I feel like this guy

"Write One Paragraph Per Day."

This was my mantra for this blog, but I seem to be slacking off. Things in my life are amping up for the holidays, and I'm suffering from a rather sullen mood as of late.

My checking account is in the hole, my internship at the newspaper is ending, and work seems to be getting more insane each day. I am grateful for the respite of a week off next week, but I have two stories I need to write for the newspaper before I'm done.

There seems to be a brick wall around every corner, and there is very little I can do to console myself.

So that's enough for the pity party, back to work.

On Racism

So, yeah, this is quite a departure from a review of BSG, but I had to mention it. I went to the battery store and Chad and I found the battery he needed for his cell phone. It's not been holding a charge longer than a few hours, so he decided to try getting a whole new battery.

We matched one at the store in the cell phone battery section to the model number and make of his phone and then went to check out. It was very simple, no hassle.

As we were checking out, the clerk asked us if we were sure. We said that they had the same model numbers as his phone and the clerk said:

"Them Japs make it too easy."

Chad paid the man and we got the frak out of there.

I abhor racism, and it totally freaks me out when people are so flagrant about it. I suppose that flagrant racism is much better than the subtle racism of "White flight" and De facto segregation, but in the twenty-first century, I just don't understand why people are so hateful and mean.

On BSG Razor

[SPOILER ALERT]
[Apologies in advance. I'm using an iBook with a tiny keyboard, so I may have some typos.]

The gang and I watched BSG Razor at Dave's house tonight.

I could do without the negative stereotype of the psychotic lesbian, but it did make sense in the plot. It was kind of as though you saw it coming when you saw how brutal cane was with Inviery in Season 2.

I loved the space action scenes and the original series Toasters were a very welcome homage to the old days.

The hybrid model 1: I am really disliking the direction they seem to be going with the whole matrix loops in time. Of course, it's kind of in keeping with the life here began out there premise.

I miss the ancillary characters like Dee and Geta, but I was happy to see the President put in an appearance.

In which I admit to my Achilles Heel

I was looking for one of my favorite webisodes, Mr. Deity, when I stumbled across this at crackle.com. It's kind of bizarre how they've chopped up a 40 minute show and made it six minutes long, but I guess that way they don't have to pay Pam Anderson royalties or something.

I used to watch this show a lot. I actually miss it now that it's no longer in syndication. I must admit that this does not seem like the show I would be interested in, i.e. the women, but part of it was nostalgia for me. It was a lot like Charlie's Angels with its dopey plots and beautiful women with guns who can kick a lot of butt. It also has a nostalgic factor because it has the hot Asian guy from 21 Jump Street.

Also, sometimes I just want a little mindless violence, like this show, the A-Team, or college football. It's my version of the perfect Thanksgiving.

The Long Grift

Now, I must tell you, I do not support fraud, but I find that criminals can be very interesting and compelling characters.

That leads me to a critique of "Other People's Money," the latest true life scandal from Radar magazine.

Elliot Castro was a working class gypsy/scot from Aberdeen who found his way into the fast-paced life of international credit card, identity, and wire fraud. Sounds kind of dull, right? Wrong.

Elliot Castro amassed an estimated $1 million in a Swiss bank account from his exploits, which included jetting around the world, from Glasgow, to Aberdeen, to London, Dubai, Dublin, Ibiza, Toronto, New York and LA.

He was a loner type of kid who loved looking at maps and atlases and was a geography whiz, and he was gay. He sounds very similar to me. This guy was living the kind of posh life I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams.

The most amazing part of the story is that Elliot had accomplished all of his international crimes by the age of 21. This guy has more chutzpah than I could ever dream of having.

I can't find the story online yet, but Radar is notoriously badly managed. They have gone under twice and come back bigger and badder than before. If you can find the magazine in stores, buy it and save these poor people from themselves.

What have I done for you lately?

The answer is, not a whole heck of a lot.

I have been lazy and selfish this weekend. I forked over $75 for my allergy meds on Saturday morning, and then I picked up breakfast at the BK. I have to say that the sausage croissanwich is still the bomb. Their new BKJoe line of coffee seems to be pretty good.

Then it was off to mom and dad's for my grandmother's 91st birthday party. Oy Vay, so many relatives. I got rolls specially made from the Bagel Station. They were the rosemary parmesan style that Henry's serves. I finally left about 3:45 p.m. and headed home. I forgot the leftover rolls and my iPod, so I called my mom and asked to pick them up today.

Last night, I had tickets to the Philharmonic, which was ghastly. I left with a throbbing headache from the screechiest violin concerto EVER. Then it was drinks at my friend Larry's until 1 a.m.

At Larry's I connected with a lesbian best friend of an acquaintance of my best friend. My Diety this town is sooooooo small. Anyway, Sara the lesbian regaled us with tales of gays openly serving in the military, which was heartwarming in a way. There are apparently several "stress management" support groups in which everyone is totally cool with you being homosexual, so long as you are physically fit and aren't a sissy. That leaves me out. Twice.

Then today, I slept in because of the headache from the symphony and the obscenely cheap wine. I watched a TiVo of Doctor Who from last week that I hadn't yet gotten around to and then I went to brunch. I then headed out to my parents and I explained how bad the concert actually was. I was after all using their tickets. I explained that I probably spared them a fate worse than death because it was not a good piece of music. The violinist is a regular and I knew from before how good he was, but I had to warn my parents to avoid anything by that composer ever again.

I got home and started working on articles for the newspaper. It's going to be hard getting everything in for tomorrow, but I got it. I also finished my essay for my philosophy of art class and watched a surprisingly decent episode of the Simpsons. They have all pretty much sucked out loud for the past two years, but this one saw homer get a stomach stapling, so it was funny.

Then I sat down and read Radar magazine.

They Don't Cry

The Fort Wayne Derby Girls are having the first-ever flat track roller derby tournament in Indiana next Saturday (11/24). I am going to interview someone from the team tomorrow so that I can write a preview story for the newspaper.

I have only been to one Derby Girls event, the first one, Apocalypse Pow. It was back in May of 2006 and it was a lot of fun. I used to watch the TV show Rollergames as a kid, and the DGs are a lot more interesting. Sure it's a bit campy, and the idea of women battling it out may seem anti-feminist, but it was all done for a good cause. They have given over $20,000 to charity.

So check out the Derby Girls' site and get rolling.