Not much going on around here right now. I read an interesting article about a hypertext version of Macbeth. I went to the website and wasn't all that impressed by the content. The concept, though, is one that has intrigued me for a while. The fact that hypertext allows a work to be presented in a non-linear fashion is rather fascinating. The idea has implications far beyond a virtual "choose your own adventure." It allows and even encourages a more active reader. Many have criticized the web for dumbing down works and readers alike. But hypertext actually has the ability to invigorate a reader. It forces one to actually think about the choices made both within the text and external to it. Also, readers are armed with quick references. One can really analyze a Shakespearen footnote without having to spend time in a library.

Hypertext also has the ability to liberate an author. An author is no longer to required to create one unified text, but is allowed to create a pastiche or montage with his/her words. While many have created such works on paper, rarely are they embraced by the public at large. That's why John Grisham sells so many books while Faulkner, Hughes, and Burroughs sit on shelves. Not only does hypertext allow for more experimentation, but it is also easier to disseminate it to the public.

And as for the fact that internet fosters stupidity, that is given creedence every day by the fact that sites like this exist

 
Yesterday, John and I managed to spend over $70.00 at the dollar store on stuff for his apartment. I am not quite sure how that happened. I am expecting a note making fun of me for writing that check in my next bank statement.

In other news, work actually seems to be going pretty well. I have managed to squezze quite a bit of money out of my incredibly cheap boss to make much nedded improvements to the coldbox and warehouse spaces for the kitchen. I've bought all new storage containers and shelving units. Next week I am going in for the kill and trying to get new kitchen equipment.

 
Today John and I got the Little Pagan loaded up in a big yellow Ryder truck and on her way back home to Virginia. It was at once the most ghetto moving job and the most butch John and I have been in months.

As a result of the past four days spent taking the Little Pagan out and getting her moved, John and I have decided to start a company. We will be dedicated to making your move as pleasant as possible. It starts with a night of hair dying and a make-over before we take you out for a night on the town. The following day is some basic packing and a nice quiet dinner with friends. The next two days are filled with the antics of two queenie gay boys trying to pack up all of your stuff and load a Ryder truck. Be forewarned, this may involve the mocking of your clothing and belongings, but to balance things out, we will be shady bitches to one another as well.

So whadda ya think? Will it work?

 
I am actually quite surprised how well I seem to be doing in my new position at work. I must admit that I had my doubts about running an entire deli and catering operation. Thus far, there have been no problems. The ordering has gone well, and I've stayed well within my budget. Everyone seems to be getting all of the work done (which is a nice change). I even managed to hunt down our gourmet cheese rep who has been MIA for the past month.

In other good news, my income tax return arrived today, which means I will be buying my plane ticket to Toronto shortly.

Also, who ever is coming to this site looking for a way to email or phone Tobey Maguire, I am sad to say that I don't know how, but even if I did, I wouldn't tell you.

 
Well, I am officially a college graduate. I walked across the stage in the Superdome Saturday evening and was handed my diploma. And, due to my luck, became sick shortly thereafter. I went to Cafe Giovanni with my family where I was freezing and it was established that I probably had a fever. Ignoring the signs of an impending illness, I went out with my friends anyway. This led to me sitting on the floor of d.b.a. huddled inside of my jacket. At 3:30, I officially threw in the towel and tokk a cab back to my car, realizing my attempts to drink away my sickness had been futile. For the next two days, I was unable to eat any solid food due to the fact that my throat had swelled up so much. Leave it to me to wait four years to graduate college, and then get sick so I can't enjoy it.

Don't worry, faithful readers, a trip to the doctor and a perscription of Claritin has made a world of difference, just in time for me to return to the wonderful world of work. Seeing as how I am doing better, post-commencement celebrations will continue throughout the week. Some of you should expect phone calls and emails to this effect. Especially seeing as how a certain someones birthday present arrived today.

 
The Wave Goodbye party got rained out about midway through tonight. Seeing as how I have to be at Loyola for their graduation at 8:00 am, I'm not going out. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Loyola graduation at 9:00 am, my graduation at 4:00 pm, then dinner with the family, and finally a night of drunken debauchery. We are actually planning on getting on the organ donor list for new livers before we go out, so that they will have them waiting for us on Sunday when we need them.

 
This is one of the funniest things I've found in a while. It's the Miss Cleo soundboard, where you can find a collection of sound clips from Miss Cleo. What use are they you ask? To make crank phone calls with, of course.

(link via The Fag Files)

 
Tonight is James' birthday. Shim Sham. 9 pm. Be there. If you can't make it, at least drop him an email.

In other good news, I am going to be helping one of my professors on a video project for the SHINE Awards that are being held later this year in L.A. She said that she couldn't pay me, but I would at least get a credit on the video. Works for me. She also said that she might be able to get me trip to the awards show.

In even more pressing good news, I graduate in two days!

 
Has anyone else heard about the guy who apparently confessed to murder on the radio yesterday?

On the Opie and Anthony show, a radio program out of NYC, a man called up offering a place to stay to one of the shows recurring guests, a homeless woman. When asked about his motives, he said he hoped it would give him the gold star he needed to get into heaven. After pressing him about what he was trying to make up for, he confessed to killing two people in 1977 in a botched drug deal. He then burned the bodies and threw the remains in grabage trucks in the meat packing district.

 
Today has been a good day. I am actually getting things accomplished. I've bought clothes for graduation, cut the grass, finished mailing announcements, burned CD's for some friends and ordered a certain someone's birthday present.

Speaking of presents, it's not too late to get me a gift for graduation, which is only 4 days away.

 
It's every straight womans dream. Five gay men make over one straight guy. The idea sounds interesting, but it seems to me like it might be too much of a niche market for reality TV.

 
I somehow managed to survive the Mother's Day from hell. Basically my mother and I sat together and kept each other from strangling my grandmother, uncle and aunt and consumed copious amounts of wine.


But I'd rather block today from my memory (my aunt went on a diatribe about how homosexuals are evil and are detremined to destroy the family as we know it. Speaking of which, if anyone wants to carpool to the next meeting of the evil gay cabal, let me know). So instead, I will report on the events of last night.


The evening began rather benign. James and I went to see Spiderman. Just so everyone knows, Tobey Maguire is my new boyfriend. He may not realize it, but he is. Before the movie we stopped at Starbucks for coffee so James could meet John. After, we grabbed a bite to eat at Moonlight. It was after this that the evening took an interesting turn. Jonno was supposed to call us when he got home. James and I decided to get a drink in the meantime at the Carousel Bar. Since Jonno had yet to call, and we were relunctant to give up such prime parking on a Saturday night, we wandered around till we decided upon Good Friends.


By pure chance, we ran into James' friend Jonathan, and the previously mysterious Drew. After brief chit chat, we decided to head on over to Rawhide. While there, the conversation turned to sleazy bars, which of course meant the Phoenix was going to surface eventually. James, being the only member who had never experienced the Phoenix, was completely intrigued. So, for purely ethnographic purposes, we trekked on over. After having gathered more than enough information or the National Gepgraphic article, we decided it was best to head home around 4:00 am. To an extent, I am kind of glad that Jonno didn't call.

 
I'm finished. I turned in my last paper this afternoon. My undergraduate career as I know it is over. Now I just have to kill time until next Saturday when I graduate.

 
"You guys have written so much bad stuff about me, I can't remember the last time I fucked a decent woman," Tyson recently told a Memphis sports writer, according to the New York Post.

Or maybe it's the fact that women are generally turned off by complete psychos. Or maybe they don't particularly like the asymetrical look of having only one ear.

 
Has anyone else seen the commercial for the MTV Video Music Awards that uses the Peaches song Rock Show? Does this mean that Peaches is now officially passe?

 
Tonight was the season finale for The Osbornes. I guess that I will have to look to own dysfunctional family for entertainment until the second season premeires.


Speaking of which, Mother's Day is fast approaching. This should prove to be an interesting experience as usual. We always go wherever my grandmother wants, which usually thrills my mother. My grandmother also makes it a point to order the most expensive thing on the menu, leaving my mother feeling guilty about ordering anything that is remotely expensive. She told me yesterday that all bets are off. She will order the lobster even if she has to take most of it home. She explained to me that when my father asked her where she wanted to go, she came so close to telling him "Does it really matter?" She decided that it would be more tactful to just say she didn't care. I am sure that my uncle, whom we speak to once or twice a year (foor good reason) will also be in attendence with his wife who is twenty years younger than him. I usually wind up trying to kill myself with the dessert spoon before dinner is half-way through. Of course, my brother has managed to be unable to make it home from school to come from dinner so I have to go it alone (You will pay for this, Bryan). If I don't make any posts after Sunday, it means I'm dead.

 
comments have been temporarily disabled until I can figure out why the new comment code is disabling my sitemeter.

 
I just got bored with the old layout. I thought I'd try something new. If you don't like it at all, don't worry, it will probably change soon anyway

 
There is a dove that has built a nest on the column on my front porch outside the front door. This is despite the fact that my father tried twice to destroy the nest. But it kept coming back. Now it's here to stay seeing as how there are eggs in the nest.

It seems that every year there is a dove nesting there. Eventually, they get used to our comings and goings and stop flying away every time someone is on the porch. It's nice having the doves there. It's magical for some reason every year when the eggs finally hatch and there are little fledgelings chirping away.

It's also sad because every year, the cats from next door always manage to kill some of the babies. It's inevitable that one day I will come home to a dead baby dove on the front porch. Maybe this year, though it will be different. Maybe this year all of the babies will mature and fly away.

 
"Brothel Locks Doors After Sailors Exhaust Prostitutes" Do headlines get any better than this?

(link via Zapology)

 

The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz

Damn. My secret has finally been revealed.

 
One down, two to go. I turned in my first final yesterday, albeit alittle late, but I am so apathetic to this whole school thing right now it's not even funny. Now I just have a final on Monday and another paper due Friday and I will officially be a college graduate.

But right now I am going to sit in front of the TV like a beached whale since I just consumed enough sushi to feed a small third world country.

 
I find Bush's proposal for urging impoverished single mothers to marry in order to rise out of poverty appalling. It is even more disgusting that he is using $300 million to do it.

The plan strikes me as being a bad idea no matter how you look at it. For one, as is pointed out in this article, it is basically going to allow Bush to get his way on the faith based initiatives, with most of the money going to churches and other religious groups who promote marriage.

The thing that bothers me the most about it though is that it is OK in his mind for heterosexuals to marry for what are essentially tax purposes, but allowing homosexuals to marry destroys the sanctity of marriage. Can someone explain this line of reasoning to me?

The idea that the president thinks it is acceptable to take $300 million away from the welfare program to promote marriage is ridiculous. He is hurting an already underfunded program. Why it's better to promote marriage rather than offer job training, better public housing, or day care is beyond me. Also, who does he think that he is, trying to tell single mothers what is best for them. Dan Quale tried that before with his criticism against Murphy Brown, and that wound up biting him in the ass. Why isn't anyone saying anything this time?

 
Apparently Oprah has already found something to replace her bookclub with. Now she's spreading the love to video stores