What is it that people don't understand?

I'm not entirely sure when America grew envious of its rich, but it seems that's what happened recently. The rich have gone from being icons of the America dream to 'fat cats' creaming off wealth and then expecting special treatment when things go wrong.

I think that it's just bad PR. The rich have always creamed off the top and then expected special treatment when things have gone wrong. It's just that they never did it publically.

So the nation these days is desperate to put a fence between the corporate greed of "Wall St" and the humble goodness of "Main Street". Wall Street made enormous profits, took big bonuses and then went bang. Good - fuck 'em. Bastards.

What we forget is that Main St. demanded that their pensions, their investments and the equity in their houses went up and up. They wanted more than they could afford and took shortcuts to get it. They wanted their chunk of Wall St.

So we blame the dealer and forget the addict. And now we're looking to jail the dealer and leave the addict to go cold turkey. Which will be ugly. Sure there's a thirst for revenge, a determination to punish somebody here. But unless America takes its share of responsibility we're doomed to another cycle of greed and entitlement inflated boom followed by bile spewing bust.

Crash - ahhh arrrrgggghhhhh

Flaming
Originally uploaded by JRyle79

So it seems that the world is finally melting. Yesterday the House Republicans brought down Bush's "Buy it now, this is a limited offer" bail-out bill partly because he'd sold them the "Don't read the fine print, just sign here" shit before (Patriot Act anyone?) and they didn't want to be going into the election knowing that they'd just put their names to another piece of Bush legislation.

Then there's the fact that some of them genuinely do believe in the free market. Which means letting the market sort out the problems that it gets itself into even if it means "Wall St impacting on Main St"

It's bad news for the world at large - as credit supplies tighten and people start living withing their means (fancy that) but hey it's worse news for John McCain. Having "suspended" his campaign to "sort this out", then having posed in front of cameras thumbs aloft before going on to berate Obama's "I can't control the house" stance on the issue he then sees the bill he claims to have solf through fail at the hands of 66% of his own party. Ooops.

Lesson #1 "Never claim responsibility for anything that isn't already a success"

It was ten days ago that McCain was saying that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Three days ago that he was saying that he'd flown in and helped broker a deal, and it was hours before a trillion dollars was taken off the stock exchange that he was saying that he, not Obama, was responsible for all of this. Ouch. Silly.

I'm just hoping that this dead cat has one last bounce - I may need a job soon.

Me and my peeps

So today I've decided to post one of my more Gilbert and George (minus the scat) pictures. No real reason other than I kinda like the people in the background of this one. My day has been spenyt catching up on the things that needed catching up with... reminders, bits and pieces, things in need of a polish. No new thinking but enough elbow grease to make what we've done feel as though it's still shiny and new (which it is, I think)

Was also looking at some of the Extinction Timelines that you can find using the excellent internet application known as Google.

If the 80s saw the extinction of the Berlin Wall, 8 track, disco, Space Invaders, communism, UK exchange controls and the Soviet Union and the 90s saw CFCs, Betamax, Barings, Chernobyl, Manual typewriters, green computer screens, Kurt Cobain and Yugoslavia go up - what else do we have in store.

Well so far the noughties have seen the end of princess Diana, Enron, 11 European currencies, milkmen, polaroid cameras, sunday lunch, Concorde and the planet Pluto.
Coming up seems to be 'mending things', post offices, Russian democracy, retirement, DVDs. Fax machines, getting lost, FM radio, analogue TV, copywright, spelling, glaciars, keys, petrol engines, coins, WWII survivors and of course Death.

Cool lists all... we should do one.

What do you think will become extinct in the next 40 years; when and why?

Naked Uganda Project - still pencilled in

I've been hitting the gym pretty hard recently and while I'm not in the shape that I'd like to be in (yet) I've added and subtracted inches in all the right places and have started to look pretty good in a T-shirt. If you cut my head off pics you wouldn't say "Who's that hottie?" but when you add my head to a pic people say "What - that old coot?"

So Project Uganda is shaping up as my most sustained fitness program ever. The pencil though is just down to travel schedules. Jude just send out job packages. They could result in interviews in December and January... and as the interviews are 3 day affairs a video conference from Uganda (via 28k internet) isn't really an option.

I still have Entebbe hotlisted on Kayak - and we're still keen on the thought... it's just the thought of having to leave early for Hong Kong is more heartbreaking than postponing the trip. Anyway here's the first pic I took with the new lights that jude bought me for my birthday. Not a great pic - but the first.

In her own words

TakeThatBilliKid!—CT
Originally uploaded by billikidbrand

Thought that I'd let Sarah Palin speak for herself...

Here she is talking to Katie Couric on whether or not the $700m bailout planned for Wall Street might be better funnelled through the tax payers.

"That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."

Does it remind you of this at all?


www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

A real quickie

Prenent un Bany. Taking a Bath.
Originally uploaded by ¡arturii!

I just wrote a line for a car that said

"It's about a belief that you have to squeeze every drop of fun out of life, otherwise life will squeeze every drop of fun out of you"

It's too good a line to be wasted on a car... so I'm printing bumper stickers instead.

real post later

Bush Porn

I love Jonathan Yeo. This image of George Bush is made of hundreds of fragments of porn mags (Bush has fucked America see?)... his new Paris Hilton portrait has the same conceit - though here it may be a literal comment rather than a metaphorical one.

Still up in the air as to whether McCain and Obama will debate this week (I think yes)... everyone is hoping that McCain says the word "Depends" as they're a brand of geriatric incontinence pant and would make the YouTubers' days. Stay tuned....

No to debating

mccain_simpsons_2008
Originally uploaded by exocetseye

So with a grand gesture John McCain has moved to sidestep the first of the presidential debates in a bid to "return to Washington to deal with the economic crisis."

Except of course McCain has nothing to do with the solving of the crisis. He's not on the committees. He's not on any of the hearings. And his signature isn't needed only any legislature.

Plus as an proponent of Bush economics I'm not entirely sure that we want him looking at the economy.

A political move then. A chance to show that he's prepared to put country before even his own bid to become president. And it may well work that way for him, It also gives the TV news people a new story to focus on - just as all of the policy scrutiny was losing him ground. So it's good politics.

Obama says that the debate is still on. "In my mind it's more important then ever that we present ourselves to the American people and try to describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy,"

He's also offered to issue a joint statement with McCain on the whole issue. Good politics too.

Of course neither men, nor the country, need worry as the President has focused his laser like mind on the problem and will address the nation tonight at 9.01pm. Issue solved them.

Gay Aiken

Clay Aiken and you thought he was gay
Originally uploaded by fateridder

So in what turned out to be news that shocked nobody at all it turns out that recent father of one and relentless 'gay rumor denier' Clay Aiken (you know - he came second to the fat guy on American Idol years ago) is gay.

Of course the Clay Mates will be upset.
The God spot brigade will be dismayed (at Clays choice of spot)
And the rest of us won't care.

Linday Lohan is a lesbian
Clay Aiken is gay
Kevin Spacey's dog likes midnight cruising spots
And the world keeps turning.

Phew

Everything old...

Santiago Calatrava's new bridge for Venice
Originally uploaded by FrizzText

Part of my job is to infuse new thinking (and on my better days new WAYS of thinking) into a process that's been about coming up with something saleable.

It's not easy - people are conditioned into a way of thinking that becomes so natural it seems virtually impossible to break. Throw in a client with similar issues and you get a hard veneer of cynicism ('well nobody is going to BUY that') around the one of intellectual atrophy.

So ad agencies tend to start with the advertising and then ask 'is there something else we can tack on for interest'

Companies tend to start with the current product and ask 'is there a subtle variation that we could make to bring back some interest?' - rather than asking 'is there another way to fulfil the promise of this product?'

Shareholders look at the long term plan and nod, while demanding that the short term plan deliver immediate results - even to the detriment of the long term vision.

And so on and so forth. It's all about getting through the day. But a lifetime spent trying to get through the day is a lifetime spent wishing yourself out of a situation; and that can't be healthy.

I'm not sure what this post is all about... I think it's frustration that I can't change everything at once... but it might not be. Perhaps it's fear that I'm running out of chances to crack the veneer. Oh well...

Indian summer continues to throw out shocks

Full moon rising!
Originally uploaded by harrieseldon

So the stock exchange is melting, my tax dollars have just been used to buy up bad debt as the country nationalized the foreclosure business and Sarah Palin stands closer than ever to the Oval Office ---> but yesterday the sun shone, the temperatures hit 28c and my attention was pulled toward a far more pressing matter; where can you find an outdoor pool, in Michigan, in mid September.

The answer - you can't. Unless you're a member of a snooty club or you're a naturist who doesn't mind sharing your rays with the leathered and gnarled bodies of people who have spent too long shunning dermatological advice to worry about it now. And why do naturists SO love those 'slatted ribbon' loungers? Surely they're an accident waiting to happen - how many dangly old guys have stood up quickly and felt the pang of early castration, huh?

As neither option really appealed to me I spent yesterday at the gym, at Pilates and then driving - quickly from lake to lake and farm to farm. Much fun to be had on twisty, narrow, unpoliced roads (legal fun of course) and as my car doesn't really come to life at speeds below 60mph it was nice to get out and see what all the Mustang fuss is about. Still managed to average 27.7mpg (that's 33.1mph for you big gallon Brits) - so not too bad a blast.

Today it's small appliance shopping with a friend who has a new place and no toaster / George Foreman Grill / Kettle - while Jude sends out the last of her 'jock packages'. Lovely.

Another day another creaking closet

dnews david archuletta fox 13
Originally uploaded by love.archu

So after Supergrass and Low the office today plays host to the Davids - Archueletta and Cook who will be crooning and doodling their way through their conractual obligations to Fox while men in shiny suits chomp noisily on rawn cocktail starters... good practice then for their Vegas / Cruiseliner futures.

It's another gorgeous day here - with skies bluer than Sinatra's contacts and temperatures warmer than a Dolly Parton hug. So I'm going to go to my last meeting, ditch my shiny suit and head home - where Jude and Nadia are turning locally sourced poroduce into delicious pot roast dishes for a party tonight.

15 more days of summer (according to accuweather) - and after last week's torrential reminder of what's to come I intend to get out and make the most of them

Standing in line to withdraw your cash

Lugging
Originally uploaded by Jōsé

So it seems financial armegeddon is upon us. In the US banks are collapsing more often than Lindsey Lohan, in the UK they're being forced into shotgun marriages faster than a pregnant Palin daughter and the news stations are frothing at the mouth as the meltdown continues. It's horrible. Really horrible. And yet the malls are full, the credit cards are being swiped and people are going about their business as though their house wasn't about to be repossessed by an institution on the verge of going under.

Bad news for me - as I'm about a year away from the job market and total financial meltdown is hardly conducive to a tasty, well paid, post somewhere warm.

Of course a year from now we'll have a new US president and he may well fix everything. Okay, he may well fix something. Or at least be smiley enough to make us feel that he might fix something. And that might just be enough. My suspicion though is that the next president could well be John McCain (currently tied in the polls) - and of course McCain is 100% in lock step with Bush on the economy, which may be an indicator of not much changing on Wall Street.

The fact of course that McCain is currently tied despite his party having been in power for 9-11, wiretapping, pre-emptive war against the wrong country, Guantanamo bay, secret torture sites, billions lost in cash in Iraq, several 'gay scandals', the response to Katrina, the collapse of Wall St, record job losses, the weakest dollar in forever, a record deficit and Britney's metltdown is amazing.

Joe Biden put it well this morning. "People are ready for a change. They want the country to move in a different direction, They're just not sure that they can trust Barack Obama and Joe Biden to give them the change that they want. They're not ready to make that leap of faith yet. We need to win them over. Not on the issues, they're with us there. But on the fact that we can be trusted to do what we say we're going to do."

And that's why McCain may still win. He's also a change. If he can convince people that it was Bush (rather than the Republicans) that ran the country into the ground and that he is a change from Bush then he has that base covered. Plus it takes just one misstep, one fuck up, one bad phrase or weird scandal to sink the Obama boat. "You see, you can't trust them" is what McCain needs.

So if I was Obama I'd try to make Bush stick to McCain like a shit covered barnacle.

If I was McCain I'd go "they're two faced shifty liars" on Obama's ass.

Meanwhile I'll be standing in line to get my money out of my sinking bank and into something less risky. Any suggestions?

Perfect Driving Day

A Beautiful Fiery Death
Originally uploaded by Flying Fin

Today seemed like the last day of summer. As I drove home with the windows open and the sun low in the sky, the breeze a warm 27c on my arms and the streets full of people trying to eek out the last days of outdoor dining it felt both perfect and sad,

A great day to own a convertable - but close enough to winter to remind you why you don't

If I want to be provocative, well that ain't a sin

If I want to be provocative, well that ain't a sin
Originally uploaded by candinski

Well for a while now the blog has been deader than Hillary Clinton's eyes as she praises Barack Obama. It's been a busy time. The parents have been in town, the rain has been torrential (though as soon as they left the skies turned an azure blue and the clouds moved on leaving only the diamond light of early fall) - most of all though I've been swamped under the weight of too many projects, on too tight a timeline with too few people to help. Or at least it seems that way. Things will get done. work will go out. And the world will get back to normal soon. It always does.

The picture I have partly because I think that it's a beautiful image and partly I will admit to drive traffic. You see that picture and some text that says either "beautiful naked girl with a pearl necklace" or better still "the post op tranny I'm going to marry" will see this blog hit upon more times than a fat girl at a cake convention (or something)

And I need the hits. This blog is dying. Partly because I'm not. Partly because the sense of fun has been replaced by a 'duty to post' and partly because y'all have better things to do when the sun is shining and the outside world is beckoning - its hot breath sexy on your neck as it urges you outside.

And with that thought I'm blowing this joint and heading for lunch

Why McCain is going to win..

fear is your reptilian brain
Originally uploaded by absentee_redstate

My friends Alex and Dave have asked me "Is McCain really going to win?" and "What makes you think that?"

Other than the polls - showing McCain level and America warming to the moose eating MILF (if she didn't have a habit of getting pregnant at the thought of foreplay) - I think that Jeffrey Lord may have something when he talks about America and the Reptillian brain. And that my boss here may have something when he talks about Freudian instinct.

Freud first.

When you're talking about how America is hurting (on the Economy say) you wheel out the mother figure to say how she feels your pain and how she's going to help soothe it.

When you're talking about things that scare you (terrorism, extremism, homosexuals) you wheel out the guy who has been in battle and who believes in going out and kicking some ass. It's the father figure.

The issue for the Democrats is that for all of his feminine talk of "Hope" and "Healing" Obama can't be as female as the walking symbol of fertility that is Palin.

When it comes to Manning up then Biden is more nuanced and less 'my dad will kick your dad's ass' than McCain.

And nobody has seen that this is an Obama vs Palin; Biden vs. McCain contest.

Now the Republicans may make a mistake by 'Manning Up' Palin. Strapping a dildo and a shotgun on her and selling her as a guy is tempting. They shouldn't. She should cry (look what it did for Hillary), she should empathize and she should care.

So that's point one.... McCain has the Freud thing down.

Reason Two " The "reptilian brain" - responsible for two and only two things: survival and reproduction.

democrats have long shunned the Reptilian and promoted higher order areas of the brain. Cortexes responsible for Logic and Intelligence.

The result - John Kerry being accused of being "Too French" and Obama being labelled an 'elitist' just because he happens to be smart.

American culture thinks with its gut. An American presidential candidate doesn't need to be extremely reptilian, only more reptilian than his opponent is.

Americans are not culturally disposed to thinking. Witness the way they get into college - multiple choice SAT tests rather than wordy French style essays. America is a culture of action, of rebellion, of instinct.

When it comes to choosing between two candidates for president, we gravitate instinctively to the one perceived as more "reptilian." In essence - "We don't want our presidents to think too much."

We want a President who will act. A president we could have a beer with. A President that we can relate to, Not a president who is smarter than us or more erudite than us, or more visionary than us.

We want them to 'feel it in their gut', to 'hear the voice of Jesus' and be certain of their instincts. We want that because we think that the gut is essential to survival.

So Reptillian Brain : Survival and Reproduction. And we have a warrior and a mother on the ticket. Against a thinker and a debater.

Wow this blog is getting heavy huh?

My last Palin post for a while

Thinking About Gov. Palin
Originally uploaded by Larry Miller

... you know I'm sure she believes that she's a good woman and that goodness is enough when it comes to ruling the world --- or at least that goodness equates with rightness and gives you the moral justification to do anything. It's the Bush Doctrine. If they're evil-doers then you're do-gooders. Therefore anything they do is evil. Anything you do is good. Difference? You have right (and Jezus) on your side. A simplistic view of the world to be sure but a clear one - and America hates lack of clarity.

Anyway Palin interview today. She admitted that until very recently she'd only been out of the country to Canada and Mexico. But said that a recent trip to a US army base (US Soil then) in Kuwait and Germany had "Changed her life" - she didn't say how.

She'd never met a foreign leader. But didn't think that mattered (I have a feeling that Russian shadow puppet master Putin may eat her liver as an appetizer - but that's also true of Obama; or anybody with a pulse)

Oddly she thought that her time as a former chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission made her a good person to talk about energy independence and a reduction in the American thirst for oil and gas. Hmmm - and I'm a violent maniac who should therefore be charged with looking after the weapons cache in a kindergarten (they have them, in Alaska, it's a moose thing)

Pressed about what insights into recent Russian actions in Georgia she had, Palin answered: "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." - really, she did.

She was a little stuck on the Bush pre-emptive strike doctrine. Well clueless actually. She didn't go as far as to say "We did that?" but it was close

On Bush --- ""I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation,"

But she did back down on her God's War stance... she said at her former church that "our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God."

Asked whether she thought the United States was fighting a holy war, she said she meant to convey that she agreed with Abraham Lincoln's quote that "I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words."

It's too fucking desperate for words. And they're going to win

Everything I know abt Sarah Palin

McCain/Palin '08
Originally uploaded by R.A.M.O.N.E.

She had a good line at the convention "America is at war but the only time I hear Barack Obama talk about Victory is when he's talking about his own campaign"

She supported a Safe Haven Bill - allowing mothers to give up newborn babies without penalty, if say t hebaby was really ugly or its hair clashed with the carpets (or something)

Voted Okay to deny benefits to same sex couples in 2006, then flip flopped in 2008 Vetoing a bill denying benefits to gays

Wants to "Collect DNA samples from felons" - quite how she'd do that we're not sure but in my head it involves rubber gloves, a prostate probe and a 15 minute 'leave us be' window

Wants to teach creationism alongside evolution in schools - you know the idea that God had a plan that included evolution and anything else that might come along that makes a belief in God seem a little primative. 'Cause he's like, really meta - you know?

Convinced McCain to drill offshore - probably by telling him that there's viagra there

She's not exactly Al Gore having....
Opposed protections for salmon from mining contamination.
Sued US government to stop listing polar bear as endangered.
encouraged timber, mining, drilling, & fishing.
Lobbied that Feds shouldn't list beluga whales as endangered.
Said we should convince the rest of the nation to open ANWR.

Is fertile

Has fertile daughter

Supported infamous "Bridge to Nowhere"; now criticizes it. Kinda flip floppy

Promotes Alaska wherever she can - even recommending its Big Game Hunting to troops in Kuwait

And of course she wants Teacher Led Prayer in Schools

A vagina, a flag, a gun and she'd shoot Al Gore given a chance.... she's great

I saw a nice headline today

careful it's that car!
Originally uploaded by rollinoldman

looking at a sportscar that has really managed to improve its MPG

"Drinks less. Just as Mean"

I loved that.

And wished I'd thought of it.

It's all in the moments people, all in the moments

Busier than ever

It's a busy day today. The meetings are jammed back to back; the thinking time cut to nothing and the end of day stretched long beyond dusk and into what looks like being a COLD (2c cold) night.

I've been up since 4am - trying to stay on top of everything. Which is weird. And tiring. And I have a 7am meeting tomorrow morning - which is just dreadful and means that I'll have to skip the gym (something I hate doing)

Still the new t-shirts are SMALL and they seem to fit, I'm getting stronger and Jude is working her way through applications to some pretty interesting places.

So it's not all stress.

Holding my shit together

This week is going to be an exercise in holding my shit together. Work is insane at the moment and the projects are going to keep flying in just as fast as I manage to direct them to the appropriate people.

The temptation is to eat into personal time and get the stuff done at weekends and at 3am when you wake up with palpitations over all that needs to be done.

Actually the temptation is just to eat.

Or to skip the gym.

And eat instead.

But I will not bend, I will not yield and I will hold on to the idea that a year from now I'll be doing the same shit from a different location. Or I'm hoping to be.
Which reminds me - gee people along on the Green Card and check out agencies in Asia.

Still - people have it worse ---> and the sun is shining.

The pic - btw - is from the cycle racing that happened around A2 yesterday. Alongside a bookfest. Very different pace at each.

Football

You lookin' at me?
Originally uploaded by Andrew Morrell Photography

So yesterday we went to the football - along with 106,000 other brave souls.

Michigan pretty much sucked, their inability to throw a ball reminding me of wee Petey McGuire back in 2nd grade. But they started strong and held on for a win that convinced nobody that this was a team destined for anything.

Still the sun shone, the temps crept into the mid 20s and the crwd played its part in making for something memorable. So all was good.

Birthday today. Jude bought me photographer's lights... me much happy.

The next house will have a 'studio' for me - lots of white walls and sound deadening so that nobody will hear the screams.

Brrrr

CHRISTmas
Originally uploaded by Kristina_5

So with the clouds gathering and the temperatures plummeting it seemed only too apt that we head for the small "Bavarian" town of Frankenmuth --> where old people line the streets in hope of a peak at some Lederhosen and the world's largest open-all-year Christmas store plys a very off Autumn trade.

But first to the Outlet Mall where I availed myself of The North Face sale and acquired a fleece - which I then wore against the outside chill (last week's 35c is this week's 18c and it feels as though hell is attempting to call in a billion debts by freezing over all at once)

Lunch was downstairs in a "Bavarian", knick-knack-bakery-carvery basement. Entertainment was courtesy of around 200 old cars (very much in the Cruiser mode with a few Impala thrown in) which cruised the street as the old people watched, munching on a chocolate cheese cruelly named Lorraine (or something)

It was cold. It was gray. But we had Jude's car so we were quick and comfortable and the music was what I've come to know as "Single Entendre Soul" - think Otis Redding singing "Stroke it baby left, stroke it baby right, stroke it baby, stroke it we don't wanna take all night" and you have it,

Tres bizzare all around

Grey Cloudy Sky

Grey Cloudy Sky
Originally uploaded by carl_lexicon (longpalindrome.com)

I think that says it all.

The parents landed
The weather turned from gorgeous to gray

Work started to get more demanding
And me's miserable

A new look-a-like

sarah palin looks like tony soprano's therapist, no?
Originally uploaded by rachel best

Lots of people have been commenting on the similarity between 'first woman president when the old guy croaks' Sarah Palin and Tina Fey. But I think that she looks more like Tony Soprano's therapist.

Here are some other odd facts about the next president but one

She's a moose hunter
- No that's not a euphemism, thought it sounds like one I know.

She named all of her children after street slang for heroin
- Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper & Trig

She wasn't pretty enough to win Ms Alaska
- despite being one of only three women in Alaska

Actually that's not true - she wasn't clever enough to be Ms Alaska
- she failed on the US American's finding the US of America on a map thing

Her 17 year old daughter is pregnant
- by a 'man' named Levi

Is a little confused about whether or not to stone homos
Vetoed bill denying benefits to gays, as unconstitutional. (Aug 2008)
Marriage only be between and man and a woman. (Nov 2006)
Value our cultural diversity. (Nov 2006)
Ok to deny benefits to homosexual couples. (Aug 2006)

An dof course is more fertile than Idaho manure

White suits into storage

Troupe Roberto Head to the Pool
Originally uploaded by Cocktailia

It's Labour Day. And it's 31c. Which meant two things.

First all of the students are back in town ahead of the start of semester tomorrow. And secondly the local pool decided to extend its hours in a bid to cash in on collision of both the influx of firm young flesh looking for a place to show out and weather that allows them to shed clothing.

The pool was packed. The boys were hot - toned, muscular and enjoying the attention as they threw around a ball in a dispay of 'look at us, no look at me' peacokery.

The girls were large. Big breasted and celluliute pitted thighs. Their long term shape moving up from their knees to claim them. They lay at angles that they imagined flattering as the fat girl inside of them screamed for the ice-cream that would bring them 200 KCals closer to taking over.

Weirdly as the people get older you tend to see a reverse. Hot middle aged women with their blue-white, chunky, chubby husbands. The wives staying in shape for the day when all of that belly fat wreaks revenge on their 'better half' and sees her shopping for black with the first of the insurance checks.

It's been an incredible late summer. The skies as blue as any I can remember and the temperatures consistently in the 30s. It's been like Singapore with the added bonus that nobody was taking perfection for granted - and few expats were on hand to complain whilst leaking miserably through inappropriate clothing.

Two weeks from now somebody will have turned summer off and the temperatures will start to fall. We're seeing forecasts with highs of 18C. At that point Operation Flight starts and Jude and I start to look for weekend destinations where tan topping and time outdoors are possible.

One more winter here and then onward and upward. Or sideways. who knows. What I do know is that following that winter - those cold, dark, dangerous days where the light limits activity will come another summer. Our last here. And what a summer I have planned

I am not responsible for the weather

Crossroads
Originally uploaded by umichtrumpet

The last month in Ann Arbor has been spectacular in terms of weather. The skies have been blue, the sun has been merciless and the temperatures have rarely dipped below 30c. It's been like Singapore. Only with lesbians. And Craft Markets. (I have a suspicion that the two are linked)

Yesterday the football season started and 10s of thousands of people swarmed into town, all wearing the Blue and Maize of Michigan and all in search of a seat outside in the street, a cold beer and a decent burger. We had one of those seats and all I could think about was "Why aren't my parents here this weekend?"

You see Michigan weather is changeable. It's 31c this week. That doesn't mean that once somebody hits the 'end of summer' button it won't be 15c next week. Summer ends like that. And when summer ends here, everything ends.

Example? Yesterday we went to one of the big outdoor pools here. We swam. We sunbathed. We read books. We watched a couple making out oblivious to the growing buzz of 'tiut-tutting'.

On Monday that pool, which had hosted around 500 sun worshippers, will close for the winter. And re-open in May. That's 9 months. Lomg winter, huh?

So I get home and I check the weather. 30c and brilliant sunshine through Tuesday (when they arrive) and then a 10c drop and 7 hrs of rain on Weds (the first day that they're 'in town')

Now we've had 55mm of rain in August. And we're going to get 100mm overnight on the first night that they're here. Bollocks. 'Cause everything that I have planned involves us being outside (at least to some degree)

But I am not The Emperor Ming. I have no control over the weather. And no responsibility for it. Nor is Flash Gordon my nemesis. True I had them delay their trip as we had a house full. But that was a 'first come, first served' deal.

So instead I will relax, take each (cold) day as it comes and breathe so deeply that even my Pilates teacher will be impressed

One more thing

P1070694.JPG
Originally uploaded by stevenjude

Thanks to Mike (thanks Mike) I got my piccies back...

This one should be called "Looking for Obama"

New Glasses

Political Eye-Q (poster)
Originally uploaded by Vox Massive

Its been a stupidly busy morning. Took the dog to the groomers, walked to the gym, worked out, walked to Pilates, walked to the eye doctor, bought two pairs of glasses, walked to the massage place and got beaten up, walked back to the groomers collected the dog and walked back through the park, walked to lunch with Jude, then drove to the Swimming Pool before getting home, sitting down and opening the laptop.

Weirdest thing is that my eyes had improved. A lot. Age catching up on me. So as long sightedness clicks in the near sightedness lessens. Good news I thought.

"Expect headaches" said the eye doctor
"And blurred vision"

It seems that the muscles in the eye learn to compensate for being over prescribed... and that they're not going to take the fact that they have to relax easily. It can take a month. And the stuff involved can be kinda draining.

He even offered to 'bring you down in stages' but that meant 4 sets of lenses over the course of a year... so I'm gonna suck it up and see what happens.

Until they arrive though I'm making the most of being headache free.

McCain chooses a lady

Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska
Originally uploaded by J Medkeff

So John McCain chooses a lady as his Veep...

That will bring in Hillary voters

Women voting with their vaginas and all

It's a cynical move
It might be a brilliant move

And given his age and health it might be one that sees us with the first female President.

Timing was brilliant too. Just after Obama speaks so eloquently on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech McCain steals some heat back.

Neither mentioned Michael Jackson's 50th though (boo!)

Perplexing

Beyond The Grey Sky
Originally uploaded by -AL3X-

I woke up this morning not to brilliant blue skies and sunshine but a dark, stormy sky swathed in cloud that seemed to loom threatening above me.

And it was a very weird feeling.

We've had a month straight of brightness and blue skies... where the only clouds have been those high white specks that dot the big sky and give it a sense of scale.

is this the first signal that summer is at an end?
or just a cloudy day?

The forecast is all over the place
And I read it like runes

What is my weather obsession?
And where did it come from?

Sulking

Last night I worked my way through 180 pics from the State Fair.
I adjusted them
I cropped them
I played with hue
And with saturation.

I paused, I pawed, I sweated the details.
I used three different editing programs.

I ended up with 4 great pics
And 16 not bad at all - the boy may have something ones

Which I then deleted.

From the card.
From I-Photo.
From the computer,

A secure. Triple over-write delete.
That apparently you can activate with a random placement of keys on the keyboard.

And man am I pissed.
More pissed than Ozzy at an AA meeting.
Grrrr.
Nnnnrrrr
And
Gnarrrr

Another day in Bryan

Spent today in Bryan Ohio

Not a bad place to spend a day

But a 4 hr round trip

Which seems a lot

Compared to where 4hrs from (say) Singapore gets you

Fingers crossed

A quickie

We're off to the Rodeo tonight... at least I hope we are. You can't buy tickets in advance. So it's fingers crossed and haerts in mouths on the long journey up there.

I'd also just like to add that if anyone ever offers you tickets to see 'multi voiced comedian' Billy West ---> run East. And run fast. I've had funnier bouts of gout. I've had funnier tumors. I've had funnier --- well you get it.

That's a big piece of my life I'm not getting back. Wistful is one thing Mr West, repeatedly searching your notebook for gags without set-up or pay-off is another.

Never mind - here's a pic from Hollerfest; a better time.

Ribbit

Frog Holler Farms Salad
Originally uploaded by Chris in NE

For a while now I've been getting out of the gym (8 weeks now and still going strong - 3 inches off the waist and arms starting to look as though they belong to somebody who doesn't need a map to find the nearest 'nasium) and buying organic bits and bobs from the people at the farmer's market.

So it was weird last night to be switching Jude's car into AWD and bumping along the muddy lanes of Frog Holler Farm for Hollerfest - the smallest music festival I've ever seen.

Opening was Judith's program director Tom and his band "Rock, Paper, Scissors" - they specialize in "songs that make you wanna dance, songs that make you think and songs that make you wanna slit your wrists"

But as the night draw on, the sun went down, the bonfores were lit and the stage became a burning orange against the pitch darkness of the woods behind, as the HollerT flowed and the organic pizza was sliced - wrist slitting was the last thing on my mind.

It ain't New York - but you know what - it ain't worse

Wanna be in my gang?

Gary Glitter vs young persons
Originally uploaded by Niklas

When I was a kid I loved Gary Glitter. He was a big, shiny, real life cartoon who churned out monster glam anthems and always had a sense of spectacle.

When they found 'child porn' on his computer I took advantage of the sudden number of seats available for what turned out to be his last shows - thinking 'innocent until proven guilty'. He was later proven guilty. Ooops.

Since then Mr Glitter has lived in Spain and Cuba, in Cambodia and most recently a Vietnamese prison. The prison thing was for abusing two young girls.

Since his release there's been a media hoopla around where he was going to go next. Thailand refused to allow him in - even after he 'feigned' having a heart attack. Hong Kong turned him back at the border. Singapore want nothing to do with him. In fact 19 countries so far have said that they will refuse Mr Glitter entry.

Leaving him a hostile reception waiting back in the UK.

What surprises me here is the relentlessness with which the UK press has pursued this guy. They found him in Cambodia. They chased him through Thailand. And they're in every airport with him now. All this despite the fact that his career was short-lived and effectively over 30 years ago.

Now I'm not going to defend the guy. He's pretty indefensible. But where was the clamour for jail when UK author and scientist Arthur C Clarke said this from his long term home in Sri Lanka

"''Once they have reached the age of puberty, it is OK... It doesn't do any harm. I am trying to think of the youngest boy I have ever had because, of course, you can't tell it here. I think most of the damage comes from the fuss made by hysterical parents afterwards. If the kids don't mind, fair enough.''

Clarke didn't get jail - he got a knighthood.

Which may prove that a penchant for bacofoil is bad for your chances of staying out of jail. Or proof that the tabloids hold you accountable only to the level of your peak fame. Or perhaps, saddest of all, this has nothing to do with protecting kids from men like Clarke and Glitter and all about filling the front pages for a day or three during a slow summer.

Perhaps we could start a campaign to have Clarke's Knighthood posthumously stripped?

Horribly, horribly tense

I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways. Therefore tremble and depart.
Originally uploaded by mostlysunny1

This week has been one of petty frustrations that I've allowed to build and build until they filled my chest, forming a tight ball that I can feel.

I've tried running from the feeling on a treadmill. I've tried zen meditation (so zen was I yesterday that I ran a red light and avoided being hit my millimeters). I've tried being organized. I've tried being annoyed. I've tried nasty. I've tried rising above it - but still the knot of anger at the people responsible grows .

How come I can feel so passionately about something that ultimately doesn't matter - and be so unmoved by the great imjustices in the world.

Time I think for some perspective

A weekend to look forward to

shoreline
Originally uploaded by praise711

Lots planned this weekend and I have to say that the plans are pulling me through the week.

On Friday I'm going to try to convince the girls to head down to the Roller Coast with me and get on some of the biggest coasters in the world. Then on Friday night it's off to Hollerfest - a laid back music festival where we have some friends playing.

Saturday is a trip to the lakes to try to get some time on the beach in. Should be good - especially as the coastline seems to stretch on forever and the sand dunes look impressively high.

Sunday is the State Fair - and a rodeo I believe. Should be very butch. At least I hope so - I have a very Wrangler ad inspired image of what a rodeo should be and there are no tongues in cheeks there.

Then it's back to work on Monday - refreshed, revitalized and maybe the proud owner of a prize bull (or something)

Self knowledge

P1070428.JPG
Originally uploaded by stevenjude

I've learned a lot about the way that I work over the last couple of years. Translating that knowlege into something that can work for me is still an issue.

I know for example that I am terrible at organizing things - but that I'm a dreadful micro-manager when it comes to other people organizing for me.

I also know that I cope badly when working with people who aren't 'buttoned up' ---> perceiving them as weak minded and spineless.

I know too that I tip into openly aggressive once my respect for somebody goes.

I know that given a camera I can forget everything - and end up experiencing events only through a viewfinder.

And I know that while I enjoy the viciousness of wit I can also be too eager to please at times.

This doesn't make me a monster. I get on with 99% of the people that I work with. Clients like my honesty. Colleagues like my energy. But that last 1% - well they think that I'm impossible. Still I reckon that's less than half a dozen people from the more than 600 I've worked with directly --- is that a bad strike rate?

Another great day in Michigan

Ford GT on Woodward
Originally uploaded by lclutchl

So today we headed into a hot and steamy Detroit for The World African Festival. Which was a bit crap. Unless you like Obama T-shirts and handbags. Neither of which struck me as being very African really. But maybe I'm wrong. Jude bought a hat (pink and floppy) and some CDs for the car (absolutely filthy soul music and quite hilarious)

From there we took the Detroit People Mover too many stops to Greektown - which was also really rather disappointing. So we walked back. But not before being told that the derelict hotel in which I once shot a bunch of fetish models (only photographically alas) isn't actually derelict - or a hotel. I'd been had. Two floors were derelict. The two that I saw. The rest is apartments. And rather nice ones I was told by a sweet but insistent old lady. Wonder what she makes of the 'goings on' below her?

Finally over to Ferndale and Mustang Alley. It's Dream Cruise day which means 40,000 old cars, a 20 mile loop and the car manufacturers in full on automotive pornography mode. Much fun. Saw some friends and clients. Saw lots and lots of Mustangs. Fell in love with the Ford GT all over again - despite what Clarkson and his aftermarket security system may say about it.

Lovely, lovely, lovely

Didn't we have a lovely time...

Along the Banks of the Huron River
Originally uploaded by Kathy~

Jude's back from LA and while we're both knackered it's nice being able to hang out together again.

We have two friends with us at the moment - travelling the world through countries that don't threaten 'Intestinal Issues" at every turn --> and having rather a good time of it.

Today I got up - headed for the gym, 5 lbs lighter than I have been, ran some, lifted some thing that would happily have stayed static and then ran home in time to join 'the ladies' in a canoe.

8 miles along the Huron, one swim and lunch at a Dexter steakhouse later we're back. Jude's off to run for a while and then we're heading out to see Bill Maher... lefty comedian with a penchant for young ladies and a tendency to falter when not surrounded by cue cards and the pillow busom of his writers... or not. I like him a lot. Sure he looks a lot like an aged Thunderbird pilot but there's still enough tension in his bow to make the arrows that hit the big old target that is the Bush administration sting some.

Wow that was a dreadful old sentence.

So tired I might actually die

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the ...
Originally uploaded by teenage jesus

So after nights and nights of olympic excitement I finally thought that I'd get to bed. Except that Jude needed a ride from the airport. At 1.30am. Cue a 3am bedtime and a 7am wake-up call.

Now I'm knackered. I'm tetchy because I missed the gym (for the first time) and I have too much to do. Gonna skip out early - get to the gym, grab some sleep and take tomorrow off.

Evil

Flying Bees
Originally uploaded by *Ded's*

The people that I work with are evil. In the best possible way. There's a hard boiled meanness to Michigan, coated in a layer of sacchrine sweet bitterness that just really appeals to me.

Today I've watched as people have put slow punctures in somebody's 'birthday balloons' (it'll be a foreshadowing or what's about to happen to her tits went the explanation)

I've heard people sniggering over both the dare and entendre in the phrase "You eat her cake, I'll lick her frosting"

And I've managed to instigate a full on game of "Beat the name Misty Hymen"

Fun - in a juvenile and strangely English way.

Jude back tonight
Jude friends in earlier

Much joy - even though the airpotrt runs rule out a "Dolly Parton" gig (with $10 tickets)

All very What Iffy

Leonardo Attempts to Duplicate One of His Famous Drawings on an Etch-A-Sketch, Producing Poor Results
Originally uploaded by ricko

Spent today with my newest client - the very lovely people at Ohio Art. The makers of Etch A Sketch.

Not only are they lovely people; they're smart and button down and know what it is that they want and that they have a lot to do to get there.

I have to say that I left the room inspired by a lot of what they'd shown us and daunted by the speed at which we have to turn those great prototypes into blockbuster hits.

And the potential is huge. If Crayola can go from being 'big boxes of expensive crayons' to 'experts in color' with a couple of dozen hit products ranging from paint to DIY T-shirt printing then the people who have specialized in magic screens for 50 years should be able to do something spectacular in this '2nd screen age'

Other than that. Ran with the dog, Worked hard at the gym. Talked to the lovely wife. Sat on the roof in the glorious sunshine and 80f temperatures.

Good day, good day

(the What Iffy bit was a room full of toys and color, an energizer and hand drawn charts)

Left a bit, right a bit

McCain. Too Easy
Originally uploaded by The Searcher

Yesterday, in a moment of weakness, I headed down to the cinema and bought myself a ticket for 'Swing Vote' - a Kevin Costner movie that asks what would happen if an entire US election came down to the vote of one beer swilling, unemployed Hick in the middle of nowheresville.

Now of course what could have been glorious satire turned a little syrupy and obvious but the thought that politicians would say ANYTHING to get elected was pretty well represented.

Politicians follow the numbers. They read the polls and then pander to the millions. When the electorate is reduced to one man and the politicians to chasing his vote then that pandering becomes more obvious.

What we're seeing in this election is an attempt to find an issue that fills two criteria. It needs to be one on which people feel strongly and it needs to be one that has a simple "I disagree with him" resolution that can be reduced to a soundbite.

Right now everyone is hedging a little but the first salvo has been over offshore drilling. Both candidates were against it. But as the price of a gallon increased and media hysteria reached a pre-olympics cresendo both switched.

Now McCain wants to drill offshore. And Obama would drill offshore if it was part of a package that also allowed for more 'alt. energy' investment. The fact that at best offshore oil would provide no more than 2% of America's oil needs (bringing the cost at the pump down by 8c a gallon at most) matters not.

What we have here is a Republican being definitive
And a Democrat being nuanced.

Sounds a lot like Bush / Kerry right?

The rest of the campaign is just petty niggling.

McCain is still calling Obama 'a celebrity' as though it's a dirty word.
And Obama is still (just) resisting calling McCain 'an elderly racist'

McCain says Obama stands for higher taxes, more govt spendng and "therefore fewer jobs" - depsite evidence to the contrary.

Obama says "The hands that buily cars can build windmills" and attempts to show a New America full of skilled blue worker jobs that don't induce emphesima.

Meanwhile African American men are dropping like flies (Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes) suggesting that perhaps, just perhaps, Karl Rove's secret syrum is close to being perfected.

Failing the Tebbitt test

Michael Phelps Speedo
Originally uploaded by Jav.lo

I just cheered as the US team passed the cocky French in the 100m Freestyle Relay with the very last stroke of the swim.

I believe I may even have stood and cheered.

And this with me alone here.

I think I may have just failed the Tebbitt Test and may now have to hand in my UK passport at the nearest embassy,

Fantastic swim though.

Now for 5 hrs of sleep and then to the gym where Mr P and co have been known to train

Water Cube - Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Water Cube - Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
Originally uploaded by Laws0n

So with Jude away and the Olympics in full swing my attention has been diverted to The Water Cube and the swimming within. I'm knackered. Lots of late nights and early mornings. But the swimming is as spectacular as the building.

Meanwhile the opening ceremony has produced awe and fear in America - with people saying "Shit, these guys are serious"

China is seems is high tech, populous and most frighteningly "highly disciplined" - people here are spooked.

And if I was the person responsible for the London Games Opening Ceremony I'd be feeling somewhat panicked now - as what we just saw is untoppable

Quite the day

heart-attack
Originally uploaded by pixeljuice23

So up early for the gym and pilates and pleased that since changing the diet I've managed to drop 5 lbs in 2 weeks while still gaining muscle (shirts now strain at the chest rather than the gut)

Then it's run Judith to the airport where she has to catch a plane to academy and to an extent our future (if only the immediate future)... the people that she meets there will be the people extending the invitations to fly in and interview for jobs that might see us settle somewhere for a good while (or not)

From there to work - a meeting over with clients, lunch with the big boss and then to a meeting with the big clientt - during which one of the people was taken violently ill and carted off in a fire truck to hospital (I know)

So shaken was I that I missed my next meeting and left someone hanging for 4 hrs without a call.

Then home - out with the dog and bump into the neighbors who ply me with good company, good wine, Indian food and a fabulous Olympic opening.

It's been a long day and I want another glass of wine,,, but the diet says no. Shame.

Oh and I had the cat projectile vomit over me. Then crap in the bath. He's not at all well, bless him.

Not sure that this blow by blow account is of interest to anyone... but it's what I did I guess and reportage is all that I have the energy for at the moment

I am so hungry

Metzis Tasty Takeaway Hamburger with the lot - Australian style!
Originally uploaded by Vanessa Pike-Russell

I could eat THIS....

And this is horrible.

Am waiting on a lunch date with someone who I think is going to tell me that she's thinking of quitting.

In the past my response to that has always been a brief cheer followed by a "how can I help?"

But now I'm kinda in charge. And she's good. And I want her to stay. Which may be selfish. So I'll hear her out - be happy for her if she's found something that's a big step up and fight like hell if she hasn't.

Running from or towards is the question I guess.

And one I've never answered

What a blast

GT - Mustang Tire Black Rim
Originally uploaded by cadreema

They say that it's all about the simple things in life.

And they don't get much simpler than a sunny day, an open stretch of road, an American muscle car and a summer anthem blasting out on the radio.

So far that 20 minute blast has been the absolute highlight of my day.

I'm going to go out at lunch and do it again.

And then do it again.

Simple pleasures you see

The key to life

A day for wind-ups

It seems that everyone today has the 'wind-up' notice except me. And it's really weird. I can't quite tell whether people are being serious in the things that they're asking me or whether it's all a part of some bigger scheme to see where my boundaries are and which buttons still work.

In response I'm treating every request as though it was deadly serious and answering with as much detail as I can. Partly because I fear that everyone is serious and partly because I think that straight is the best way to diffuse their fun. All exceptionally odd though.

I guess that this is what it feels like to be stupid - in that 'Beauty' way so fond of 'Beauty and the Geek' - you end up thinking 'Did he mean that?' and answering as though he did.

Wonder if I'm half a beat behind or whether today really is as confusing as I think it might be.

One birthday down....

So Saturday was Jude's birthday and whilst our plans weren't ambitious we still managed to fill in the day with gifts, gym, home cooked brunches, Scottish shindigs, massages and dinner in Dexter. I had fun - there's something about being low key that takes the pressure off the organizer. Plus the sun has been beating down with relentless monotony for a long while now... so any outdoor activity is pretty much a dead cert hit.

So with Jude getting ready for Academy and me at work wordsmithing a couple of documents (trying to convey a specific shade of enthusiasm without recourse to the thesaurus) we're pretty flat out at the moment. Then we have visits from Bonnie and Lorraine followed by my parents and the potential for Jude to be both writing papers and heading off around the world for interviews regarding where she'll be working this time next year. We're not going to catch a breath before Xmas - but that's okay. It's all miles in the bank and steps toward certainty.