and Remedies.

My Law Review responsibilities are pretty much in full swing. I'm actually in the office right now, trying to get some stuff done before tomorrow. I'm almost there.

I think the cats are angry at me. I spent some time playing with them last night, and then Smash and I laid around for a while. Lily's still not really all about being pet, but her and Smash are getting closer and closer.

The apartment's a mess. I don't even want to think about it.

No job yet. Barely any time to even look. Tomorrow's the day, though.

All in all, I'm busy as hell. But I'm having a great time and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Law School , Life Sucks Sometimes , Wisconsin Law Review

I was feeling up. Hopeful, even. But, like I should have known, my hope was fleeting and now, in it's place, there is just a familiar and unwelcome sense of despair.

Perhaps it's a self-fulfilling prophecy: After so many years of failure, how would I even deal with success? Probably really well, actually. But I don't know for sure, and I don't know when I'll know. There are known knowns and known unknowns and unknown unknowns and all of that.

There are some days you feel invincible -- infallible, even. As if everything is going your way and will continue to go that way forever. But that feeling never lasts.

I wonder how other people do this. It always seems to just fall into place for everyone. One minute, people are sitting there, staring off into space, thinking about what they want, and the next minute they've got it.

I guess that happened to me once. I was on the phone while on the roof of my parent's house in Nogales at approximately 11pm. The cop showed up and asked me what the fuck I was doing, and my mom was kinda angry. But it was worth it. And, of course, it didn't last.

That was seven years ago.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Life Sucks Sometimes , Potentially Entirely Unhelpful Analogies , Rants

I love to dress up. I don't know why, but I love wearing suits and stuff. It makes me feel like a real person or something. It makes me feel more powerful, more authoritative. And it's just plain cool.

Still, I find something essentially boring about the normal business attire. For instance, white shirts are so fucking boring. I refuse to wear white dress shirts. I don't own a single one. All of my dress shirts are a much darker color, like maroon, royal purple, dark blue, grey, etc. I think this is much more unique and stylish.

I also refuse to wear multi-colored ties. All of my ties are solid colors, although some have interesting textures.

I tend towards the darker end of the spectrum. I have a black suit and a black suit with grey pinstripes. All of my shirts are darker. My ties are my only brighter items.

Still, as interesting as a suit is, sometimes you need to change it up a bit. In college, and a few times during law school, I wore a black, floor-length skirt. I liked the way it looked, although I don't know if anyone else did, really. I also really like the way a vest makes a suit look. Really classy and formal, I think. Just my style. My latest ridiculous clothing accessory is my signature top hat, shown in my profile picture. That thing never fails to garner high praise.

Of course, you have to know how to accessorize, too. So, I have a selection of awesome tie bars and collar bars, which are my favorite accessory. Also, cufflinks are the shit.

Why am I talking about all of this? Because tonight was the Malpractice Bash. In a surprising turn, the beer never seemed to run out. The BO stench was kept well under control. And the temperatures, while on the warm side, were bearable, even in a three piece suit. The trouble didn't come until much later, when all hell broke loose at the coat check. Everyone mobbed the counter and, when I finally got up to the front, I realized what was going on: The coat check people had completely given up and the law and med students were freely getting their own clothes, which lead to a chaotic scene in which tempers flaired and threats were made. Things didn't get any better until a cop showed up (!!) and told people they couldn't be behind the counter, at which point massive confusion arose and people got more pissed off because their coats had been trampled on.

All in all, a mi\xed bag, but fun nonetheless.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Fun Shit I've Done , Funny Shit , Hanging Out With My Friends , Law School

I've been trying to train myself to live on six hours of sleep a night. I can't do it. I thought I was dead this morning. I'm going to bed early tonight because, if I can't be someone who can function on ver little sleep, then I'm at least going to be a morning person. Regardless of how much sleep I've got, I can't really be productive after midnight. There's something inherent about that time that makes it hard to be productive.

So, that's my plan.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)| Filed under Existential Nonsense

Well, I have to say that I'm very sad right now. I'm disgusted that this state, a state I've come to love, is apparently full of homophobes. Listen to me. Letting two people who love each other, regardless of which reproductive organs those people happen to have, marry each other can't possibly hurt you. It's just incredible that people don't see that. I don't care what religion you are or what you believe or who you're married to or who you want to marry. That doesn't give you the right to tell anyone else that they don't deserve the same rights you have. And that's exactly what this amendment does. It's repulsive.

Perhaps most discouraging is the margin by which the amendment passed: 59% to 41%. That's not even close, and that's just sad. In all of Wisconsin, only one county - Dane - rejected the amendment. This map is kind of interesting.

Several other states considered the ban today:
Colorado - 56/44 for the ban
Idaho - 64/36 for the ban
South Carolina - 78/22 for the ban
South Dakota - 52/48 for the ban
Tennessee - 80/20 for the ban
Virginia - 57/43 for the ban

The most surprising of these to me is South Dakota. I certainly would not have expected it to be that close. Of course, it doesn't really matter.

But the most surprising thing I've seen on this front was Arizona. As of the time of this writing, the amendment is being rejected by 51% to 49% with 96% of the precincts reporting. I guess not all the states I've lived in are bastions of antigay nonsense. If those numbers hold up, Arizona will be the first state in the union to reject the amendmet. That, together with the close margins in South Dakota and Colorado, could start to turn the tide. I hope, anyway. The problem is that it's a tide that won't turn for decades.

Anyway you slice it, we'll be dealing with the consequences of having written discrimination into our state constitutions. After today, at least twenty-seven states have turned gay people into second-class citizens.

On the slightly brighter side, the Democrats have taken the House and appear to be poised the Senate. As of this writing, McCaskill has won her race, leaving the tally at 49-49, with the Montana and Virginia races still too close to call. However, those races are currently looking like the Democrats have them. Montana is running 50/48 Democrat with 70% of precincts reporting. Virginia is running 50/49 Democrat with 99% of the precincts reporting.

The House was essentially a landslide.

Therefore, it turns out that I was wrong to be pessimistic about the Democrats' chances. But it remains to be seen both whether things will change and, if they change, whether they'll change for the better. Iraq's a clusterfuck, and, while I'd love to see the Democratic victory lead to fewer American deaths in the war, I just don't see that the Democrats can fix anything. Iraq is probably beyond fixing at this point. And, as Kristin pointed out tonight, with the two of the branches of our government diametrically opposed to each other, the stage is set for exactly nothing to get done for two years. Although one can hope that, at the very least, the Legislature will stop being a rubber stamp.

Pelosi was just on TV, and she was talking tough, mentioning that the Democrats will now have subpoena power and about how it is the House's constitutional mandate to be a check on the Executive branch. We'll see how that pans out.

The CNN first-stringers have all gone to bed. Now, the Q string is on, and they're trying their best not to say something stupid. They're hurling zingers like "I'd say this is a victory for the Democrats."

Ultimately, though, I can't view today as a victory. The Legislature does what it does. But the people of Wisconsin have to live with the fact that we've told our gay neighbors that we're not only ok with them being treated unequally, we require it. The saddest part is that the people of my state don't seem to mind saying that much.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 1:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Legal Rants , Philosophical Rants , Political Rants , Rants About Things That Make Me Irrationally Angry , Rants on the News

BRITNEY SPEARS AND K-FED ARE GETTING A DIVORCE!!

I'll provide a link as soon as possible. For now, it's at the very top of cnn.com, under the breaking news banner.

Article here!

Who cares about the elections?

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)| Filed under Funny Shit , General Awesomeness

I've got the song from this commercial stuck in my head:

It's called "Punkrocker," and it's by a band called the Teddybears, featuring Iggy Pop. I really like the song, even though I recognize that it's not the best song.

That brings me to something I've been thinking about for a long time. Why is it so hard for contemporary bands to combine excellent musicianship, melody, and loud guitars? Most current bands have, at most, two of those three. But it's not just doing it for me anymore.

That brings me to something else that's been on my mind. I've ranted about radio stations on random before. See, e.g., Fuck You, Charlie. Basically, they suck. So, imagine my surprise when one of my favorite radio stations in town, The Lake, started billing itself as one of these fucking random radio stations! It's nonsense. The worst, though, is the way they're promoting it. One of the on-air promos has the announcer saying something like "don't bother requesting anything - we're on random." Well, what the fuck?

I remember when I was younger we requested some songs once. And they didn't get played. And it sucked. But the suckiness was tempered by the fact that somewhere someone had had their request fulfilled. I don't know, being able to request music on the radio has always been awesome to me. Like, I can make a call and dictate what potentially hundreds of thousands of people listen to? That's awesome.

But here's this stupid promo telling me that I shouldn't bother requesting a song? If the music sucks, I should just deal with it? Fuck you, The Lake. If the music sucks, I'm changing the station.

Segueing from radio to TV, Cole and Kristin came over and watched Heroes and Studio 60 with me. I've missed two episodes of Heroes, but they brought me up to speed and I was able to follow along pretty well. It was pretty awesome. I can't wait until the DVDs come out and we can have a Heroes marathon. Studio 60 was also good, but not great. I've been disappointed to hear cancellation rumors about the show, but tonight's was good. And, really, if John Goodman can't make good TV, I don't know who can.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Fun Shit I've Done , Hanging Out With My Friends , Music Reviews , Reviews

I got home from poker tonight and decided I wanted to watch some TV. So, I turned on the Discovery Channel, and this show called "Survivorman" was on. Basically, this guy's fucking crazy. He gets dropped off somewhere in the middle of nowhere -- the two episodes I saw were Ontario in the winter and Utah canyonlands in the winter -- and survives there for a week with nothing but a multitool and ingenuity. It's kinda cool. He walks around and collects firewood and stuff, but he also has to look for water and food. The food is the craziest part because he's got to find ways of killing things with very rudimentary equipment. So, he'll have to lay traps for rats and squirrels and stuff. And then he talks about having to eat the brains of rabbits and stuff. Fun.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how horribly I would do in a survival situation. For example, there's that story about the guy who got his arm trapped under a boulder. After a few days, it became obvious that he wasn't going to get rescued. He ran out of water and decided that he had to cut off his own arm using nothing but a fucking pocketknife. That's the kind of basic instinct for survival that I probably have but have never had to act on. Thank god because, let me tell you, I would not be down for cutting my own arm off with nothing but a fucking two-inch blade.

In any event, lots of my friends in college were outdoorsy types. They liked to hike and camp and stuff. I like that stuff, too, but not as much as them and I'm not as hardcore about it. I'm not down for hiking 60 miles in the Grand Canyon in two days. Anyway, my friends decided that they were going to do this eleven-mile hike one day. I had done the first three miles of the trail before, and it was really easy and relaxing, so I decided I'd join them. What ended up happening ended up being the hardest thing I've ever had to do, not because of the inherent difficulty of the thing, but because of my out-of-shapeness.

Eleven miles really isn't that far. I could walk that with no problem, given even terrain and a comfortable pace. That's exactly what was going on for the first three miles of this hike. But, the trail sort of ended at the three-mile mark, and we had to start walking in the creek. That's fine by me. But then the whole excursion started turning more and more into climbing over terrain and crawling up rocks and shit. Needless to say, I was not able to keep the same pace as many of the other people on the trip.

As the day wore on, many people started getting way out ahead, and people started getting concerned that our pace was such that we would not make it to the end of the trail, where we had put one of our cars in the morning, by nightfall. It also became really obvious to me that I was exhausted and couldn't really go much faster. Two of my friends, PJ and Mark, stayed with me while I tried to move as fast as I could.

Things started to get dark, water was running low, we lost contact with the other people, and I started to feel generally really shitty. Not scared -- I knew I'd be fine. I just felt guilty that I had slowed everyone down to that extent and shitty about myself because I was so out of shape. Still, every step was really tough for me, and it was really discouraging when I realized that we still had a hell of a long way to go.

My friends tried to keep my spirits up and tried to keep me moving. But it was a strange feeling, one I hadn't ever felt before. My body was starting to rebel against me. It didn't want to do what I was telling it to do. I wanted to go a hell of a lot faster, but I couldn't get my legs to carry me more quickly. It was really frustrating.

The worst was after it had started to get really dark. By then, I was so tired I really didn't know if I could keep going. And then we ran into this spot in the trail where there wasn't so much a trail as there was a small pond with steep rock walls on either side. There was literally no way to get from one side of the pond to the other without going through the water. And it was plenty deep, I think. We couldn't touch the bottom. Now, the problem (in addition to the fact that it was cold, wet, dark, and demoralizing) was that I can't swim. Not very well, anyway, and certainly not in an exhausted state like I was. Still, we got through it. but it was just so depressing.

At the end of the day, it had taken me 12 hours to walk 11 miles. My pants were ripped to the point of being little more than a loincloth, and I felt like I was dead.

But it was one of the best experiences of my life for a few reasons. First off, the guys that stayed with me really came through, and I felt extremly greatful to them. Second, even though it had been really hard and I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own, I managed to do what, at the time, I thought was impossible. That was pretty much an awesome feeling.

A feeling tempered, of course, by the fact that it shouldn't have taken me anywhere near that long to walk eleven miles, and it certainly shouldn't have been that hard. I'd love to get in shape and walk that trail again, but I don't know if I'll ever do that.

Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be in Arizona again.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 2:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Fun Shit I've Done , Hanging Out With My Friends

The elections are in six days. That means that, in six days, we get to see if Wisconsin will be the first state in the country with voters intelligent enough to reject a constitutional ban on gay marriage. While I'd love to believe that the people of my state are not ridiculously homophobic, I doubt that we'll be able to pull it off.

I don't understand why people support this thing. No one, not a single person, has been able to explain to me how allowing gay people to marry would hurt anyone, let alone straight people who are married or would like to marry. It just doesn't make any sense. On the other hand, you've got people who want to marry someone they love but aren't allowed to simply because the two people are of the same sex. Seriously, does that make sense? I hope Wisconsinites decide it doesn't.

Of course, November 7th will also decide who gets to control the House and the Senate. While the Democrats are in some very close elections throughout the country, I just don't think that they can get the six seats they need to take over the Senate. They might be able to pull off the House, but even that seems unlikely.

And John Kerry sure isn't helping. Here's video of the infamous comment:

Kerry claims that he meant to say

I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.

Who knows if that's the truth. But, whatever, the Republicans were quick to pounce, and their comments were as predictable as they are effective: "See, we told you the Democrats hate our troops." The whole thing is a fucking abomination.

There are three individual things going on here that piss me off:
1. John Kerry's an idiot. Even if he had delivered the line as he says he meant to, big fucking whoop. Making fun of Bush is not only childish, unprofessional, and petty, it's also passe. Kerry shouldn't have even attempted this stupid joke.
2. Bush and the Republicans are playing it up. Look, saying John Kerry hates the troops is absurd! The man's a veteran and he's been supporting the troops since the day he got back. But, whatever, Bush thinks it's acceptable to attack whenever he sees any comment that, taken out of context or given the right spin, makes his enemies seem like America-hating baboons. It's cheap, it's pandering, and it's just too fucking predictable.
3. This is the thing that really gets me: Some people are eating this shit up! Seriously, are people so myopic that they don't understand that a) Kerry's an individual, not some Locutus of Borg-style mouth piece for the fucking Democrats and b) the meaning of his statement is getting distorted? Fucking a.

Tell you what, though. Colbert was funny last night. Here's the Tony Snow quote:

The President is determined not to leave Iraq short of victory, but he also understands that it's important to capture the dynamism of the efforts that have been ongoing to try to make Iraq more secure, and therefore, enhance the clarification -- or the greater precision.

Just so you know it's real, it's from the White House's own webpage.

Posted by Ismael Tapia II at 1:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)| Filed under Existential Nonsense , Legal Rants , Philosophical Rants , Political Rants , Rants on the News , Reviews