New Hero: Rod Serling

Writer and narrator of The Twilight Zone was apparently an anti-censorship and anti-corporate rebel of sorts. Check out his interview by a handsome (who knew?!) Mike Wallace in 1959 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ8dTT2BRp4). You should see it if only to watch how many cigarettes they fucking smoke! My favorite part is where Rod describes how some wacko fundamentalists pressured his sponsor to censor a Lassie episode he wrote where Lassie has puppies. The fundies couldn't handle the suggestion that animals have sex!! I'm well impressed by how articulate he is and the fact that capitalistic control of creativity was so openly discussed in mainstream media back then. Unfortunately it makes me feel that things never change... Who is the Rod of the 2000's? Hao Wu?

Mother of the year

Mauzi - do you worry about the sound of jackhammers?
(found on Boingboing via haha.nu)

Cartagena, Colombia

A view of Bocagrande - the part of the city that stretches out into a thin little stip around the bay. So many cool pics of this place, it was difficult to choose just one.

秋

Had to use a google-searched image of autumn because in reality the leaves aren't quite changing yet, but it's cool and rainy here today - and after sweating like a hog all last week in the Tokyo sauna - it feels like fall has finally come to relieve us. Am wearing my cozy flannel shirt and have the windows open to let the end-of-the-year "spider musk" smell into the house. Gonna curl up on the sofa with a huge mug of cinnamon tea and Ray Bradbury's The October Country and listen to U2's "Stranger in a Strange Land". Later, I'll have crunchy green apples and cheddar for a snack and draw up plans for this year's Halloween costume. I love the bittersweet nostalgia that comes from memories of buying new notebooks and pens for school at the TG&Y and my hands getting cold riding my Schwinn to Todd's house over on Lamppost Lane. Now if the friggin' mosquitoes would just leave me alone...

Do you see any students in this picture?

Walked into my Business Basics class yesterday and this is what I saw. Empty chairs far and wide. It's not unusual for only half the kids to show up, but this is ridiculous. I waited about 20 minutes then left a message on the board to email me if someone showed up. I failed 50% of them last semester for poor attendance and look at all the good that did. The bright side is that I don't have to plan a lesson for next week~