Another day at the urinal

I entered our office bathroom earlier today and found our CEO at one of the urinals, well, urinating. In a bold move, I chose the urinal next to him (of the two available) and to my surprise, he greeted my arrival with, "Hey, J.B." I responded with, "Hey, Tim."

We then continued urinating in silence for the next few moments. I briefly considered attempting to engage him in small talk mid-urination, but quickly decided against it as our relationship is just not at that level.

After he was done, he zipped up his pants and left. I believe that he washed his hands.

An answer

"All will be saved; only I shall be lost."


-- St. Anthony

I hope it's not rear end

I have been a fan of the "Real Men of Genius" ads by Budweiser for some time. The dude that sings the Top Gun theme has lent his pipes to "Mr. Backyard Bug Zapper Inventor," "Mr. Paranoid of the Ocean Guy," and "Mr. Indie Band Member." Without further ado, I present "Mr. Boneless Buffalo Wing Inventor." I wish I could take credit for the graphic that corresponds with the audio, but alas, I did not create it.

As you can see, this blog is quickly degenerating into a brief multimedia commentary.

Diappointed for the last time

I am a longtime fan of the band U2. However, my loyalties have their limits. Bono has put me through a lot over the years. Each successive album has grown more bloated and overproduced and Bono subjects us to his proselytizing at every opportunity. As a result, in recent years my interest in the band has waned. In some ways I wondered, perhaps condescendingly, if my musical tastes had finally outgrown the band.

Nevertheless, when rumors of their new record began to circulate, I found my interest was piqued once again. I waited with anticipation for the new music to arrive, just as I had in years past.

In spite of my misgivings, I dared to hope. Looking back now, perhaps I should have known better. Still, none of my past disappointments with Bono and co. prepared me for viewing the video below.

I'm not sure which is worse, a bloated and overproduced album or not having the chops to play your songs live anymore. I'll let you decide. One thing is for sure, no amount of studio trickery is going to allow this masquerade to go on much longer.

My apologies for the profanity in the title of the video. However, after listening I can't help but wonder if the video hasn't been named aptly.

The Angel Cried

A beautiful hymn sung once at the beginning of Lent, and then again on Holy Pascha and throughout the remainder of the bright season until Ascension (40 days). Here sung in old church Slavonic with the English translation.

The Angel cried to the Lady Full of Grace:
Rejoice, O Pure Virgin!
Again I say: Rejoice!
Your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb.
With Himself He has raised all the dead.
Rejoice, all ye people!
Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem,
The glory of the Lord has shone on you.
Exult now and be glad, O Zion,
Be radiant, O Pure Theotokos,
In the Resurrection of your Son!

Holy and Great Friday

"When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son!' Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother!'"

We worship Thy Passion, O Christ!

File under: sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

While my beard is fairly non-descript, the flowing mullet-mane pictured to the left is most decidedly not. The wearer of this mullet seems to derive Sampson-like powers of Donkey Kong video game ability as well as supreme levels of arrogance and condescension. King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters is a documentary that chronicles the clash between twenty year Donkey Kong point champion Billy Mitchell (Mr. Mullet pictured to the left and according to Wikipedia, christened by Maxim magazine as "Dweebus Maximus Dorkus of both the 20th and 21st centuries") and challenger Steve Weibe. Weibe, "the nice guy," nevertheless ignores the poopy-pantsed pleas of his son for wiping aid during his record-breaking game attempt and weeps openly on camera when he is mistreated in a video game competition.

The documentary is fascinating and manages to evoke an intensity that belies its subject matter. Still, I found the rabid intensity of the adherents to this video game reality-world to be disconcerting, as wrapped up as they are into classic arcade video games. At times, watching the documentary was analogous to the morbid fascination that won't let you pull your eyes away from a train wreck. Nevertheless, as a study in sociology and my own past (at one time I was pretty heavy into video games sans mullet) King of Kong was well worthwhile.