hello kitty!

Oh man. I want a pair of Hello Kitty Converse high-tops. Awesome. So if you really love me, you will get me these shoes.

Lord of the Rings marathon at the Drafthouse

This is where I'm going to be Saturday, November 25, ALL DAY. I could just cry from joy that I get to do this again. Seriously, you have no idea.

Here's the delicious menu....

1st meal:
"A Hobbit's breakfast"
Scrambled Hen's eggs, nice crispy bacon, roast portobello, toast with honey butter, with strawberries and cream

2nd meal
"Elven Repast"
Sorrel Soup with wild mushrooms, Venison carpaccio with white balsamic on a flax-walnut cracker and blackberry jam

3rd meal
"Dwarven Favorite"
Herb roast lamb sliced off the bone on crispy bread with lamb jus, creamy farmhouse cheese, grilled onions and a melange of roasted root vegetables

4th meal
"Smeagol's Favorite"
Atlantic Cod Sashimi, not wriggling but practically as fresh, Tuna Sashimi, and eel in a maple-sesame glaze

5th meal
"An Offering From the World of Men"
Grilled Pork Loin Chop with Thyme demi glace, Canellini beans and pancetta with roast purple carrots and grilled cherry pepper

6th plate: dessert!
"Gandalf's fireworks"
Everyberry Trifle...Practically every berry known to man or beast layered between Lemon Sponge Cake with a champagne sabayon and chocolate staff

the UCLA incident

From a comment that just got too long -

I just caught the video on YouTube with the UCLA student getting shocked, and I certainly don't want to excuse the actions of the guy who threatened a student asking for his badge number. That is scary, and needs to be handled right away. It was so out of line and out of control. I'm frankly a little surprised they didn't end up with a riot with all those students shouting and screaming.

But I think the issue isn't a bad cop. The real problem is the culture of fear, the laws, the climate that contributes to creating actions like this. Yes, there are some bad cops out there. There are some mean motherfuckers who want to abuse their power. But there are far more honest, decent and brave people working in law enforcement I believe. I talk to police officers on an almost daily basis, and they are all out there fighting the good fight. It's not the cops that are the problem. It's people like George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, the lawmakers who passed the so called anti-terrorism laws that suspend rights, the culture of fear this country has been breeding since the World Trade Center was destroyed - that's what leads us to the kind of moment when a college student can get tased for not being able to produce ID and get out of the library fast enough.

I saw a news headline comparing this something that would have happened in Nazi Germany, or the Soviet Union.