manunderstress.com

Another good BBC documentary. Sartre…philosopher, playa. That picture of him with Robert Plant hair as a child kills me.

I’m all for studies and research and anything in general that makes sense where there formerly was none, or tosses some long standing, ill-begotten misconception out of the window, but I find all this happiness research stuff kind of silly. Um, The World Database of Happiness…are you kidding me? Now I’m a big fan of the InterWebs, and the varied geekness you may find on said webs, including dorky databases, but I really hope they were being ironic with that name. I doubt it however, because the website is so horrifyingly 1996 that the author wouldn’t have- wait a minute….the whole thing is a great big giant ironical culture jam! Perhaps the Yes Men are behind it.

But seriously, isn’t it fucking obvious safe to assume that people will be relatively happier with more wealth, with more health, with more freedom, with more leisure time, but that these things in and of themselves do not guarantee “happiness?” Didn’t we learn this boring lesson over and over again in all those bad novels that we had to read in high school? What more is there to say? And I’m suspicious about these psychological polls because they are fallible and people are also fallible (and they lie, conscious or not!), so let’s stick to measuring things that make sense, like blood pressure. I know this: the smiley checkout lady at CVS will be happier than I will ever be, and good for her. But I don’t envy her line of work, or to be honest, even her smileyness. That’s right, I’m Scrooge, bitch!

Watched a documentary on the Cuban missle crisis the other night, and then looked up the letters mentioned in it between Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev. Here’s Castro in a loony and masochistic plea to practically end the world, if the US were to invade Cuba:

Letter to Nikita Khrushchev from Fidel Castro regarding defending Cuban air space

I would like to briefly express my own personal opinion.

If the second variant takes place and the imperialists invade Cuba with the aim of occupying it, the dangers of their aggressive policy are so great that after such an invasion the Soviet Union must never allow circumstances in which the imperialists could carry out a nuclear first strike against it.

I tell you this because I believe that the imperialists’ aggressiveness makes them extremely dangerous, and that if they manage to carry out an invasion of Cuba–a brutal act in violation of universal and moral law–then that would be the moment to eliminate this danger forever, in an act of the most legitimate self-defense. However harsh and terrible the solution, there would be no other.

It made me wonder how odd the world must have been back then communicating during emergencies via telegraph.

Fred Kaplan on recent remarks from the Bush administration:

4. “George Washington’s long struggle for freedom has also inspired generations of Americans to stand for freedom in their own time. Today, we’re fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life.”

On Feb. 19, to celebrate George Washington’s birthday, President Bush gave a speech at Mount Vernon comparing himself to the father of our country and the Iraqi war to the Revolutionary War.

In the past, George W. Bush has likened himself to Harry Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

I just adore the megalomania with which certain politicians liken themselves to vastly superior historical leaders. Dubya sitting around thinking he is like George Washington is like my 5 year old nephew sitting around thinking he is like Batman. Of course this is simply propaganda to battle with free-falling popularity ratings by glossing over the particulars of reality with fuzzy patriot-nostalgia of yore. Who could argue with Pearl Harbor? With WW2?

Kaplan continues:

Sound familiar? It’s obviously meant to, but it shouldn’t. Here’s an awkward question: By Bush’s own description, which side in the Iraq war most resembles the “ragged Continental Army” and which side the “mighty empire”? I don’t mean to draw moral (or any other sort of) equivalences, because there is nothing at all equivalent about those two wars, or these two presidents, and it degrades the serious study of history to pretend there is.

Douglas Feith, former underling-bitch of Donald Rumsfeld, is vehemently defending the work of his Office of Special Plans, a Defense Department policy wonk agency that is widely known to have contradicted CIA intelligence assessments with it’s own, uh, special reality. The recent Pentagon Inspector General’s report is damning, but little more than a hand-slap for Feith, concluding that his actions were inappropriate but not illegal. According to the report:

The office of the under-secretary of defence for policy developed, produced and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the intelligence community, to senior decision-makers.

Note that this report is not part of phase two of the Senate Select Committee’s investigation, part of which was released in September, concluding that the intelligence community was strongly disputing alleged links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, even while Bush administration officials were asserting those links.

Does it strike anyone as odd that none of these folks are in jail yet?

Chuck Norris, perhaps the biggest GOP celebrity-clown since Ted Nugent, filled in for Hannity on Fox News the other night. Could it be that Fox is forsaking all appearances of responsible journalism for self-parodying performance art? The joke could be on us.

All I can say about Chuck’s website is that all websites are better with audio welcome messages, right?

Had a party this past weekend, first one I’ve hosted in a long time, and the first one at this house I bought a couple of years ago in Peoplestown. It ran smooth and very late night, with only one car break-in, a few burns from handling a bonfire whilst inebriated, random bruises from “dancing,” and one wallet accidentally ending up in the wrong pocket. I had forgot how interesting it is to have a party, to see who shows up and how it evolves. I also learned why you have DJs, because inevitable people want to dance, and unless you want to be bothered to change the music every five minutes a DJ would be nice. Playlists are cool and all but they can’t judge a party’s mood and select music accordingly. Bartenders probably would come in handy too, although people get pretty smart when it comes to getting liquor into their systems. The keg went pretty quickly but the booze, and thank you to those who brought some, lasted all night long. Unfortunately the only thing left the next day were three High Life’s, Sambuca and a nasty half-bottle of rum (shudder.) Click on your drunken, surly, two-fisting host for a few pictures.

Lilac Breasted Roller has posted some pics from the party on flickr as well.

My first Halloweeners ever.

Everyone fell in love with Kumar in Bottle Rocket. Here’s the “who was that man?” scene:

He’s got a great spinning plates scene in The Terminal, but there’s so much more to his talent as will be witnessed in the forthcoming KUMAR: MY 88 YEAR OLD BEST FRIEND.

Many mistakenly believe that Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson “discovered” Kumar when they plucked him out of seeming obscurity from behind the counter of his eclectic cafe. But in reality Kumar’s hardly new to show business, in fact he’s a world renowned vaudevillian entertainer who once shared a stage with the Rat Pack and performed on classic television shows like the Mickey Mouse Club, Ed Sullivan and Captain Kangaroo.