Party responsibly 
A public service announcement from your friendly neighborhood djinn. Happy New Year!
Technorati Tags: drug information, drug facts
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How does your drug of choice stack up?
Are you sure you know what people mean when they mention Soma?
The word "soma" has four distinct meanings:
- The plant, or the intoxicating juice of the plant, used in ancient Indian religious ceremonies. Inevitably, given the Indian tradition, the plant and its juice were personified as a god, Soma.
- The imaginary "ideal pleasure drug" in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World (1932). Its chemistry and pharmacology are undefined. As described, the drug resembles a hangoverless tranquilliser or an opiate.
- "Soma" is the most common brand name of the muscle-relaxant carisoprodol, otherwise known as N-isopropyl-2-methyl-2-propyl-1,3-propanediol dicarbamate. Soma is marketed by Royce Laboratories, Inc; it was FDA-licensed in 1996. Soma/carisoprodol is broken down in the body into the active metabolite meprobamate. Meprobamate is a Schedule IV sedative-hypnotic, an anticonvulsant and anxiolytic muscle relaxant. It was first marketed in the USA from 1955 under the brand name Miltown as an anti-anxiety agent. The "miracle drug" of its era, Miltown was immortalised by the Rolling Stones as "Mother’s Little Helper".
- the body of an animal or plant excluding the germ cells.
I’ve noticed that literary people usually pick up on Soma as a Huxley reference, my party friends know Soma as the prescription med, and my Shamanistic/herbal friends know it as the juice of a plant. I rarely hear the 4th meaning but maybe I don’t hang out with enough Biologists.
The Strokes has a song called Soma:
"Soma is what they would take when hard times opened their eyes
Saw pain in a new way
High stakes for a few names
Racing with the sunbeams
Loosing against their dreams"
These lyrics sound most like the imaginary Huxley drug, but I couldn’t find anything definite so it could refer to the Indian plant. However, the Smashing Pumpkins also have a song called Soma, which was definitely named after the Huxley pleasure drug and Billy Corgan said this specifically about it:
"[The song] is based on the idea that a love relationship is almost the same as opium: it slowly puts you to sleep, it soothes you, and gives you the illusion of sureness and security."
Amen to that! Now let’s get to some pictures.
First the Soma tablets:
Next is a hot picture of Aldous Huxley (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963):
Here is a picture of the sacred Hindu plant:
Here is a picture and story about the Hindu goddess, Saraswati, who retrieved the stolen Soma plant:
"The Gandharvas were demigods who sprang from the fragrance of flowers. Once they stole the Soma plant whose inebriating and invigorating sap was much sought after by the devas. The theft of the Soma infuriated all the gods.
Saraswati promised to recover the soma plant. She went to the garden of the gandharvas and with her veena created enchanting tunes: the ragas and the raginis.
‘Give us this music,’ begged the gandharvas.
‘Only if you give back the Soma plant to the devas,’ said the goddess.
The gandharvas returned the Soma plant and learned how to play music from Saraswati. In time they became celestial musicians whose melodies had more power to rouse the mind than any intoxicant."
The connection between inebriating drugs and musicians leaves quite a trail back to antiquity, does it not?
It’s also easy to see why the definitions sometimes get blurred in public consciousness since they are all supposed to be pleasurable drugs of some sort.
Hope that clears everything up. I gotta go; all this talk of Soma is getting me excited….;-)
Sleep long & sleep well,
Izabael
What is your dead body worth? Albinos win big!
This site is pretty cool and will tell you how much your dead body is worth, but it should have some links to somewhere you can sell your body while you are still alive!
Rockband vs. Guitar Hero ]|[
Accuracy:
I’m not a musician but from the "feel" of things and based on what I’ve read in articles such as this, I’d say Guitar Hero 2 is the most accurate, with Rock Band close or equal to it. Guitar Hero 3 is generally criticized as having extra notes to make it harder without adding anything in terms of accuracy.
Since all these are "games" and the bottom line is none of them are really like playing an actual guitar, I’m not sure how much it really matters how "accurate" they are as long as they are fun. Nevertheless, these are "simulations" of sorts and simulations are always more satisfying when they are accurately representing what they simulate.
Music:
The music in all these games are awesome, and certainly what gives me the biggest thrill is working to unlock the next set of songs! In all three games, rarely was I disappointed by the choice of song titles. Guitar Hero 2 & 3 have a bit more classic and guitar rock than Rock Band, but that is only common sense since Rock Band is also concerned with songs that challenge and titillate our vocal chords and percussion skills.
The reason Guitar Hero 2 gets a lower score, even though it has the most cool songs, is due to the fact that the majority of songs are covers. After being spoiled by Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3, it’s hard to go back to hear the generally well-played but badly sung covers on GH2.
Guitar Hero 3 has a ton of bonus songs by indie bands, but I couldn’t get into most of them.
As far as downloadables, Rock Band has the best selection so far, but there are still under 30 songs on Xbox Live.
The chart below is fairly complete, but I did not include the indie bonus tracks. Also some of the songs, like in Guitar Hero 3 especially, can only be unlocked in co-op play. These will give you a fair idea of what music to expect.
| Rock Band | Guitar Hero ]|[ | Guitar Hero ][ |
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Graphics:
These are some of those rare games where the graphics don’t matter all that much, but still, everyone likes nice eye candy so who really shines here?
Definitely the winner is Rock Band. Right from the opening video you know this is a first rate production. This continues into the details of the menus and the excellent lip synching, guitar playing, and drum pounding of the 3D animated band.
My second favorite is Guitar Hero 2 which has some cool imagery going on. I felt Guitar Hero 3 was the weakest of the three, as the artwork wasn’t quite as interesting or innovative as part 2. Slash definitely looks like Slash though!
Instrument Quality:
There is no way to compare all the instruments because GH 1&2 only have guitars, whereas Rock Band comes with guitar, mic, and drum set.
As far as guitars, I played extensively with all three and for me it was a mixed bag. There is no one guitar that is my absolute favorite. I like the size and large frets of the Rock Band guitar, but it’s "strummer" is way too loose and sloppy and sometimes seems to miss notes. GH 2 has a nice guitar (I used the X-plorer) but it has to be plugged in like the Rock Band Guitar. Only GH 3 comes with a wireless version, which is a big plus. GH3 and GH2 have more solid feeling guitars and seem more durable, especially the GH3 guitar. So overall GH3 has the edge here.
Regarding the mic and drum kit in Rock Band:
The mic is fine. It’s just like a regular Logitech USB mic.
The drum kit is great, but I’ve heard there are some issues with them eventually falling apart. I believe it. It’s not shoddy, but I don’t think it could take regular daily pounding by restless teen boys for more than a month or two. **I recommend you buy Rock Band somewhere with an extended service warranty on the instruments.** (I got this from Best Buy for an extra $30 bucks for 2 years full replacement.)
Solo Fun:
Guitar Hero 2 and 3 are both amazingly fun single player experiences. I like the boss battles added in GH 3. The Tom Morello battle was especially exciting.
If you have heard that the difficulty level in Guitar Hero 3 has gotten ridiculous once you set it to hard or expert: Well you have heard right! Hard is extremely difficult even on the easier songs. And expert? What a joke. Is there anyone alive who can do Metallica’s One on Expert?
At first, I wasn’t sold on Rock Band as a satisfying single player experience until I got good enough to play guitar AND sing in Rock Band tour mode. The single player tour mode is not as exciting as the band mode, so I recommend at least playing bass and singing at the same time so that you can play the multiplayer tour mode.
If you want to shred guitar, make sure you crank it up an extra notch from where you would keep it in Guitar Hero to keep it intense. I’ve heard complaints that Rock Band is too easy compared to Guitar Hero. This might be a problem for people who are used to playing Guitar Hero 2 on Expert, but everyone else should find one of the difficulty settings to their liking.
Multiplayer Fun:
This is where Rock Band shines and puts Guitar Hero to shame. Co-op Guitar Hero can’t compare to the full-fledged band experience you get jamming out in Rock Band with two or three other people.
Long term value:
Overall, I give a thumbs up to all three games. They are all fun, and if you are into the music genre you will eventually want to own all three.
Rock Band, once you get past the danger of failing instruments, has the most long term potential for fun as you can do so more many things with it. Get bored of guitar? Play drums. Bored of drums? Sing. Sick of singing? Be Phil Collins and play drums and sing at the same time! Or be Jack White and play guitar and sing at the same time. I’ll come over and be Meg on drums and we can all rock out together!
Rock on & on,
Izabael
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Technorati Tags: rockband, rock band, guitar hero, guitar hero 2, guitar hero 3, music games, musical, computer games, xbox 360, wii, playstation, computer game, games, rock, guitar
The World is a Simulation: Solipsism 2.0
Some of you may be familiar with Solipsism, the belief that no one besides yourself exists (including me if you are reading this). If you want a humorous explanation of it, check out this link.
Many of you are also familiar with the simulation-argument, which is a well-developed argument that we are living inside a computer simulation. If not you can read up on it here, but basically it’s like in the Matrix but not necessarily run by malevolent robots–instead run by our race as it is evolved perhaps thousands of years from “now.”
Solipsism goes back to the Greek presocratic sophist Gorgias (c. 483–375 BC) but the simulation idea is of course much more recent. But to me the arguments are the same, and in fact the simulation argument is a little like Solipism 2.0.
Either way, I like this view of the world. It means there is no scarcity of resources or any damage that can truly be done to me or anyone else. Everything is just set up for experiential value–there is nothing gained or lost except experience….wait, now I’m sounding Thelemic again.
At any rate, if I am in a simulation, were any “backdoors” programmed in that I could use to make changes to my “reality” with? Is that what Magick is?
Wish I could just yell out “tech support” like in Vanilla Sky though.
*izabael (who is just a figment of your simulation)
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A Taste of Chaos
Video on the history and use of Chaos Magick. For )0LunarEclipse0(
Visit my twitter: http://www.twitter.com/VenusSatanas
From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDbDtzGPmqk&feature=youtube_gdata
Help for the bookmark retarded: Doing more with del.icio.us
The truth is most people still aren’t all that Internet savvy. Many of my friends barely email, google search, myspace and youtube. That’s all most people need or expect of the Internet and that’s fine really. All those cool things like rss feeds, digg, and social bookmarking are really for the elite if we are truly talking vs. the Average Joe. The more beautiful and social the friend and the more retarded they are online.
One thing even n00bs should use is del.icio.us though it isn’t perfect for 100% neophyte or the extremely lazy. Even with my Firefox plugin it’s not so hot with pulling up appropriate keywords for sites. It always requires a lot of manual keyword additions. Ultimately it’s time well spent when you can have an endlessly growing encyclopedia of your favorite sites on the Internet that is easy to sort though—–unlike the mess you’ll see in most people’s browsers when you go to “bookmarks.”
The old browser bookmark system is horribly obsolete. Probably has been for 10 years, but now at least we have alternatives. I myself just wish more people would use them. I tried to teach my sister to use them so that her bookmarks could be accessed from any computer, in any browser, she was ever on.
This article has some good tips and he says it better than I do. I reprinted the tips that helped me the most. Visit the link below for them all.
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/top-10-ways-to-use-delicious.html/trackback
1. Del.icio.us Firefox Extension
Del.icio.us Firefox Extension should be the number-one del.icio.us tool on your list. It allows you to quickly and easily add sites you like to del.icio.us with a bookmarklet. This tool puts a “My del.icio.us” button at the top of your browser, allowing you to view your save pages at the click of a button.
It also adds a “Tag this” button to the top of your browser, which allows you to bookmark websites while you’re browsing the Web.
If you use Internet Explorer, download this Internet Explorer Extension.
This Firefox Extension has saved me tons of keyboard time.
2. Increase Your Search Powers.
There are a variety of ways to search del.icio.us.
To view bookmarks tagged with a specific keyword, type in:
http://del.icio.us/tag/keyword
To view bookmarks tagged with two or more keywords, type in:
http://del.icio.us/tag/keyword+keyword
3. A variety of del.icio.us Uses
You can use del.icio.us in a number of exciting and interesting ways. Here are a few examples
to get you started:
- Bookmark movies you want to see
- Travel planning
- Bookmark books you want to read
- Bookmark things you want to blog about
- Research
4. Publish Your del.icio.us Bookmarks on Your Website.
In addition to all that, you can also share your latest del.icio.us bookmarks on your websites for all of your readers to enjoy. You can do this using Linkrolls and Tagrolls.
Linkrolls display your latest del.icio.us bookmarks while tagrolls display all of your del.icio.us tags in a tag cloud.
You can see these unique features in action at this blog . His bookmarks are on the left and his tags are on the right.
5. Creative Tagging
My final tip is based on a bit of creative tagging. For my most important tags, I place an “@” in front of them. This moves them up to the very top of my tag list. So, for example, for books that I want to read in the future, I have a tag labeled @books. This simple trick allows me to place my most important tags at the very top of the tag list.
xoxoxoxo,
Izabael
p.s. practice del.icio.us by bookmarking my sites on it!
Technorati Tags: del.icio.us bookmarks tips blogs blogging
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O Lucky Man! (1973): Izabael Movie Review
If you ever wanted to know what happened to Alex at the end of Clockwork Orange (1971) after he got a job going “straight” then O Lucky Man! is the film for you–if you don’t mind that it’s devoid of any of the intensity, graphic violence, good music, brilliant cinematology, and intricate characterizations that make Clockwork Orange the classic it is today.
In this movie, we get oddities such as footage of the musicians on the soundtrack playing in the studio–for no reason and to no advancement of the story. This movie is touted as surreal but the only surreal moment comes too little too late, when Alex (ok his name isn’t Alex in this movie but close enough) stumbles into the half-pig/half-man thing. Alex was a lot more interesting in Clockwork Orange let me tell you.
This movie puts Alex in many of the same situations: including being restrained by strange sci-fi props and jumping out of high story windows. Since this was only two years after Clockwork Orange you will wonder what the point was. All the satire and mockery in this movie was already accomplished brilliantly in Clockwork Orange; in this movie it’s mostly trite. O Lucky Man! tries too hard to be something other than Clockwork Orange while precisely being a rip off. (The band that sings the soundtrack has the word Orange on some of their music equipment written in psychedelic font. I don’t know why, but it’s another lame attempt to ride on the coattails of Clockwork Orange without pushing any limits worth pushing.)
This movie is overall quite dull and I can only recommend it to people who have seen Clockwork Orange so many times that they can’t put it on that 326th time but still want to tap into the world one more time This movie steals just enough juice from the original to be an interesting oddity to hardcore Clockwork Orange fans. Malcolm McDowell fans will get the most out of this movie though as he really never looked better before or since. Truly this is McDowell in his prime.
Out of 5 stars I gives this two stars. One for the young Malcolm McDowell and the other star for being as close to a Part II of Clockwork Orange as the world is ever going to get.
xoxoxoxo,
Izabael
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Technorati Tags: alex, clockwork orange, malcolm mcdowell, kubrick, musical, movie reviews, movie criticism, film
Sugar and spice, snips and snails? Are girls born whores and boys born Nazis?
I stumbled this and found these two especially cute and cozily evil.
This first one reminds me of “Bratz”…you know…those hoochie ghetto Barbies where even the “Baby” versions wear g-strings.
Are children just nascent forms of the impending cruelty and decadence to come?
How about this kid? So cute right?
But this is the kid that will one day be making that oh so lovely gagging and rough sex porn that is so mainstream and legal in America right now.
And what’s up with gagging rough sex porn anyway? I’m no prude by any means, but some things in this country are odd. You can’t poop on someone in American cinema, but you CAN make someone gag and puke on your penis repeatedly after just meeting them and paying them $250. Obviously I’m not going to link to it, but I want to make clear I’m not discussing some obscure porn site in Russia. I’m talking about popular sites run by white guys here in America and billed by one of the biggest names in adult billing and backed by all major credit card companies. The sad thing was many of these girls I saw were fresh immigrants and very poor. They barely speak English. It really didn’t look like they knew what kind of rough sex they were in for with these guys. More than one girl started to cry. This wasn’t acting, and these weren’t trained subs (I have no problem with serious SM which is about love and safety more than cruelty). These were girls who just got bullied into something they weren’t prepared for in the least. It was rape in a lot of ways no matter what forms they signed beforehand.
The pictures above are art. No one would argue that. But “reality” porn? I don’t think anyone would seriously call it art, so that’s not much of a debate. But what I’ve never understood is how exactly is pornography not prostitution? It’s legal to get paid for sex but only if it’s recorded and sold to others? I must be naive, but I don’t see the difference. Why are you punishing one class of female workers while rewarding another that is even more demeaning in that it leaves a permanent record for the world to see.
But the girls want it right? They are born whores? They do it for the money, so who cares?
She the top photo? She’s a virgin, one assumes. I myself wonder how long until she exchanges herself as some sort of sexual favor or sacrifice, maybe so save one of her fuzzy playfriends, or for the love of the friendly-looking Jesus there. Or maybe she will do it for cash. She’ll certainly get offers with those lolita doe-eyes and that provocative pose she has going on.
These pictures look innocent enough but if you stare too long they open up the nastiest cans of worms.
*Izabael
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Dirty Demon Deeds (done dirt cheap)
Some people say I’m too cute and sexy–that I’m not evil enough to be a true Goetic demon! Say you so?! Fool! Peer upon my day rates:
List of services:
Concrete shoes………………………………………..$1000
Cyanide…………………………………………………$900
T.N.T…………………………………………………. $5000
Neckties……………………………………………….$1000
Contracts…….$100,000 per B-list celebrity, $1 mil for A-list
High voltage………………………$777 introductory special
Deeds by Izabael, Done dirt cheap.
Gravestone Pin-up
In my everlasting search for innovative use of pinup I have found one of the coolest:
I predict gravestone pin-up will be even more popular in the future. This lady commissioned the gravestone by Peter Schipperheyn for her dead husband Laurence Matheson.
They are pretty erotic. I can imagine some uptight people getting in an uproar over having such a sexy depiction near their dead loved ones. This is in Victoria, Australia so maybe they are more open-minded than us sexually-repressed Americans.
Sex and death go together like peanut butter and jelly. If we looked forward to death as a sexual climax instead of a “dead end” people might enjoy their lives a little more too. The only thing that kills our dread of death is sex. That’s why sexually-repressed America is a country running scared. But I’m not going to rant about that. It’s either self-evident to people or they are in denial about it.
Sweet dreams forever,
Izabael
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Technorati Tags: headstones, gravestones, art, dead, loved ones, laurence matheson, peter schipperheyn
Izabael and Sophia photos
I updated flickr with some pictures of me and my friend Sophia playing around here and there trying to take some decent shots:
Full set at my Izabael Photos page or directly at my flickr.
Enjoy!!
*iza
Technorati Tags: izabael pinup photos fountain
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Masonic Symbols exposed!
I found this site while researching Masonic symbolism and at first I had a good laugh when I thought the descriptions were satirical. I had an even bigger laugh when went to the home page of where I found them (delusionresistance.org) and realized that this guy is serious.
Below I present a few of my favorites:
The sun, moon and stars, known in Scripture as the host of heaven, are found to be to the fore of Masonic imagery. These heathenish emblems, which have always been associated with Baal worship, are also found prominently displayed today within most New Age shops. It is not surprising to find such imagery spread widely throughout the occult world. Paganism has always showed its trinities in art by the sun (with a face) representing the male sun god, the moon (with a face) representing the moon goddess (or queen of heaven) and the all-seeing eye representing their offspring. Nothing on this picture represents anything scriptural. The words, “Faith, Hope and Charity,” are Biblical, but the image does nothing to point a person in the direction of the Bible.
A Masonic Apron with symbols similar to the picture above it. One can only imagine that such a insipid work of art can only have it’s inception from the very depths of hell. Can you find the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob anywhere on this thing? I certainly cannot.
A Picture of Baphomet, a Masonic god. Can anyone with a clear moral conscience actually think that anything like this can have anything to do with a Holy God?
The lines of Washington D.C. intersect. There is no way this could be coincidence.
The Masonic Holiness Symbol.
This symbol is rife with occult symbolism. many of the symbols are mentioned above. The thing that get me is how, what appears to be the Ark of The Covenant is displayed. First, the two characters on the Ark, which in Biblical times seems to be replaced with one male and one female character reaching out for each other as if to embrace. Second, the base of the Ark has two squares, which are indicative of femininity. The left side of the hearth has the female square while the right has the male compass. In the center of the hearth is the symbol of coitus. There’s nothing holy about this symbol.
I really don’t know what else to say about these. I think the descriptions speak for themselves!! “In the center of the hearth is the symbol of coitus. There’s nothing holy about this symbol.” LOL!!!
For more chuckles you can check out the full page: http://www.delusionresistance.org/christian/mason_pics.html
*izabael
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The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981)
So for Halloween I thought I’d pick something about love since October is the most romantic month of the year.
Even though the cover looks like it though, this is not really a romance, and that’s why I’d like to dust it off a bit and re-present it to you as more of an art film juxtaposing one world inside the other with some surprisingly natural theme developments.
If one does have to categorize it as a romance, then it’s more of a Remains of the Day (1993) type romance than anything traditional. The love affair in Remains of the Day was tortuously drawn out through decades and led to no ultimate climax.
This movie does have a climax, which is the “passionate” highpoint; but only in the Victorian era. There is no such emotional gushing in the modern timeline, which goes to illustrate the different levels of intensity between the two timelines.
I’m not going to get into comparisons with the book because that would be tremendously boring. I will instead focus on the themes most lucidly brought out in the movie, which concern the juxtaposition of the eras, i.e. ”modern” (early 1980s) and the Victorian era (late 1800s), to illustrate a subtle theme:
The Victorians enforced a strict code of moral conduct so as to be able to better enjoy the fruits of forbidden love.
Oh, they may have not been consciously aware of it. Perhaps, it was all subconscious as Freud suggested. Either way it makes a clear and poignant counterpart to our modern predicament, which leads to the grand-unifying-theme of this movie:
Marriages are dull and extra-marital affairs are hot!
Apparently nothing much changes as time goes by.
Most mainstream movies deal with this issue in one way or another and 99% of the time they both come up tails: i.e. the hard-line is that “we support marriages,” but secretly we all know that without a little spice and danger, sexual escapades soon loose their luster.
In this particular movie, the actors in the modern scenes are more blasé about their romance than the ones in the Victorian era. The Victorian lovers dive in so completely and obsessively into their real and imagined affairs that it ignites the intensity of their entire existence. Like the old doctor says about halfway through the film, “She does not want to change. She loves her own melancholy.”
This movie has a good-eye for realism and yet still has an optimistic streak that I was pleasantly surprised to fine since there is a certain sadness with regards to the recently industrialized world. One of the specific problems was prostitution. For those unfamiliar with the Victorian era I present a quote from Wikipedia, which is close to the one quoted in the movie:
“The anonymity of the city led to a large increase in prostitution and unsanctioned sexual relationships. Dickens and other writers associated prostitution with the mechanization and industrialization of modern life, portraying prostitutes as human commodities consumed and thrown away like refuse when they were used up.”
The movie only used this as backdrop however, so don’t expect any heavy handed expounding. The movie is really about something very simple:
The longer you wait for someone, the more intense it gets.
We are all about instant gratification these days. Good luck in finding any precocious teenager of either sex to be a virgin.
Now imagine how intense it would be to wait not only for sex with the person of your desire, but to be long denied of their very touch or essence for weeks, months and years on end? There may be that rare drop from heaven in the form of a hand-written letter, but everything else? Forget it. Forget pictures, forget webchat, forget phone. All you have is each other’s memories and your time alone with them.
Imagine then after many years to finally feel your lover’s embrace, indulge in their scent, cry with joy upon their chest…
That’s the point of this movie. The people in the modern world have boring love affairs due to their obsession with “fast-food lovemaking.” The love of affair in the Victorian time, however, hearkens to a world where passion reigned supreme.
Another key to understanding this movie is as an “art film” in that it sacrifices a mainstream ending for the sake of keeping the themes intact. This movie probably would have done much better in the theatres if the modern couple had been as tempestuous as the couple in the Victorian era, but instead the director stuck-to-his-guns and kept the modern relationship vague and unreal compared to the emotional reality of the couple in the Victorian era.
Again and again, we the viewers forget that the scenes from the Victorian era are just part of a movie played by the characters from the modern era. At the end of the movie we are still left with the impression that the inverse was true: that the real world was just dull fantasy compared to the emotional reality and validity of the Victorian couple.
So as you can see, this is a good movie for couples to rent. It can be enjoyed emotionally and also diced up analytically.
You can find all the other “pertinents” here on IMDB.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0082416/
*izabael
"Izabael, do you have a day job?"
Sometimes people ask me if I am really so cool as to just be a Internet pin-up genie, or do I have a “day job”?
Well, I am happy to report that I do have a day job that I LOVE. I work here:
This is my friend Bambi. She gives a mean crew cut.
This guy asked Mercedes for the “deep follicle tissue rub” before getting his trim.
This guy said he hadn’t had such a good haircut since he was eight!
Check it out: Sexy Haircut Salon
xoxoxox,
*iza
Technorati Tags: sexy haircut salon joke no i dont really work there
Malibu burns–BOO HOO double BOO HOO!
I’m crying a whole lot of crocodile tears today for the houses burning in Malibu. Parts of the country and world burn down all the time without 1/100th the news this thing is getting. Why? Maybe they like to hear when the rich assholes who live in Malibu get their houses burned down. Maybe they like it when the excessively affluent are brought back down to reality and have to walk on the same earth the rest of us do.
“But, Izabael, no! You are mean! Why do you call these rich actors, directors, et ceteras ‘assholes’?”
Mainly because of the way they treat Malibu’s beach to be honest. If anyone lives out here or has visited and tried to use the PUBLIC BEACH of Malibu you would find that access is almost impossible due to these elitist rich pigs trying to keep everyone off the beach and turn it into their own private resort. Well, legally they can’t do that (yet), but they *can* seal off almost all access. There is no parking, nor any beach access anywhere near Malibu. And guess what? I saw a firefighter saying that their closed-off gated neighborhoods were a big part of the problem when fighting the fire. Reap what you sow, bitches.
Technorati Tags: malibu, malibu burns, elitist rich pigs must die, fires, malibu fires, property damage, james cameron
Big-Pharma, aka. the world’s worst drug pushers, here is something you should be focusing on:
How about instead of endless crap like weight-loss drugs for people too lazy to hit the gym, you instead focus on useful things like …oh…I dunno…HOW ABOUT MORE ANTIBIOTICS to fight the wave of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that has LONG been on the rise–at least since the 90’s–long before the Staph infection started making headlines here in the U.S. after that kid died.
Nah, what am I thinking? They prefer pushing lovely drugs like Vioxx instead ( I linked directly to the Merck site so you can laugh at their “version” of Vioxx and how they are “committed to scientific excellence,” but if you want better facts try this link instead.)
Kiss my ass anyone who works at the upper echelons of any major U.S. drug company, I hope you and everyone in your family gets a resistant strain of bacteria and you die a slow and miserable death.
I have more respect for the drug dealers in Columbia.
Technorati Tags: pfizer, merck, Eli lilly, big pharma sucks, big pharma, staph, staph infection, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, bacteria, bacteria death
I just found this today (10/28) and wanted to add it to this blog entry: Big (Brother) Pharma deletes safety information on their drugs at Wikipedia
Growing size of RSS feed icons
I came back from GlamourCon last week thinking that nothing in this world grows faster women’s breast sizes (not even inflation).
Then I realized there is something growing even faster. The size of RSS feed icons on blogs.
First we had:
Then these:
Now these show up with increasing regularity:
So I’m going to take a bold jump in the next size since I’m sure its the next popular size for bloggers:
Wheee!!!! Bigger, better, pinker, faster, more, more more!!!!
Pop psychology of Motley Crue (3 As and a B)
I find the psychology of Motley Crue fascinating–probably as much as I like their first two albums. I often get glimpses into mankind’s psychology by analyzing rock band’s history. Right now I’m reading Heroin Diaries.
In classic Motley Crue there were two traditional “alpha males”, Vince and Nikki, and an Alpha pup (who is now a full fledged annoying alpha which is why there is so much tension between Tommy and the rest of the band now–he’s a big doggie now–grrr… woof. watch out…;) Mick, bless his heart, is the beta. And thank god because he is the untold savior of Motley Crue because his alkalizing influence greatly absorbs the acidity of the rest of the band. Even by the simple non-act of not being as a big pain in the ass as the rest of the band, he probably saved the band. Managers, producers, and labels could barely handle them as it was.
That’s one “hidden” reason why on the Girls tour they treated Emi, one of the backup singers, and Mick so badly. She was trying to “get all primadonna” in a band that already had three primadonnas. No way that was going to work and Mick was too beta to put her in her place.
I also should point out that beta dads are the saviors of the world. Alpha dads are barely present assholes who miss birthdays and anything else even remotely relevant…or am I just projecting? ;-o
A funny quote of Nikki’s, which I can’t find because this book doesn’t have an index which is regrettable since names of people you’d want to scan quickly for come up regularly, was when he said that Gene Simmons was full of himself and no one could like him and much as he liked himself. Talk about one bad bassist calling the other bad bassist black
The book also confirms everything we’ve heard about Axl Rose and old Guns N’ Roses since the then fledging band was known to hang out, and then later tour, with the Crue at their peak. So basically Slash is a cool guy and Axl is just an asshole. I admit I loved Appetite as much as anyone, and I don’t care about his interpersonal dealings at the height of his LSD (“lead singer disease”), but for me it’s lame to release a “punk cover” album like Spaghetti Incident? after crooning and preening with a grand piano and Elton John doing Queen covers. (I have nothing against Elton John or Queen; they are both awesome, but from a 70s punk standpoint they were part of the ”royal family” to be defiled and spat upon in rebellious contempt—–Axl was just a sell-out—–and it was sickening the way he pushed his bandmates out of G n’ R and took over the name band just to let it rot because his aging years and ruined voice will never allow him make anything like his first two efforts.) The Axl described in this book though still has some of his “good qualities” though as it was before the staggering success of Use your Illusion I & II and before his voice went bad.
Vanity AKA The Evangelist Denise Matthews is pretty cool too. At she has the pluck to be a part of a book like this. Descriptions of their relationship by each other and others around them are some of most hilarious parts of the book. 
That’s all my comments for now.
*iza
Technorati Tags: Nikki Sixx, Sikki Nixx, Motley Crue, Guns and Roses, G n R, rock and roll, rock n roll, heroin diaries, the dirt, pop psychology, Vince neil, mick mars, tommy lee
Fuck you, Johnny. That’s why we love you.
Was at the library today and read probably the best interview I’ve read in Spin. Since it was online, I myself will snip a few highlights along with some of my favorite pictures of Johnny Rotten:
When you were attacked in London in June of ‘77, tendons in your arm were damaged. You were a left-handed guitarist, right?
I’m not a guitarist at all, now! I’m more like a clitoris these days because of that. It was a knife attack, but this shit does happen.
You’ve said you had a machete stuck in your kneecap in an alley once, too.
When we first came to America [in January 1978], they were pulling guns on us down in the South. It was an act of choice to tour there, but it was also a bit crazy. It was dangerous. The record company wanted to shove us into that CBGB’s world of New York, but that’s a world of foolishness.
When you look back at what you did in 1977, do your ideas and lyrics still feel relevant?
What we did was as relevant then as it is now, because we did not lie. Period. I find it astounding that I live in a world where lying is conceived as the standard form. My songwriting is always about the things that directly affect me, and I’m constantly looking for an answer — like, “Problem” is about finding a solution. Don’t run away from things. But you also want to be able to waffle like the Bee Gees. I love the Bee Gees, but not “Stayin’ Alive.” I love their ’60s stuff. [Rapturously] I swoon in it.
Do you feel that the fashion element of 1977 may have overshadowed some of the substance?
It ain’t what was made; it’s the way it was worn. Look at me. This [outfit] is fucking five dollars’ worth. And look, I’m wearing goldfish on my socks, and I’m quite happy. They’re little fishies, having fun swimming around my ankles. Am I supposed to not like that kind of stuff because I should be into skull and crossbones? Fuck off.
Didn’t you stay in New York after the Pistols’ final show in San Francisco, in January 1978?
I lived with Joe Stevens, a friend of Malcolm’s [McLaren, the Pistols' manager]. Thank God, because I would’ve been left stranded in America with no money, nowhere to stay, and no plane ticket. Malcolm and them had buggered off and left me. Par for the course. I’ve got no bitterness about it. Much! Not. [Laughs] But I made quite a lot of money on that stage in San Francisco. You know [to an imaginary crowd]: “Give me some money.” And they did! People threw so many dollar bills; it was brilliant!
What is your most misunderstood quality? I’m not evil, I’m not nasty, I’m not spiteful, I’m not jealous. I just like people to get me right. Any act of violence that comes from me is in direct retaliation. I’m Gandhi up to a point.
You’ve called contemporary punks “coat hangers.”
I think it’s about the clothes. And once you get into that — the uniform — you’ve missed the point. It ain’t nothing to do at all with what you wear. What punk has become is such “a fascist regime.” “Ooh, punks don’t wear this, punks don’t listen to that.” Bollocks!
Bollocks to you, too!
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Technorati Tags: Bollocks to Technorati, Bollocks to tags, Bollocks to bloody blogs, Johnny Rotten, John Lydon, Sex Pistols, punk, fuck you
"Into the Wild" Review
I generally don’t do reviews of movies just released, instead focusing on criticism of older movies that tickle my fancy, but I enjoyed this film so much last night that I will make an exception.
I assume everyone already knows this is about Christopher McCandless, a recently graduated college student from Emory who leaves everything behind (money, car, family) to hitchhike across the country. After many adventures he makes it to Alaska where he lives his dream for a hundred or so days and then dies of starvation. (Here is the article that started it all.)
This movie made me cry. It’s not a sad or depressing movie by any means despite the synopsis. It’s actually a movie that revels in every aspect of being human, from birth to death, and yet the end is poignant enough to draw even a few tears from the gruffest of demeanors.
This movie idolizes the solitary adventurer with the same spirit Jack London, whose influence on this movie weighs in like a foot of snow. Even Christopher McCandless’s end reminded me of the one in the short story to “To Build a Fire”–both making small but crucial mistakes that would cost them their lives.
I promised to keep this short though, didn’t I? Ok, the on-location cinematography is excellent. Emile Hirsch as Christopher is absolutely transcendent. The supporting cast of mostly famous faces is solid enough, but I thought having Vince Vaughn was a little outputting at first but even he squeaked by with a good review as far as I’m concerned. (My favorite oddballs were the German couple Chris stumbles into while illegally canoeing down the river.) The soundtrack is topnotch and I would daresay this is Eddie Vedder’s best work in over a decade. Sean Penn’s direction is mature and confident.
This movie will want to make you run out and leave the city forever, or at least it did me! I thought the scenes of Los Angeles in the movie were the most depressing and ugly in the film–I don’t think that was an accident. It was in stark contrast to the beauty of nearly everywhere else he traveled.
To put things in perspective though I nabbed this from Wikipedia for an opposing view of McCandless and his adventures up north:
Some Alaskans have negative views of both McCandless and those who romanticize his fate. McCandless was unaware that a hand-operated tram crossed the river a quarter mile from the Stampede Trail, while a nearby shelter was stocked with emergency supplies, as described in Krakauer’s book. Alaskan Park Ranger Peter Christian wrote: “I am exposed continually to what I will call the ‘McCandless Phenomenon.’ People, nearly always young men, come to Alaska to challenge themselves against an unforgiving wilderness landscape where convenience of access and possibility of rescue are practically nonexistent … When you consider McCandless from my perspective, you quickly see that what he did wasn’t even particularly daring, just stupid, tragic, and inconsiderate. First off, he spent very little time learning how to actually live in the wild. He arrived at the Stampede Trail without even a map of the area. If he had a good map he could have walked out of his predicament … Essentially, Chris McCandless committed suicide.
This ranger raises a good point, and even during the movie you will wonder why Chris didn’t better prepare himself for his Alaskan adventure, but that was just his way. He wanted to make it as hard on himself on possible. He was confident in his abilities and figured he would always find a way to make it through the day. For him that was the excitement of living moment to moment and day to day. Christopher’s greatest success lies in the inspiration he gives now to others–though I’m not quite yet ready to cut up my credit card.
So bottom lime this is great movie. The two and half hours will fly by (and this is saying a lot coming from short-attention span lil’ ol’ me!) and you will probably have to choke back a few tears if you are a guy on a date (but I say go ahead and shed a few tears. I think it’s sexy to see a man with emotion–just don’t bawl like a baby “Into the Wild” is an powerful and inspiring movie that made me even more happy to be alive than I already am.
Holes? Now Tunnels…
This whole photoshoot took under thirty minutes including scouting out the location! Pin-up doesn’t have to have anything fancy or complicated. Of course for me it doesn’t matter that I had this “portal into hell” handy. Well come on, don’t wait out there. Step inside….hell’s a lot more fun than the good guys would have you believe ;-)
For the rest of my most recent pictures visit: Izabael’s Flickr Photos
"Seven Amazin Holes"
Ok, seeing as how I always talk about the number seven, and being a great hole myself, I couldn’t let this blog go by without a mention:
My favorite of the seven were:
Diavik Mine, Canada:
Bingham Canyon Mine:
Coolios, yeah?
Beancounter’s blog
Welcome to the light side! Yes, even I myself need to get away from my usual topics and relax in the lighter side.
My favorite blog for such thing is Beancounter’s Blog, where I find links to cool pictures likes this:
of a pink Darth Vadar costume…
…and…
If you haven’t seen this database of album covers gone wrong, check it out. My favorite is this David Bowie one for Aladdin Sane or the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon one:
{Sometimes as a blogger it’s hard to know if it’s better to link to where you found the content or the content itself though =/ I’m doing a bit of both here.}
This would be my runner up favorite:
Cthulhu yay!!
But where in canonical Lovecraft does it say Chtulhu’s last name is Fhtagn?
“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!” is from the story of Call of Cthulhu. But the translation is “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.” Oh well cute nonetheless.
Technorati Tags: album covers, Pink Floyd, Beancounter, Cthulhu, Fhtagn, Aladdin Sane, David Bowie, happiness, darth vadar, pink, costume, Call of Cthulhu
Kindergarten
Lately, poor old hard workin’ Izabaella has had had various snubs, door slams, and whatever else going on in her professional career. Oh yes, even your beautiful demon narrator gets balked on a regular basis, but I don’t let it get me down. Mainly because I put it into perspective–that it’s a whole layer of hell better in the business world than it was in elementary school.
Seriously. Things could go bad in elementary school, both inside the class and on the playground. Fisticuffs and ensuing alienation were not uncommon for young Iza shall we say. Then there was the social pressure to “go out” with someone of the opposite sex. This was 4th grade. School had its ups and downs, but the immanent threat of impending social ostracism was never so piquant as it was then. And so lasting, don’t you think? A school year seemed like one end of eternity back to the other in those days and the scars from then still sometimes seem to linger.
The rules at that age are vague too. You are told not to fight by parents, but if you don’t then you are considered weak and inferior by peers. This is true for girls of that age too. But in the business world, it’s not ladylike to “throwdown” so the worst you are going to get is an “Evil eye” or a harsh rebuke. In fact the softer the voice, the more deadly the bite of the sting.
And the real world as an adult is so much more anonymous. Everyone knows who you are in elementary school class. But in the real world we can escape and transform into whatever we want. One opportunity is quickly followed by another. There is rarely lasting stigma to embarrassing situations except for those in the public spotlight (and we know how short public memory is even over the majority of these.)
When I think of it this way, not only am I relieved, but it makes me more aggressive. I realize I can play fisticuffs with whomever I want, when I want, for whatever reason I want. It’s just done within the clearly defined rules of bureaucracy. You don’t even have to be subtle.
Just stay between the lines and you can hit below the belt. There’s no threat of some little bitch with blonde pigtails grabbing out a huge handful of your hair either.
*1ZaB/\3l
Technorati Tags: kindergarten, social pressure, elementary school, fisticuffs, fighting, business ethics
Bin Laden is no Zodiac
Bin Laden seems to have lost his touch with scaring us. This years proclamations seemed to fall on blasé ears. He tries to be a Zodiac though and uses the media as pulpit for ego-grandisment. These anniversary tidings of his seem as much like desperate marketing ploys as they do actual terrorism. Either terrorists have gone downhill, or American media has ultimately brainwashed Bin Laden as much as anyone else in the public spotlight.
*iza