Hi!!

If you enjoy the relationship between Alan and Stephen, please join alan_stephen :))

We also would like to affiliate. Would that be ok!?

So late last week, my downstairs neighbors call me to inform me that they seem to have some water damage on the ceiling of their guest bathroom. ( That was when the party started. )

You should have seen the parade of people that came through my house today: the plumber (and of course I was responsible for paying him for parts and labor--but the cost actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be), Jodi who owns the unit downstairs, Kathy (one of the tenants renting the unit downstairs), Dan (the manager of the Homeowner's Association), and Skip (the dude who ripped out the rest of my wall and floor and put in the "bouncers"). I throw the BEST PARTIES, Y'ALL.

In other news, downtown Sycamore had its own party on Saturday, called Oddfest (thrown by the Odd Fellows, to benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation and juvenile diabetes research), and Martha and I got tanked over at my place, watched some episodes of 30 Rock, drunk-dialed Barnes & Noble and our co-worker Kim who lives down the street, and then went over to Oddfest try out our friend Mandi's chocolate-covered strawberries and s'mores (her family runs a summer fest booth called Millie's that features desserts on a stick). Yum. Although tipsy Martha may have spoken too loud when she said we had to leave because she did not enjoy "watching ugly people dance."

The B&N book club was last night, and we were all a bit cynical about Flowers for Algernon this time around (Alice Kinnian is actually a little creepy!), but I still like the book overall. I've since started reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which I like so far (oh and I also read Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper, which was just ok for me). Our next book club meeting isn't 'til early October and will feature Mary Karr's The Liar's Club, which I have already read.

Tomorrow we have our departmental meetings and I actually find out which classes I begin teaching in less than a week!

The rest of the week is kinda crazy; I've got some shifts @ B&N, possibly more school meetings, more visits from Skip, and then I have to drive out to see the family because unfortunately, one of my dad's cousins, Diane (I didn't know her very well), died just yesterday of a massive heart attack. :( It was hard to gauge on the phone, but my dad might be a bit shaken up about it. Life is unpredictable.

Electric Six Announces the Release of its Fifth Album, "Flashy"

DETROIT, July 18 -- Electric Six, in conjunction with Metropolis Records, is proud to announce the North American release of our fifth record entitled "Flashy", for October 21. Releases in other territories will follow.

"Flashy" was recorded by our very own The Colonel at his Hamtramck Sound Machine studio.

The tracklisting for "Flashy" is as follows:

1. Gay Bar Part Two
2. Formula 409
3. We Were Witchy Witchy White Women
4. Dirty Ball
5. Lovers Beware
6. Your Heat is Rising
7. Face Cuts
8. Heavy Woman
9. Flashy Man
10. Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart
11. Graphic Desginer
12. Transatlantic Flight
13. Making Progress

A music video was filmed for "Formula 409" recently in Detroit.

The band will take to the road in support of this new record in the United States in October and November, and will head to the UK, Ireland and Spain in December.

Yes.

25x Beatles

Teasers -



Honey Pie, you're making me frantic..

 +18: Animated Joker
+17: The Dark Knight Joker
+13: The Beatles
+13: Oz illustrations (the l. frank baum books)
+12: Black Books (images and text)
+3: abandoned structures
+1: Rocky Horror Picture Show

   

come on over

Here @ submarinoazul

I knew it! Dawkins is a Skrull!!!

I had to wrestle WWE champion Punk yesterday! Well, that wasn't my assignment, specifically. I tried to wrestle him, but it turns out that security frowns upon that. JUST. KIDDING.

( What my day actually entailed. )

31x icons from Yellow Submarine

teasers -



What's the matter John love? Blue Meanies?

[26] Arrested Development
[33] Lost

1	2	3

right here

http://www.evolutionsurvey.com/

They'll ask you to describe evolution in your own words (Nigflot blorny quando floon!) as well as why you believe it (or don't). Then they get personal on ya with demographics questions.

C'mon, everybody take it! Let's seriously skew some demographic results! ;)

Here @ submarinoazul

http://www.alternet.org/story/93861/why_i_hate_beauty/?page=1

It's been a while since I've read something this asinine:

I live in what is likely the beauty capital of the world and have the enviable fortune to work with some of the most beautiful women in it. With their smooth bodies and supple waists, these women are the very picture of youth and attractiveness. Not only are they exemplars of nature's design for detonating desire in men, but they stir yearnings for companionship that date back to ancestral mating dances. Still, beauty is driving me nuts, and although I'm a successful red-blooded American male, divorced and available, it is beauty alone that is keeping me single and lonely.

OH MY GOD LIFE IS HARD

As I commented in ms_daisy_cutter's journal:

I will summarize for those with tl:dr phobia:

Douchebag asshole blames his pathetic loneliness on the media, fails to realize that pathetic loneliness is directly caused by being a douchebag asshole.

Douchebag asshole goes home to jack off and cry.

Rather than making me insecure, this article makes me feel a whole lot better about myself and my prospects for attracting a truly awesome guy. Because I'm a little heavy and don't feel the need to plaster my face with makeup before I say, go to county market to pick up some potato chips, I filter out 95 percent of these clowns.

Discuss.

So, the summer semester is over, I've graded the finals and submitted the grades, and now there are about two more weeks before the fall semester begins. Being home alone during the day is BORING.

The weekend was ok though. On Friday I drove out to my parents' where my Aunt Candy (who lives near Phoenix right now) was briefly staying with them. We all had a relaxed dinner at their place and then Aunt Candy and I met up with Tracy and Rachel at Antipasto (a bar/restaurant) for Rachel's birthday. ( Pic under cut. )

Drove back home on Friday night and had to work early Saturday morning @ B&N. Did some cash wrap and also got trained to zone book bays. Went home in the afternoon and was kind of pooped, so I took a little nap and decided not to go to Johnny and Theresa's BBQ all the way in Berwyn. But since Yancy and I hadn't seen each other in nearly two weeks, I decided to go out to see him since Jen's play, Picnic, was that night in the city. So Yancy and I snuggled on the couch w/ some pizza before he went off to an Extreme concert @ House of Blues and, later, to check out the highly-rated poker room at a brand new casino right on the outskirts of Chicago, and I went to Jen's play (William Inge's Picnic). Haha, I got *very* lost on the way to the play since I misunderstood/didn't pay attention to the directions Yancy verbally explained to me, but I eventually got there and saw most of the play. Jen was great in it and I'm hoping she can get more gigs soon--preferably paid! I got to meet up w/ her and a couple more of her devotees after the show, and we took ( this pic. )

Then I had to drive back home so I could get up early again on Sunday to work another shift @ B&N, wherein I shelved, worked the customer service desk, and used my newfound zoning skills. It's nice that they're making me even more versatile despite the fact that I only work there once or twice a week these days. Makes the job less monotonous, and I'm sure it makes me more flexible/useful to them, too.

This morning I took Juneau to the vet, which was quite an ordeal. First, I overslept a bit so I was already running a couple minutes late. Then, I couldn't get Juneau into his cage, the main reason being that he has definitely outgrown it. He also fought so much that he put a little hole or two in my new Urban Outfitters t-shirt I bought a couple weeks ago. So I gave up and threw him loose into the car! He was actually very well-behaved in the car though. He just sat on my lap the whole time while I drove, and didn't make a sound. I ended up carrying him into the vet in my arms and walking him straight back to the patient room, where, per usual, he was such a holy terror that we had to trap him in a plastic container and gas him for his annual check-up. While he was under anesthesia, I ran out to Petsmart to buy a new, larger carrier to take him home in, but of course they weren't open yet. Luckily, I told my story to one of the ladies who worked there who was near the door, and she explained my situation to a manager who opened the doors for me, got a cash register ready, and sold me a carrier before they opened! Super nice. Unfortunately the check-up was already over when I got back to the vet, so they already had him in one of their carriers to give him back to me. Oh well; I'll just return their carrier within the next few days (the vet tech told me they have tons of them and it was no hurry), and now I actually have my own carrier big enough for Juneau, for next time.

In other news, I was just booked to work a WWE commercial for Pay-per-view (bwahahaha!) in the city on Wednesday, which will be a nice way to make a little extra dough before school starts (if it actually happens--I guess we'll see), and I'm hoping to start that software testing soon. I viewed the training video today and it was both complicated and mind-numbingly boring at the same time, so I'm a little nervous.

Beyond that, not a heck of a lot is going on with me. Hope all is well out there in LJ-land!

Well...depending where you are. As promised here's a fresh new batch of icons of none other than Gary Oldman. Some of these have some animation. I'm happy to announce two Gary Oldman movies arrived in the mail for me over the weekend. Criminal Law and Backwoods. :^) Made for a rather nice weekend...if I say so myself.

Before we get to the icons...I have two questions for everyone....do you like it better when Gary plays a good guy or a bad guy? And what is your favorite line that he has delievered?

Anyhow...like before...feedback is welcome. Credit is appreciated. Oh not sure if I mentioned this before...please do not hotlink! Most importantly enjoy them!



BTW...the images I used are from his movies and pubilicity photos, and from an ad he did.

Sneak Peek:////

( Gary Oldman Icons! )

for those of us in the UK, channel 4 are showing a new documentary series from Richard Dawkins about Charles Darwin

"As we approach the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, Richard Dawkins presents the ultimate guide to Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution by natural selection which Dawkins considers the most important idea ever to occur to a human mind.

In this powerful three-part polemical series, Dawkins explains who Charles Darwin was, how he developed his theory, what it is, and why it matters. He reveals how Darwin changed forever the way we see ourselves, the world and our place in it, and hopes to convince us that "evolution is a fact, backed by undeniable evidence".

According to recent polls four out of 10 British people still believe in God as the creator of the universe and everything in it. As a scientist, and Britain's best-known atheist, Dawkins believes that such people simply don’t know enough about the evidence for Darwin's entirely natural explanation of life on Earth – evolution."

http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/F/famelab/darwin/series/index.html

the first part is on google video at
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=genius+of+charles+darwin&emb=0&aq=f#

OR