December 15, 2005

Nose In The Air Media

Today is a great day for freedom. i think it's entirely fitting that i have chosen this day to announce the biggest event in the blogosphere's short history. Today is the long awaited launch day for Nose In The Air Media.

What is Nose In The Air Media, you say? Perhaps you've noticed the new icon on my sidebar, under blogging affiliations. Go ahead and look. See it?

Nose In The Air Media is the brainchild of blogger annika, of annika's journal. That's me. i made the whole thing up. The editorial board consists of me. The graphics designer is me. i'm the CEO, CFO, COO, judge, jury and executioner. i do all the work and i get all the credit.

Here's what Nose In The Air Media is all about:

Nose In The Air Media is not a club.

You don't have to join Nose In The Air Media to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be invited into Nose In The Air Media. Just like some other hoity-toity blogging cabals, you might find yourself waiting forever.

If you are reading this, and you want to be in, you're in.

And you'll want to be in. It's that cool.

You don't have to be a "big time" blogger to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to get linked by any "big time" bloggers to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to have been interviewed by Time Magazine to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be remotely interesting to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't even have to have a blog to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to have a cool site design to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be a conservative to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be a liberal to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be political to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to wear pajamas to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to wear anything.

Your front page can load in less than five minutes and you can still be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to like annika's journal to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to link to annika's journal to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't even have to de-link annika's journal to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to have been mentioned in Hugh Hewitt's book to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You can have a crappy template and be in Nose In The Air Media.

You can say fuck on your blog and be in Nose In The Air Media.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking fuck.

You don't have to be hot to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to pay dues to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be high on the Ecosystem to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't even have to know what the Ecosystem is to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to care at all.

You can post about shit and still be in Nose In The Air Media.

No one is going to kick you out of Nose In The Air Media for hatin' on me.

You'll get no money for being in Nose In The Air Media.

In fact, there's absolutely no advantage to being in Nose In The Air Media.

We have no blogroll.

We have no bankroll.

You don't have to post any icons.

You don't have to link to any other members.

There aren't any other members anyway.

You don't have to take part in any carnivals.

You won't get bombarded by a kazillion spam emails.

You can post as much as you want, or as little as you want, if you join Nose In The Air Media.

You can join Nose In The Air Media, and then quit, and then join again, and then quit again, and then join again, and then quit again, as many times as you like.

There are no celebrities in Nose In The Air Media and being in Nose In The Air Media will not make you a celebrity.

In fact, you can be in Nose In The Air Media and still respond to e-mails from non-celebrities who read your blog. Your head won't even explode.

You don't have to have a clever name to be in Nose In The Air Media.

If you're in Nose In The Air Media, you won't be required to agree with everything that the famous big blogger of the week says.

On the other hand, the famous big blogger of the week won't ever link to you if you're in Nose In The Air Media, even though he or she reads you regularly. But then, they weren't linking to you anyway, so that's no big loss.

You don't have to be a member - of - a - discrete - interest - group - that's - usually - thought - of - as - left - leaning - whose - conservative - views - have - made - you - a - darling - of - the - big - bloggers, to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be all overly serious and self-important to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to have a law degree to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be a journalist to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be any kind of jerk to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be a nun or a minister to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You can smoke pot and be in Nose In The Air Media.

You can even blog about sex and be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to have a paypal button to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to solicit money for projects that you promise to do, then forget all about the project, but keep the money anyway, to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to use a fake name to be in Nose In The Air Media.

It's okay to correspond with your visitors when you're in Nose In The Air Media.

It's okay to be one of the little people when you're in Nose In The Air Media.

Even when your blog is ranked higher on the Ecosystem than many so-called "big time" don't-bother-me-I'm-so-serious blogs, not that you care about that shit anyway because it's all bullshit, and you're not competitive in that way, except for just a little bit.

It's okay to hit a paragraph break every once in a while when you're in Nose In The Air Media.

It's not necessary to have a blog ad with a grainy picture of a guy doing isometric push-ups on your sidebar if you want to be in Nose In The Air Media.

You can actually read and comment at other people's blogs when you are in Nose In The Air Media.

In fact there are almost no rules for being in Nose In The Air Media.

You don't have to be great.

You don't have to be more popular.

You don't have to be more interesting.

You don't have to be funnier.

You don't have to be better than any other blogger out there.

In fact there's only one prerequisite for being in Nose In The Air Media.

You have to THINK you're better than everyone else.

And if you can do that, welcome. You're in.

Posted by: annika at 08:44 PM | Comments (29) | Add Comment
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December 14, 2005

Wednesday Is Poetry Day

In honor of Peter Jackson's latest film, here is some ape poetry:


Teaching The Ape To Write Poems

by James Tate

They didn't have much trouble
teaching the ape to write poems:
first they strapped him into the chair,
then tied the pencil around his hand
(the paper had already been nailed down).
Then Dr. Bluespire leaned over his shoulder
and whispered into his ear:
"You look like a god sitting there.
Why don't you try writing something?"



Posted by: annika at 03:59 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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December 13, 2005

The Media Is On The Side Of The Enemy, Update #1,439

This is beautiful.

Caught with their pants down again. You simply cannot trust the media to report the truth.

The media is on the side of the enemy.

Update: President Bush has now given four major speeches in recent weeks on the Iraq War. i see a new pattern emerging.

1. Democrats complain that Bush needs to explain his Iraq policy.

2. Republicans* admit Bush hasn't done a good job of explaining Iraq policy.

3. Bush explains Iraq policy in a major speech.

4. Media ignores major speech, but pulls one negative quote for headlines. ("30,000 civilians killed" or "Bush takes blame for faulty intel")

5. Go to #1, repeat cycle.

And in the meantime, everybody ignores the fact that Iraq continues to improve every day.
_______________

* myself included.

Posted by: annika at 04:04 PM | Comments (29) | Add Comment
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December 12, 2005

MNF Prediction, Week 14

Atlanta at home vs. New Orleans. Atlanta favored by 10½. Atlanta will cover, no prob.

Posted by: annika at 01:35 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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December 11, 2005

Speaking Of Endorsements

Here's proof that the smackdown Howard Dean received last week is doing some good:

dean4annika.jpg

So go easy on Howie, not only is he working hard to elect the next Republican Congress and President, he's a friend of annika's journal.

Posted by: annika at 08:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My Only Blog Award Endorsement

What the hell, i just found out that Clareified got nominated for Best Liberal Blog. i've been so busy with finals that i haven't even looked at the contest and i wasn't planning on voting for anybody this year. Sour grapes and all that.

But i'll make an exception for Dawn, and i urge every reader of annika's journal to go forth now and vote for Clareified!

More: As of this writing, my blog is #135 on the Ecosystem, just two places behind disgusting fatbody Oliver Wills. And i've done shit on this blog for the last year and a half, which should tell you something about fat Ollie, or the Ecosystem, or whatever.

Posted by: annika at 08:40 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Mike Wallace

An interesting interview with the one-time legend, now cranky drooler, Mike Wallace appeared in Thursday's Boston Globe. The irony of Wallace's answers to the first couple of questions was funny.

Q. President George W. Bush has declined to be interviewed by you. What would you ask him if you had the chance?

A. What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little about the military. . . . The governor of Texas doesn't have the kind of power that some governors have. . . . Why do you think they nominated you? . . . Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?

Gee, i wonder why the President turned down an interview.

My first thought was that most of these questions could have been more appropriately directed to President Clinton, or President Carter while they were busy [expletive]-ing up the country in ways that our current President is now trying to fix.

And then, after showing what a blatantly biased hack he is, Wallace had the nerve to wonder why nobody cares about tv news anymore.

The days of Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley are gone. People still do watch, but it doesn't have the clout that it used to have. I don't know what's going to happen or if there will be an evening news 10 years from now.
Totally clueless.

Then Wallace is asked who he admired the most, out of all the people he's ever interviewed.

Martin Luther King. . . . Despite the gratitude he felt for what Lyndon Johnson did about relations between the races, Martin had the guts during the Vietnam War to say this is the wrong war, the wrong time, the wrong place.
That's unbelievable. Read it again, because the quote really gives us an insight into Wallace's mind.

Look at the choice of words: "gratitude" and "what Lyndon Johnson did." Wallace doesn't admire Martin Luther King for King's Civil Rights accomplishments. He clearly thinks those were gifts from the "great white father," LBJ.

Wallace thinks the most admirable thing about King was his opposition to the Vietnam War!

i don't know how anyone can gloss over King's great achievements, what he did to bring real voting rights, end segregation and Jim Crow, and change the way Americans think about themselves, and then say duhh, I liked him cuz he was anti-war.

Go away Mike Wallace, you had your day. Now you're just irritating.

Posted by: annika at 10:54 AM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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December 10, 2005

Tookie Prediction

Arnold is supposed to announce his Tookie decision today. He's not given me any reason to believe that he won't wimp out. i predict clemency.

Update: i would like to apologize now to Tookie Williams for predicting clemency. i should have known that i was probably jinxing his chances with the way my predictions have gone this year.

i suppose he can add me to the list of "motherfuckers" he warned at the end of his trial in 1981:

After the jury read their guilty verdict Williams, according to transcripts, looked to jurors and mouthed: 'I'm going to get each and every one of you motherf------.'
Nice guy. Good riddance.

Posted by: annika at 08:39 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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December 08, 2005

Sunday Morning On Thursday

Here's a quote worth thinking about:

Man nurtures the suspicion that God, at the end of the day, takes something away from his life, that God is a competitor who limits our freedom and that we will be fully human only when we will have set him aside . . . There emerges in us the suspicion that the person who doesn't sin at all is basically a boring person, that something is lacking in his life, the dramatic dimension of being autonomous, that the freedom to say 'no' belongs to real human beings.

Overcome the temptation of a mediocre life, made of compromises with evil.



Posted by: annika at 09:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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A Great Disturbance In Paradise

Just when i was about to give up on boring old Brittany and start blogging about Lindsay full time, the rumors start up again.

By way of introduction, here's the no shit sherlock quote of the year:

Her mom is very clear about the fact that she doesn't think Kevin is right for Britney . . . And [she] even suggests that maybe she shouldn't have married him to begin with.
Ya think?!

So here we are, less than a year after the big wedding, and there's talk of a break-up.

Hard as that is to believe.

The marriage started off well. Brittany promising to pay for everything. Brittany buying Kevin a Ferrari. Brittany promising to help the child of Kevin's ex, whom he kicked to the curb when he found true love (and Brit's bank account). Kevin promising to help clean up after Bit-Bit more often. Brittany giving Kevin a hand-job in public. Ah, those were happy times.

Then came the thrilling news, after weeks of pointless denials that no one believed: Brittany was pregnant! And we all watched breathlessly as she went baby clothes shopping. We laughed adoringly while she "ate for two." We supported her, as i'm sure Kevin did, when she tried to quit smoking for the baby's sake. Then, when little SPF was born, like George Bailey we wept and prayed.

Wept and prayed.

i think i speak for all of us when i say i hoped things could have always stayed that perfect. After Brad and Jen, and Ben and Jen, and Renee and Ken, and Barbie and Ken, and Nick and Jess, and Paris², and Paris and Nicole, and ... i just don't know how many more celebrity break-ups i can take. But Kev and Brit, now that was one that was meant for the ages.

i mean, it was only two short weeks ago that we saw this happy scene: Kevin and Brittany strolling and waddling, respectively, out for a lovely day at a private beach.

But now we hear rumors of a great disturbance in paradise. As if dozens of Brittany fans suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

Did Brittany throw Kevin out on his ass? Did she cut off Kevin's credit cards? Did Brittany's mom meet up with Kevin's ex, just to collect more dirt on the guilty guy? Did Kevin beg Brittany in Vegas to give him another chance. Did our girl hang tough. Did Kevin respond by saying: "Yo, least let me have the Ferrari back, bayatch." Did Brittany call him toxic? Did she throw his ring back, the one she paid for? Is it all over?

Nah, it was too good to be true.

Posted by: annika at 12:00 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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December 07, 2005

Wednesday Is Poetry Day

i did a search for Pearl Harbor poetry and i came up with this one, by Walt McDonald, published in Valparaiso Poetry Review.

It's nice, but this next one, also by McDonald is really nice, and still timely.


The War In Bosnia

Under darkness of stars our son flies
over Bosnia, keeping watch over snow.
Apache gunships will be out tonight.

The moon on foreign snowfields highlights
bodies running under trees, friend or foe.
Under darkness of stars our son flies

with star scope and rockets and wide eyes
over war zones bitter enemies know.
Apache gunships will be out tonight.

What keeps a nation armed and justifies
air power is such a killing field—we know,
but under darkness of stars our son flies.

In boots and parka, someone watches the skies
and owns disposable Stingers, and is cold.
Apache gunships will be out tonight.

I conjure God to stop him, warp his sights.
I stare with the prayer all fathers know.
Under darkness of stars our son flies.
Apache gunships will be out tonight.


Not to nitpick about this excellent poem, but wasn't there a controversy about the use of Apaches in Bosnia. As i recall, they trained and trained, and lost a few during manuevers, but never used them in combat.

Posted by: annika at 04:23 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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December 06, 2005

Flux Capacitor... Fluxing

HOLLYWOOD.gif

i took a mid-week study break this afternoon and saw Aeon Flux. This is an interesting movie to review because audience expectations can be all over the map. The original MTV cartoon has a cult following, so i imagine those viewers would be the most discerning. i liked the original cartoon, without being obsessed by it. i wanted to see it because i like sci-fi post-apocalyptic shit, especially with a kick-ass heroine. My boyfriend, of course, went along with the hope of seeing some t&a.

i would give Aeon Flux a solid three stars (liked it) on the Netflix five star scale. i wasn't expecting greatness, only coolness, which it delivered.

My first introduction to Charlize Theron was The Legend Of Bagger Vance, which i saw in a hotel room on free HBO. i still felt ripped off. She was horrible in that lemon of a movie. The second time i saw her she was partying with an apple, and the third time i saw her she was partying in orange.

But Charlize is a big star now, because she's won an Oscar. She deserves another nomination for having never blinked once during all 93 minutes of Aeon Flux. Nobody blinks in this movie, check it out, it's freaky.

The plot is this: Aeon Flux is a 25th century assassin, and part of a high-tech underground rebellion against a mildly oppressive government a la Logan's Run without the chanting crowds. She's sent on a mission to kill the head honcho, but once she gets there, she finds out that things are more complicated than they at first seemed. They never are in these types of movies. But thankfully the plot wasn't too convoluted for my finals-fatigued brain to follow.

There are at least two requisite bitch brawls, which aren't too bad, action wise. There's minimal reliance on sci-fi gadgetry, which i count as a good thing. The atmospherics can't quite match up to the original, but then the original is a cartoon. You have to inject some humanity into a live-action remake or it would be unwatchable. Still, i think this version captures enough of the original's dreamlike weirdness to satisfy most non-purists.

i wonder where the exteriors were shot. There's a nice balance between futuristic cold concrete and manicured gardens, so the background never looks too sterile. The climactic scene features gently falling cherry blossoms, which was a nice touch.

But my favorite part was the costumes. Chris didn't think there was enough skin, but i have only two words to say about the fashions: wedge heels. i think you know how i feel about this year's must-have boot. They're on my Xmas list. Charlize shows that you can run in them, snap a dude's neck like a twig in them, and still look good in a crouch. And she does do a lot of crouching, but why not, her ass was made to be in spandex.

Charlize spends most of the time in Aeon's signature black bodysuit, but her grand entrance is in a 25th century hooded leather suit that's too hot to describe, and the stills do not do it justice. She also wears a very svelte white number in one scene, that i like a lot. But above all else, it's the boots that make this movie, baby.

So, to sum up: i liked it. It's a little too short for me to recommend paying full price though. See it on matinee like i did, or wait for the DVD.

Posted by: annika at 10:24 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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December 04, 2005

U.C. Extracurriculars

At Berkeley, we had "the naked guy." Not to be outdone, U.C. Irvine can now boast about its "couple fucking in a professor's office."

Way to go aardvarks!*

Via Darleen.
_______________

* Or whatever they call themselves.

Posted by: annika at 08:46 AM | Comments (38) | Add Comment
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December 03, 2005

Big Day In Rock & Roll History

Today is the 37th anniversary of Elvis Presley's 1968 Comeback Special, a legendary event in music history.

elvis68.jpg

From NME.com:

By the mid-'60s, The King was washed-up, so his detractors claimed. The world was being wowed by the experimentalism of The Beatles, the Stones' dirty rock'n'roll, the string-drenched sonic onslaught of Phil Spector. Presley was a distant memory, an anachronism, remembered mainly for his decline from hip-swivelling slick-haired rock Adonis to slightly campy balladeer sleepwalking through a string of bad movies. Then, in 1968, after years absent from live performance, Elvis decided to put on a show in Las Vegas, go back to his musical roots, perform some rock'n'roll standards with a stripped-down band, recapture the raw energy that characterized his '50s heyday.

It should've been a disaster - like, who was this old nark with his bad hair and blues standards? But no! He gathered together a coterie of brilliant musicians, including ace guitarist James Burton, slung on a leather jacket and a six-string, and got up onstage and blew everyone away.

He kicked off with 'Blue Suede Shoes', went on to do 'The Wonder Of You' which stayed at Number One in the UK for six weeks, joked with the band, improvised, messed around, looked cool, and won millions of fans back. From then on, until his death in '77, he remained The King, and his crown was never threatened again.

Posted by: annika at 01:01 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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December 02, 2005

Put Yourself On The Map

Ok, so i joined the Frappr! bandwagon. Whatever, i'm a sheep. Put yourself on the map before this whole Frappr! craze blows over.

Posted by: annika at 08:21 PM | Comments (27) | Add Comment
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What The World Needs Now

Is more movies about a family with a zillion kids.

<sarc>Keep them coming please.</sarc>

Posted by: annika at 07:48 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Another Anti-MSM Post

Ten Marines were killed by a roadside bomb near Fallujah today. This is tragic, obviously, and i'm exasperated that we haven't killed all them fuckers yet. But really, it only takes a couple of lowlifes to plant these bombs, and how many are discovered and destroyed without killing anybody? Yet everytime the enemy gets lucky, the anti-war media (who are on the side of the enemy) use the event to hammer another wedge into our resolve.

Here, Reuters Foundation Alertnet (i'm not sure what that is, but their slogan seems to be "Alerting Humanitarians to Emergencies," whatever that means.) chose to highlight the latest casualties by celebrating some past terrorist successes in Iraq.

Surprise, people die in a war. Civilians die. Soldiers die. Marines die. It's how wars are fought and won and lost. i understand the political reasons for not focusing attention on enemy body counts. It wasn't really a good indicator in Vietnam either. But i do detect a little bit of glee in these left wing media outlets, whenever some of ours die. How about a little perspective? How about a list of the "Deadliest Incidents" for the terrorists since we began kicking their asses over there? That list would be much longer.

But since the media is on the side of the enemy, they wouldn't want to publicize anything that might hurt enemy morale, or boost our own.

Update: Not all of the media is on the side of the enemy. Thank goodness for the exceptions.

Via Sarah.

Posted by: annika at 09:41 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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Quotable Quote Of Today

Ken Wheaton:

[The] irony in all these death-penalty stories: A media that typically sees Born-Again Christians as suspect suddenly finds the Born-Again Christian a nobel [sic?] figure. Listen, I have no truck with Born-Agains and I hold them suspect as well, but I find this odd: Having blood on your hands is a forgivable offense; trying to hang the Ten Commandments in a public school makes you a threat to society.

Posted by: annika at 08:35 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Question 46

Has anyone ever used the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google?

i haven't. But that's only because in all this excitement i can't remember if he fired six shots or only five.

Punk.

Posted by: annika at 08:14 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Apprentice Blogging

My money is on Randall. He's a team player, who knows when to lead, and when to play the supporting role. His past mistakes have not stuck to him. The chick, on the other hand, will always be remembered for her ill-advised loyalty to that loser friend of hers in one of the earlier episodes. She's good, but can Trump expect that she'll never make another judgment call like that?

It seems this season can't end soon enough for Trump. He axed two last night. Anybody know if the show's been picked up for another season? i think Trump's getting bored with it, like the show is one of his ex-wives.

Posted by: annika at 08:10 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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