Full regalia for today. High winds, and it was snowing kitties and puppies. I did, in actual fact, crash many times today, due to the wind. However, my Zippo worked, so there's that.

"Sure," you say, "it's a little tiny Little Red Book. I'd be all over that already, because I like to read Mao's meandering thoughts on guerrilla warfare in order to apply them to my own generally meaningless existence. The double-funny of a Little Red Book that is actually Little is reverse irony I can really get behind." Well, you say that now. Check the fuck out of this shit:

Yes, of course it's a lighter. Why wouldn't it be? This is, in my expert opinion, the Coolest Thing In The Whole World.

I don't know if "chuckle" is the right word.

Sometimes you just see something that has perfect sync with the world and you're all in tune with the here, the now, the holy fucking tide in the affairs of men, and all that. This was just such a moment. Notice the holistic channel line-up of this Redneck Fiesta in hi-def. Die Hard, drag racing, SportsCenter, McLintock!, and Whitesnake Live all on at the same time. I have the distinct feeling that someone like Kid Rock would just have a nervous breakdown if he saw that all in a row.

I, however, am left with the nagging impression that maybe the people that program the HD channels might not have a real good grasp on their demographic.

I voted for him for senate, and was happy to do so, not just because he was running against Alan Keyes, one of the biggest fucking idiots the Republican Party has managed to produce. But when he got to the Senate, he was something of a let-down; we got the distinct impression that he was one of those "I'll say what you want to hear, but I'll do what's best for me" types, common in the old-guard democrat party.

Now, I'm of the opinion that sort of person is okay, as long as he's your stuffed shirt, and I'm also a big fan of someone that can deliver a speech. Oration is the key to motivation in the body politic, and we've had a pretty sorry run of it for the last decade. Cut to yesterday, and I am not ashamed to admit I was motivated as fuck after his announcement speech. He has a real knack for striking a chord that I think will serve him well. Whether he gets the nomination is anyone's guess at this point, but he will certainly raise the level of discourse in the primaries, and that's really all I can ask, personally.

Boy, was it worth it. The phone is, well, no different. Except the boot screen is now inexplicably for a telephone company in New Zealand (no shit) and my contacts app won't actually work. Apparently this is an easy fix; all you have to do is sync your phone with Outlook and the contacts will be restored. This implies that you (meaning "me") used Outlook in the first place, and hadn't long ago excised it from your computer.

I'd say the contact thing was annoying, but the list of people I actually call on this phone is quite short. There's Elle, and my mom, and alternately Pacific Power and Dish Network, depending on who is going to be on the receiving end of my ire for the week. And ASCAP once a month so I can find out how much my check is going to be. That's only five phone numbers and I can remember them all. So I guess it's not that big a deal.

Oh, and I get two bars of reception instead of one. Who would have thought a firmware update would do that?

All I know is that things like this actually meant something at some point in the hazy past. It's like suburban white kids calling each other "nigger." At some point the symbol loses all original meaning, and becomes this new thing that is the polar opposite of what it meant. We live in strange times.

As an aside, I wonder if the nameless Thompkins Square squatter that came up with the original stencil (which was omni-present in the Lower East Side for several years) got paid a royalty for the shirts they did sell. Something to ponder, and it adds a whole new layer to the conversation, doesn't it?

EDIT: It was just pointed out to me that the entire basis of my argument is wrong, and thus I'm the fucking retard. The shirt in question is not the above pictured one, but rather this:

Well, that actually is from an SS Totenkopf logo, and thus is maybe some cause for player hating. I was given to understand, from the context in which I kited the photo, that the first picture was the correct one. My bad. But congress and Wal-Mart are still fucking retards. Just not for this. Mainly it's only Wal-Mart.

I saw the full-length theatrical trailer for this on HDNET last night. Up until then, I had never heard of it. Apparently, it's a Korean monster flick. Usually, I like my monster movies with a liberal dose of zombies, but in this case I'll make an exception. Anyone here see it yet? The American trailer (which is available on Apple.com) plays up the funny aspects of the film. The one above is the UK trailer.