Today's going to be a good day. How do I know? Because I just had an awesome dream that I wanted to share with you.

I can't remember exactly how it started, but before long I ended up in a car riding around with Barack Obama. He was playing with tiny kittens in the backseat. I was telling him about good burrito restaurants I'd been to. We went to the far side of town, where my sister lives, and just past there we had set up a rocket so we could take a class trip to the moon.

We all got inside the control room and everybody went in the back to pick out their space gear. I went back after everyone else and picked up a pair of boots that turned out to be firefighter boots instead of space boots. Everybody laughed at me and I got angry.

Someone came up to us as we sat around and told us that today's moon trip had been written about by some prophet lady who said that it would mark the beginning of Armageddon, and that the Republicans were probably gonnna use that against us somehow.

Across the table from me sat two woman teachers. One punched the other in the face and stormed off, apparently they were arguing over something. Because the woman who got punched was pregnant, we decided to scrub the mission. Instead, Obama decided he'd rather go next door to Frank Zappa's house and beat him up over something or other. It was now the seventies, too.

So everyone left the building and went to Frank Zappa's house across the field. Lurch from the Addams Family was with Obama too, but he was also a conehead. I stayed at my sister's house with my brother-in-law and watched on the old black-and-white TV as Obama and Lurch beat up the Zappa family. Lurch found a monkey buried in their garden and freed it, and was delighted. On the front porch of our house two old men were rocking on chairs talking about the upcoming Kennedy-Nixon debates, so I guess it was now the early sixties?

And I think that's where I woke up. When I wake up from a dream like that, I just know all is going to be right with the world.

I just saw something hilarious on TV. I had my TV on CSPAN (because I'm obviously the most boring person on earth) and was half-listening to some guy who was talking about a book he wrote about people using media to organize for political protests and things. His argument was that, rather than gather to protest in order to urge a "stopping" response from government officials, like having the police haul you away and then take pictures of it to put on the internet, people should urge a "starting' response from other people. In other words, inspire them into action rather than just getting beat up for your cause.

But none of that is the awesome part. What happened after he made that point was bring up a website about Lego figurine modification, and all the Lego mods were Dragonball Z characters. The guy looked at the screen and said, "Now here we have an online community completely dedicated to Lego figurine mods...which is separate from the general Lego figurine community. So for instance, you can come to this site and learn how to make Mr. Satan, who you can see in the bottom right, for instance." Nothing brings more joy and surprise to me than seeing something like this interjected into what is otherwise a dry-as-toast, grown-up presentation.

So naturally the thing I learned from this is that Mr. Satan is key to organizing a successful political protest. And just because I was really lucky and managed to find the exact page the guy was using in his presentation, here it is:

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BTW, these are actually very nice Lego mods. It just goes to show, watching CSPAN really can expand your horizons.

Nothing new here, just wanted to update this journal and let everyone know I'm still alive. I haven't uploaded anything in a while so I might try and do something just for the hell of it. I'll be heading for the Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC this Saturday to shop around and soak up the sights, so if anyone reading this happens to be in the area you should go too.

Judas Priest just put out a new double-CD concept album called "Nostradamus" and it kicks all the ass. I bought it for only 13 bucks at Best Buy, and either one of those discs would have been worth at least that. They brought in an orchestra and went all proggy and operatic with it, which is just the kind of thing I was hoping for. But there are still plenty of smoldering guitar solos thrown in there. Great stuff, yes indeed.

Let's talk about some very non-art related things today.

I've been reading all over the internet about the supposed rise in unemployment in America. Just today I found a story saying the jobless rate went up a whole half a percent in May, which is the largest increase since 1986. On the other hand, Factcheck.org tells us that while there are numerically more unemployed people since Bush took office, there have also been over 5 million new jobs created. So what does it all mean? I know gas and food is way up and the dollar is way down, but is the country generally losing jobs, gaining jobs, or breaking even? I know I'm finally back to work, which I think is more due to luck than anything because looking for jobs is incredibly tough unless you just decide to go work at Wal-Mart. I've done that once and I'd like it if I don't have to do it again, but the option's always there if things get tough.

Here are the links to the two stories I mentioned earlier:
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I'd like to be able to blame everything on Bush or someone, but from what I can tell about economics I'm thinking that there's almost no one who can shoulder all the blame for the way things are right now. The biggest explanation I've heard is that China's sudden craze for everything and booming buying power has thrown the world's supply-and-demand balance all out of whack, which is why crude oil is so high, as well as steel, food, and virtually everything else. Plus the dollar is down for some reason, causing consumer confidence to go down. I don't want to blame the administration for things it genuinely isn't responsible for, but is the government doing the right things to help us adjust? Is there anything it can do? And does any of this have any ties to the turmoil in Iraq, or is it all unrelated? Anyway all we can do is ride the storm out and hope things will turn around soon.

But while I'm waiting for money things to get better I decided to finally try online dating. I don't know anything about it, so if any of you guys have tried it and have found any level of success with it, please give me advice. For girls, let me know what things you look for and don't like seeing on a user's profile, and guys, what has worked for you. And if you tried it and were completely unsuccessful, don't tell me about it because I don't wanna get depressed. Well I kidding about that, if anybody has any stories, anecdotes, or warnings about online dating I'd like to hear them.

Deric

If you've seen Iron Man, Narnia II, and Indy, the next movie I'd suggest to you would be Speed Racer. I finally got the chance to watch it last weekend and it's like taking acid on steroids while having a seizure, and it's awesome. All the critics are panning it for having a shallow story, but I think everyone who knows about Speed Racer will be extremely satisfied with how the film portrays everybody. It's a great story that pays homage to the original series while still being super modern and stylish.

I want to give a great big shout out to the incomparable, irreplaceable, irrepressible for the package she sent me, which I got today. Some time ago I sent her an Amy Rose doll I found at a flea market, and so she decided to send me an awesome Donkey Kong T-shirt. She one-upped me by including a note and a doodle, and it's just one more reason why I luvs her .

So the other night I went back to the past and revisited some old favorites of mine...Vampire Hunter D, M.D. Geist, and Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture. It reminded me just how much I love anime, and why I fell in love with it in the first place. Vampire Hunter D especially reminded me of the strange and terrifying power that Japanese animation held for me way back when...the music is truly haunting and the overall atmosphere is just plain unsettling. The editing is kinda jumpy even in the un-edited version. I originally caught this on Cartoon Network waaaaaay back before it got all commercial, so it was nice to watch all the cut-out nudity and gore on the 1 dollar VHS I picked up some time ago.

A lot of the anime that was coming out in the eighties had that really creepy feel to it...Akira, VHD, Fist of the North Star...maybe it's just how I remember them seeming when I was younger, but I don't get that feeling of mystical awe from anything these days. In lieu of a real poll, tell me what anime was your first and the feeling you got from it...what made it grab you by the throat and change the way you looked at animation. That is, assuming you're not a real young kid who's grown up with it all along. I kinda did, but when I was a child we were never told what was anime and what was American, so I always assumed Voltron and Robotech were home-grown.

And to top this thing off, here are some links of videos you must watch if you haven't already. Italian Spiderman is the best thing ever this week and having watched will grant me with superhuman stamina and good luck, I'm pretty sure.

Italian Spiderman Ep. 1 -
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Italian Spiderman Ep. 2 -
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Indian Superman -
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Retro Video Game Commercials -
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Deric