Paris Hilton Autopsy Sculpture

And now for the OMG WTF category...

Apparently the sculptor that made the thing last year of Brittney Spears giving birth on a bear-skin rug is at it again with another whacko sculpture.

Paris Hilton has allowed her visage to be used for a sculpture depicting her dead, splayed body ready to be autopsied. Apparently its a hands-on exhibit where students are allowed to open her up and remove parts. Its meant to scare teens away from drinking and driving during prom season.

I think the thing that makes it so wierd is that I've never seen an autopsy (on TV or otherwise) that features the DD with her legs spread like that! I mean the tiara and the puppy are one thing, but why not have her laying the way a body would prior to an actual autopsy.

Oh well, I took art classes for a short time in college- sometimes art is just wierd, and bizarre for the shock value and publicity factor. I have one question. Doesn the artist get to sculpt the figures from live poses? If that were the case that's probably how I'd pose her too- but I seriously doubt it.

Oh well- Paris is one of my close, personal friend on Myspace (I really do believe it), and I fully expect to hear from her about this in the next couple days. You can check it out for yourself at parishiltonautopsy dot com

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Clerks 2- and a guide to thirtysomething 2.0 humor

Sunday before going to see Clerks 2, I read about how Joel Siegel walked out of the movie after about 40 minutes. I wondered what could have been so terrible about the movie that a reviewer (the guy gets paid to watch movies and write about them for a living.) would feel the need to walk out?

Then, while Mel and I were sitting there in stitches, laughing 'til Mel was crying and I was having trouble breathing- we noticed two sets of people get up and leave the movie! Was it the racism jokes? Was it the donkey? Maybe the cracks on organized religion?

Are we just so terribly jaded that nothing shocks or disgusts us any more? Have I become so de-sensitized that maybe there's something wrong with me? I don't think so. I think that I just have a sense of humor.

I think its because of the same old thing. The group of people who are my age are constantly misunderstood. Thats right, good ol' gen-x is at it again. Its OK for Tom Hanks to have a donkey sex scene in one of his movies, and everyone loves him- but Kevin Smith does it, and somehow its too much?

I'm not sure- but I have a theory.

I think its because "we" weren't meant to fit in. We're too young to have gone to Vietnam- but we watched a bunch of movies about it in the 80's. Some of us went to Gulf War 1.0, or Somalia.(not "real" wars in the popular media) We were in the spotlight for a few moments in the 90's, and then Columbine happened. Then, suddenly teenagers became the focus. Wedged in between Baby boomers and the next younger generation, "we" became a side-note once again.

"Our" music was alternative, which had its 5 minutes of fame and then blended into obscurity. At one time we owned Lilith Fair and HFs and Lollapalooza, and Starbucks...all of which have either been co-opted by the older and younger crowds or have gone the way of the dodo.

If you're my age, you can probably relate to being in a crowd of people older (or younger) making jokes, everyone's popping them off- and then your turn comes and you say "in my butt" for your little add-on to the joke-fest, and everyone stops laughing and says "eww, thats just kinda gross." Thats kinda what its like- they don't get us, and they never will.

The inside joke. That's the beauty and the subtlety of the whole thing. that's why Dante and Randal can be such losers, and still manage to have the ability to make fun of everyone else- because no one else gets the joke. The opposite of being around a bunch of people who don't get you, is to be in a small click of people who do get you, and to have one person that doesn't. Oh what heavenly bliss!

Ever been in a situation where everyone has seen a movie but you? Or everyone in your group listened to a radio show that you missed? The really cool thing that happens is when a click gets a hold of a particular movie and then really runs with the lines from the movie. The most common (and obvious) example, would be a group of 30 something 2.0s in a car looking for a parking place, and then one of them says "use the force, luke" Everyone in the group knows that

1. this is a reference to the 1977 film Star Wars
2. the driver is having difficulty finding a parking spot
3. the general consensus of everyone in the car is that the driver has not tried hard enough to find an available parking spot.

Its the art of the inside joke.
1. take a popular (or obscure) movie, television, or song reference
2. use the quote in a situation that loosly applies to said reference
3. share the common understanding that the quote or reference applies to this situation
4. laugh
5. don't get offended or pissed off if you a. didn't see the movie, tv show, or hear the song, or b. saw the movie, show, or heard the song and still don't get the joke or the reason why the reference is funny.

Anyway- Clerks 2 is funny, and I don't care what anyone older (or younger) says about it. I'll just be home in front of the mirror- smearing on lipstick, listening to q. lazarus doing the tuck.

New Job and Master License

After the debacle at Unitemp/ Chesapeake HVAC- I managed to rise from the ashes once again and will start working for Amtek in Lanham, Maryland on August 1. Its funny, getting a job with a company owned by a local utility would seem like a lifetime commitment. Benefits, Retirement, security, stability...blah friggin blah!

I recently had a discussion with a slightly older gentleman who has basically had three jobs in his entire 30+ year career, where I have had three jobs in the last four years. How do you tell a guy like that- Its not my fault! Is it my fault when the owner has a heart attack and decides to get outta the business? Is it my fault when the parent company decides to close down my division?

Some of these old-school guys have a stay with the job mentality, but I'm starting to wonder if those old-school JOBS are a thing of the past...Maybe this next job will be THE ONE...

On another note, I got my MASTER LICENSE in the mail the other day! Woo-hoo, baby! (me doing a touchdown style end zone celebration)

that baby was 6 yrs in the making. I blogged about taking the test a while back, but I passed it and now Ive got that baby in my hot little hands...I can pull permits to replace/ install HVAC systems in the state of Maryland. Woo-hoo!!! Now all I gotta do is take a test in DC and fill out the forms in Virginia, contact a dozen or so counties and cities...

Three New Things for "Generation X." Remember how in 1993 it was all the rage to talk about the coffee swilling Mcjobs generation? Im not really sure how you slice and dice it, or where you draw the lines but if you're anywhere close to my age, here's three new media pieces for you:

1. http://www.jpod.info/ This is the new book by Douglas Coupland centered around a pessimistic dissilusioned group of people who work for a video game development company. Through a glitch in the personnel computers, they all have the same first letter of their last name and wind up in the same workgroup- thus the title "Jpod"

2. http://www.clerks2.com/ Even though after Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back Kevin Smith said he was done with the Jay and Silent Bob movies, the boys are back with a sequel to the movie that started it all. I guess Jersey Girl changed his mind!

3. http://wip.warnerbros.com/ascannerdarkly/ This movie, based on a Philip K. Dick Novel is about a futuristic society in which drugs, paranoia, and government testing blur the lines between reality and multiple personality. An interesting piece of this film is that it uses interpolated rotoscoping, to make Robert Downey Jr, Keanu Reeves, Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder blur the lines between reality and cartoon.

Blogging on the go

Blogger has set it up so that I can email blogs to my blog. So now I can bloggity blog blog all bloggin day long! Isn't that bloggin' cool!

Ok, Two movies that I haven't seen but still wanna blog about.

1. The Davinci Code
2. The x-men

Three things I gotta say about the Davinci code are; first If there is anything the Catholic church should know better than anyone by now- the best way to raise interest and awareness about something is to officially ban it. Every book the church blacklisted during the reformation became bestsellers in their day Does anyone remember The Last Temptation of Christ? That sleeper sold 10 times the number of tickets is should have because the Catholic Church banned the stupid thing. The best way to battle the Davinci Code, just friggin ignore it. Trust me, it will go away. Second, It doesn't matter whether Jesus got married or not. The truth is that he had a key mission, he fulfilled it, end of story. I mean none of us protestants with any common sense believe that Mary stayed a virgin her whole life... Third and finally- They toned down the fact that the assasin was an albino because they didn't want to offend the albino community. Apparently you're allowed to say that Jesus isn't the Son of God, and claim the Catholic Church is a big fat liar, thats been covering up a 2,000 year old Lie about their God and Savior- but you can't portay albinos in a negative way?..Hollywood blows my mind...

Now on to the important thing- The X-men. So Halley Berry wasn't gonna be in it unitl she heard that the director was gonna change and that there would be more character development for the Storm Character. Woohoo, cuz thats what we wanna see is the chick that makes it windy and can hurl the occasional lightening bolt. Screw that!!! We wanna see claws and laser eyes, and car crushing...and more of half-nekkid Rebecca Romijn in blue paint...We don't care about Storm's character development! Besides there already was a good Halley Berry/ Hugh Jackman moment. It was in Sordfish, and Halley Berry was topless!

I am an old-school x-men fan... Would it have been to much to ask for a cameo of Bishop? How about just one friggin Sentinal for cryin' out loud...but a mutant war- still gotta go see it.

Hip Hop Week

Allright everyone, its national hip-hop awareness week. Colleges and Universities all over the US have events, concerts, and rallies scheduled . Head out to your local scene and support hip hop.
My myspace page this week is a tribute to old-school hip hop from back in the day!

oh johntindale

My Myspace page is my second tribute to the Cohen Brothers movies. My first was for the Big Lebowski, with John Turturro in his "Jesus" character. accompanied by the Gypsy Kings singing Hotel California in Spanish.

This one features the video Man of Constant Sorrow from the movie soundtrack attributed to the Soggy Bottom Boys. The song was actually recorded by Dan Tyminski, a menber of Allison Kraus and Union Station

My dad was from West Virginia, and we woke many Sunday mornings listening to Stained-Glass Bluegrass on 88.5 WAMU. This movie features a rich soundtrack full of blues, bluegrass, early country and gospel music from the depression era South.

If you haven't seen this movie, or any other of the Coen Brothers movies, go straight out and buy them, don't even bother renting- because you'll want to watch them again later.

Rumor has it that Clooney and the Coen Brothers are working on a new project called "Burn After Reading" Im sure it will be another gut-busting trip.

post-modern, post-congregationalist

I gave up my membership and leadership postion as an elder in a church in October of 1999. It all started because I had what I believed to be a legitimate gripe against my pastor, and according to our own bylaws, my co-elder. It wasn't an easy choice, and it was one of the most difficult times in my life.
I attempted to follow the Biblical model for confronting him- I talked to him in private. I shared my concerns:
1. I felt we weren't stewarding our resources when we overextended ourselves financially, bouncing checks, etc.
2. I felt we were manipulating and controlling our congregation under the guise of "discipleship"
3. I felt that while we were giving everyone else the keys to "managing life effectively" I had a hole in my soul that was getting emptier and deeper by the minute
This didn't go over too well, and he ignored and dismissed everything I said.
I went to the next step. I voiced my concerns in a private elders meeting. Again I was dismissed and basically "blown-off"
I took the final step and flew to a conference put on by our denomination. I paid for the trip myself, and met with the leaders myself. They flew my pastor into the meeting, and ignoring our church's by-laws, assumed that our church was subject to the traditional model of leadership and cited "spiritual authority, and denied my right to confront my pastor.
So, in a classic Ron White moment, WE decided that it would be best if I resigned. I was lost, I didn't know where to go. What do you do when you were a leader in a church, involved in national and international ministry, and now your'e out of a job, out of a church, and out of your social network of friends.
My wife was unable to cope with the whole situation, and found that it was easier to confide in some guy at her job than it was to confide in me, so I soon lost her as well.
I tried, but couldn't find a church that fit. After all I just spent 10 years customizing a church that fit me, how was I going to be able to fit into someone else's? I didn't handle the whole thing too well. I freaked out. I went a little crazy. After all, my whole identity was wrapped up in this thing- I was CHURCHBOY for crying out loud.
I didn't realize that in all of this pain and agony, failure and misery I was on the forefront of a new revolution in the church. I wasn't a backslider, a drop-out, a loser- I was simply a post-congregationalist. I wasn't an anomaly, I was a revolutionary, I was at the forefront of a new trend in the church.
I gotta tell you, it ain't easy. At first I felf guilty being seperated from the church. I wished some days that I could just take it all back, and put things back the way they were. All the control and manipulation wasn't that bad was it? I mean it wasn't so bad when my pastor asked me to sign bad checks and knowingly lie to creditors was it? It wasn't so terrible to promise a bunch of stuff to a fellow ministry and then lie, cheat, and steal to deliver substandard material. It wasn't so bad that we were killing ourselves for my pastor's view of "success?"
I didn't do everything right. As a matter of fact I did alot of things wrong. I figured that since I had basically been excommunicated, I was basically a spiritual "dead man walking" and that I could do whatever I wanted. I was confused. All I did was stand up for what I believed was right.
I don't know where things are going to go from here. I don't know where I fit into this concept of a wall-less church. Over the last few months I have been waking up, and formulating a plan.
I still believe in God, and in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This relationship has become more real to me lately, since I have been pursuing it without someone pressuring me into it. I believe in the Bible, but I'm not a fundamentalist, nor am I a infallibilitist.
You gotta understand that before my excommunication I made myself an expert on church growth, small-groups, preaching styles, church administration, generational studies, contemporary worship and trends facing the church.
I withdrew for a while. I went into hiding. I shut down emotionally, spirittually, but I have begun to wake up. Traditionally, a person like me would walk into a church, fall down at the altar in tears, spend some time in counseling, and then be back in the network again "doing church."
I don't want to go back to the way we did it before. I'm not a baby-boomer, and I refuse to participate in Ward and June Cleaver's fake idealistic church. Americans are stressed out. We don't need to stress them out further by putting forth an idealized unrealistic relationship with God.
I want to get real. I want to face reality. I want to be a Christian, and I want to do whats right. I have things that I have learned over the years, that once I get my head straight, I plan to share these things with others. We are on the verge of something new, and exciting- a little scarey, but I think that as always, with every reformation, there comes a renaissance, and I love art.

comments and commentary welcome-
http://www.barna.org/
http://www.theooze.com/main.cfm http://www.faithworks.com/archives/a_churchless_faith.htm
http://emergent-us.typepad.com/

Its finally over

Was it just me, or did it seem like the US Olympic team was a bunch of whiny b#$%es this time around? To steal a phrase from the junkies, the whole thing was more than a "little hurting."
The key to saying hurting is in the pronunciation. its "herrr-Ting" you overpronounce the "herr" and the "t" so it comes off as I said before, "herr-Ting"
Lets start with Michelle Kwan- So you pulled a groin muscle, and you gotta go on live TV to skate around for a minute, fall, and then skate over to your manager/ trainer in tears...You know what? Just don't show up! Bow out gracefully, let some other kid get the spotlight, take some time off, and then go talk to the Disney on Ice people. You can always be a judge on the next installment of Skating with the Stars.

Then there was Bode Miller. How much did Nike pay him in endorsements? Two DNFs, a disqualification and the 5th and 6th place is the best you can do. Nice move, pansy. Then I love the way the commentators "spin" it, "Well, there's the mark of a very intense athlete, its all or nothing for Miller." You don't even have the decency to finish skiing down the damn hill when you realize you're not gonna win? Grow up. Can you imagine this guy on the playground in dodgeball. "You're out, little Bode- don't cry, when everyone gets out we'll start another game." Who names their kid Bode anyway?
Then there was that Wier kid. I'm sorry you don't hold a press conference to tell the world that the other pansy is going to beat you before the competition even starts. Thats why we call it a competition. You are COMPETE-ING. You have been training your whole life for this, so you can BEAT the other GUY. Don't get me started. Say it with me, Herrrrrr- Tinggg.
Finally, we come to the girl who tried to showboat on the last jump in the women's downhill snowboard race, caught a bad edge, and came in second when she clearly had the gold. What was her name? Jacobellis-whatever.
I think there needs to be two more parts added to the pre-olympic qualifying. A really hard puch in the arm, and a wedgie. I'm sorry Weir, you scored a .05 in the arm puch for the audible whelp you let out, and the tears and the little girl scream during the wedgie segment cost you 2.7 points.
Gimmie a break. These candy-asses are America's best? These whimps are supposed to inspire me to stand in the street yelling "YOU ESSS Ay, YOU ESSS Ay, I don't think so, sparky. I guess this is what happens when a generation grows up on Barney, and non-competitive or judgemental primary school sports and grading systems. Jimmy can't read or write, or throw a ball, but he is very helpful and kind during sensitivity time.














Say it with me, "Herrr- Ting." Now you're getting it.

Dayona 500, Baby!

Well, its the start of another NASCAR season, and the Daytona 500 fired it up yesterday. Bon Jovi entertained the crowd, and that girl from The Black Eyed Peas sang the National Anthem.
Nevermind all that, though. My driver, Rusty Wallace retired last year, and it was wierd, because my gut-reaction is to get excited when I see the no. 2 car moving up in the standings. "Cool- oh wait, thats Kurt Bush..."
Anyway- it was a little tough to keep up, aside from the fact that I don't have a favorite just yet. I think some of the rookies have a good shot, there's JJ Yeley and Denny Hamlin, both driving for Joe Gibbs, and David Stremme, and Reed Sorenson from Chip Ganassi racing. There's also Brett Sherman with BAM Racing, and Clint Bowyer is driving for Richard Childress.
While Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth stayed with their cars and sponsors, 43% of the drivers have switched cars/ owners/ sponsors, making it a little tricky to watch the race and understand what was going on.
Finally, the commercials yesterday were pretty good, though- Will Ferrel wondering why NASCAR Day isn't a Federal holiday, The Chevy Drivers toasting themselves by dumping beers on their heads, UPS trucks doing laps around the track, and Denny Hamlin driving a personnel car through the airport at high speeds topped my list. I won't say that they topped the Super Bowl commercials, but they were up there for contention.
The announcers did a pretty good job describing rules, exlpaining restrictor plate racing, and sorting out the drivers/owners/ sponsors thing. They did a reasonable job keeping us informed as to what was going on.
and Jimmie Johnson's pit chief was suspended earlier in the week for cheating. Apparently NASCAR officials spent 3 hours yesterday inspecting the car after the race.
Oh yeah, and did I mention that Jimmie Johnson won?

Rollin' Thunder, Baby!

meet the bowling team!

yours truly

Felicia

Abby

Mel

Kevin

fun with rabbit ears!

The System of the World

Allright, so now I'm finished with The System of the World by Neil Stephenson, and this time its a lesson in economics with England setting up the modern system of banking and finance as we know it, and with good 'ol half-cocked Jack playing the role of the villain.
We're introduced to the trial of the pyx, and re-introduced to alchemy and finance, while Daniel Waterhouse comes into his own as an older, wiser natural philosopher who's had some time to think. All this and Stephenson's clever use of logic, and mathematics-as-a-study-within-its-context makes for a fitting conclusion to this epic three- part novel.
Sir Isaac Newton plays an interesting role in the forefront in this book (as opposed to playing supporting roles in the two previous novels). Newton is the Master of the mint, in charge of assuring the quality of British coinage, and Jack Shaftoe- the French backed counterfitter- the nemesis of Newton.
Newton and Liebnitz finally get to have their discussion, and wind up talking about predestination- which was a bigger deal in their time than the secular reader might catch today. Their discussion ends in the same way that two protestants would end today when they have two opposing views, they agree to disagree.
Rather than run ships all over the world, as in the first two stories, Stephensons keeps the story confined to England, and London proper- and as an hvac mechanic, I have a soft spot for his mention of the invention of "the device for raising water by fire" the first steam-driven well-pump, the precursor to modern boilers, and mechanical engineering.
Overall, I'm still massively impressed by The Baroque Cycle and I owe it to an advertisement glued to the wall of the London tubes.

Howard Stern

In my life I have always found myself on the "conservative" side of the political and religious debate.
I was at Washington for Jesus in 1980, 1988, and 1996- marching and (once i was sold enough) voting for whatever republican party we were supposed to believe in at the time.
For those of you who don't know, the religious right was founded and created at those rallies by people with whom I became really close- especially in the 90's.
you have to understand that satellite and cable TV was propelled and pushed forward in the early days by Pat Robertson and friends- because they realized that this new medium was a viable outlet for Christians to get the word out, because network TV cost so much money, and the bandwidth existed to create and program entire networks around Christian themes and beliefs.
In other words, it was the "secular" market that drove Christians into the newer cable TV markets. Pat Robertson literally walked door-to-door in the Virginia Beach/ Hampton Roads area selling cable boxes getting faithful churchgoers to sign up for cable TV and watch the new Christian channel he was programming. Christian TV was a safe haven for Christian families to turn the TV on and "feel safe."
Later, we got smart enough to realize that not only could we control our own little channels on various Cable networks, but we could also throw some weight around and some political clout to push our beliefs on the popular media as well. We cracked down on content, and got bogged down in subcommittees debating what was decent and what was not, while all along Howard was building his own media empire.
So now fast forward 20-30 years to now, and the Religious right (we) managed to talk congress into cracking down on indecency on free radio channels- especially on "shock" jocks like Howard Stern- and what is it that we have actually accomplished?
1. Howard has the freedom to say whatever he wants on Monday morning
2. He isn't just going away, he is creating a whole network on Sirius, where he is programming 24 hours of material
3. He has the chance to pioneer a whole new medium and push the boundaries even further.
I'm not mad- I have listened to Howard's show for the last month or two. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal if we had just ignored him and left him alone- but no- we're in power, so we gotta fine him and censor him, and give him exactly what he wanted- publicity, controversy.
Its just like the early Christians in Rome, but this time we're Rome, and Howard and his followers are the ones being persecuted.
When you listen to his show, its easy to be "shocked" by some of the things he does- but when you really listen to what's going on, you hear something being communicated underneath; Equality, gut-wrenching honesty, self-depreciating humor, and realism, and these are all things that Jesus preached, but are missing from the message of the right. Rooting for the underdog, reaching out to the sick, and the poor, and the forgotten members of society. The religious right is missing out on the basic message of what Howard Stern does and says.
So, now Howard will have the freedom to preach his gospel any way he sees fit, and now there's nothing the religious right can do about it.
If we want to reach out to this generation, we need to focus less on what "they" (the far left) are doing, and spend more time using the tools and the media outlets we have to show that we have to capacity to care, to understand, and to listen instead of constantly trying to legislate morality.

"just" johntindale

In my younger years, I would sometimes take on different persona, in an attempt to define myself.
When I was in high school, I called myself "Mr. LCS" LCS- short for Lanham Christian School, which was of course where I attended high school. This nickname started as a slur by one of my friends- In those days it wasn't cool to like LCS. We all felt much more self-assured and much cooler as 'haters', but I decided to go against the grain and make the best of it. So one day, when I said or did something to point out that LCS might not be so terrible, one of my friends said "whatever- Mr. LCS," and I took that as my monniker for the next two years.

The thing they don't tell you in high school, is that once you graduate- its pathetic to have an identity that comes from what you were in high school. This led me to ask myself the questions; "Who am I? and Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? Where shall I find a good sammich and a beer?" So I just kinda "blended in" once I moved on to community college, work, and everything else that comes along with getting a life.

My next phase was "churchboy" this nickname deserves a long- drawn out description and discussion, but its not gonna get either for the sake of brevity. I think it might have been Keith Goldman who said it first- I'm not sure. The point of the nickname was that in our church in Annapolis, I was among the few that had grown up "churched" and had an experience of what church was supposed to be like, as opposed to most of the congregation who had mostly grown up "unchurched." I'll never prove it, but I'm sure Kirk Franklin heard it at Washington for Jesus, and used it for the title of his autobiography. I used to like the way Jeff Fenholt felt the nickname "churchboy" was too long, and would simply call me "church."

When I left that church, and my first marriage burned in flames, and my life came to a screeching halt- I realized that the 'persona' of churchboy must also die in flames, which led me to the same question that all fallen and retired heroes must ask themselves, "Who am I? and Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? Where shall I find a good sammich and a beer?"

I went back to my old faithful trade, and got a job as an hvac tech with a local plumbing/hvac company. Here I became JT. closer to the "real me" but not quite. It was a good job at which to throw myself because everything else was crumbling around me. When that whole thing fell apart, it wasn't so much of a life-changing experience, but it led me back to the questions, "Who am I? and Why am I here? What is my purpose in life? Where shall I find a good sammich and a beer?"

This time it didn't come as an epiphany or as a joke- It slowly crept up on me like a feeling that had been repressed for years. first it was a little disappointing- "I'm just John Tindale." Me-with all my failings, shortcomings and bad habits. Me-who I am when I am alone. Me, when I'm not trying to win any popularity contests or impress anyone. Me, ME, ME, ME-it became defiance, like Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live declaring "I'm Gumby Dammit" I declared to everyone around me "I'm John Tindale, dammit."

Most recently, the defiance has died down, and I'm more settled and comfortable with the idea. It only recently came to me that my website is "johntindale.com" and that my blog is johntindale.blogspot.com, and that my "myspace" is "myspace.com/johntindale" In days gone by it never would have occurred to me to be "just" johntindale. I'm comfortable with that concept. I don't need a marketing team, or writers, or a PR firm. I'm John Tindale. I even answer the phone that way. "Hi, this is John Tindale!"

I'm funny, but not funny all the time. I'm smart-but not always. I'm creative when I have time. I'm organized when I have a secretary. I'm good with other people's money, but not so much with my own. I'm mechanically inclined. I like movies. I like good TV (hard to find these days) I like comedians-except for most women comedians-and all the women comedians I think are funny are all gay. I'm a Christian, but a very liberal Christian. I like sex. I like beer. I'm divorced and remarried to a wonderful girl who is now proud to call herself Melanie Tindale. I like to party, but I hate hangovers.

I like the internet- It was a really good idea. I spend a lot of time thinking about my son. I think I'm management material. I want to be rich and start a bunch of foundations to fund research, invent cool stuff, advance technology and science, and send brilliant poor kids to college. I want to build a garage and call it my "lab." I want to finish seeing the world. I want to learn to weld really well. I want to build stuff in general. buildings, houses, schools, libraries, time machines and cars that hover. Mankind has not accomplished jack-squat until cars hover. I think we should have another reformation- and hopefully a resultant renaissance. I want my gravestone to say something really deep and profound, and I want a whole bunch of people crying profusely at my funeral. I'm interested in a lot of things until I "figure it out" and then I tend to drop it like a hot potato.

I want my son to go to, and finish college. I want him to succeed in life. I want him to be happy. I want him to love and respect his mother and know that I'm ok with that. I want him to be whatever he wants to be, and know that I'm ok with that too. I want him to be proud of his dad, John Tindale, and to know that his dad is proud of him too.

I'm John Tindale. take it or leave it. Love me, hate me, react with ambivalence. I am John Tindale, I am here because God ordained it from the beginning of time, My purpose in life is to build and establish things, and good sammiches and beers are everywhere- London, Philadelphia, DC, NY, Sydney, Kiev you just sometimes have to drink a few crap beers, and a few lousy sammiches in the quest, but the quest is the fun part.

The Confusion

Im almost finished with The Confusion by Neal Stephenson, and I'm already looking forward to The System of the World.
The Confusion, volume 2 in The Baroque Cycle is another masterpiece of piracy, intrigue, and adventure picking up where Quicksilver left off in telling the tales of Eliza, Countess De La Zeur and "half-cocked" Jack Shaftoe.
Eliza sets out to mastermind a massive plot involving the French Navy, the Tower of London, and a fair bit of manipulation of foreign trade, while Jack regains his memory and manages to talk his way out of slavery, creating a cabal with his fellow oarsmen- getting into a whole new adventure along the way.
Many readers seem to find Stephenson difficult to read, but I love the plot twists, the scientific discussions, and the narative dialogue- and the use of "letter-writing" to flesh out the story. Reading Stephenson's books is like reading "classical" literature, with an updated sense of humor and a modern sexual frank-ness that "fits" in the story.
If you like to read, you'll love reading these books.

Quicksilver

I just finished reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. Quicksilver is the first of three books in Stephensons Boroque Cycle, followed by The Confusion and The System of the World. I gotta tell ya, that this is one of the most interesting, well-written, imaginative books I've read in quite a while.

Quicksilver is a period fiction that is completely amazing. It introduces us to a fictional character named Daniel Waterhouse, and takes us through many stages of his life, from his early college years at Cambridge to his latter years at a fledgling MIT- with a bunch of revolution, demise of kings, pirates, and open warfare in between. Just as St. Johns teaches within the context of the "great books" Stephenson breathes life into the Natural Philosophers, and helps us climb into the great minds of Hyugens, Newton, Leibniz.

Stephenson uses a three-part book to bring the late 1600s to life- touching on art, religion, science, mathematics with skill- explaining calculus, astronomy, anatomy-within the context of what the men who first ventured into these areas might have been thinking about. His dialog, and his characters' candid discussion of philosophy help us to imagine what it must have been like to peer into a telescope and predict the movement of planets, to perform scientific dissections, to write new geometric theory- all within shifting religious and political climates.

Stephenson manages to infuse this action-packed story with comedy, drama, scientific and mathematical thought, romance, and cryptography, while intertwining poetry, and references to John Donne and John Bunyon.

I'm going to Borders to buy The Confusion.

Daylight Saving Time

Apparently, in 1784 Ben Franklin worked out while finishing out his days in Paris as the American Ambassador to France, that in the evening hours shopkeepers and late-nighters were using alot of oil in their lamps the stay up later in the evening once the sun had gone down. He actually worked out how much;

"183 nights between 20 March and 20 September times 7 hours per night of candle usage equals 1,281 hours for a half year of candle usage. Multiplying by 100,000 families gives 128,100,000 hours by candlelight. Each candle requires half a pound of tallow and wax, thus a total of 64,050,000 pounds. At a price of thirty sols per pounds of tallow and wax (two hundred sols make one livre tournois), the total sum comes to 96,075,000 livre tournois."

So he wrote an opinion paper titled "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light." In short- he felt that by changing the clocks, people would make more use of natural sunlight, and would need to use artificial light less, thus saving energy and increasing productivity during daylight hours.

Under legislation enacted in 1986, Daylight Saving Time in the United States begins at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and ends at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October, so after this morning, Daylight saving time is over- and will resume next spring. In other words- we are on standard time in the winter months.

In 2007, DST will be extended for four weeks in the States, once again citing energy savings as the reason.

Sudoku

I just got back from London the other day, and while I was there I noticed bunches of people on the tubes playing a game called Sudoku. Melanie had seen it somewhere before, so she filled me in. The game board looks like this:


















The object of the game, according to sudoku.com is;
"Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3 x 3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.


















You can download a desktop version for a 28-day trial or purchase it for $14.95, but I bought a Sudoku book in Iceland, and kinda enjoy using the old pencil (with eraser) method.

Be prepared to be caught-up, because its highly addictive.

the age of reality?

I'm reading one of my literature textbooks again from college- and right around the turn of the century- writers, poets, authors, whatever were concerned with "realism." they felt that the romantic age was coming to a close and that a new era of realism was at hand.
They wanted their characters to be more fleshed out, and have less dramatic things happen to them. They wanted their readers to get inside the heads of their characters- to make their writing seem more "real." No more kings, princes, or melodrama- they felt that authors had the responsibility to depict life as realistically as possible.
This movement led to some really cool writers in the first half of the 20th century. Steinbeck, London, Frost, and my favorite- Hemmingway. their characters drank too much, smoked, cussed, and seemed more "real." You could almost feel the cold, smell the smells, see the sites, it seemed like you were reading about real people doing real things.
Forgive me, but I can't help but draw a parallel between then and now. The sitcom has given way to reality TV. We could see it coming- The Bradys tied up every problem in 30 minutes every week, and then Roseanne showed us what "real" white people were like- and now Reality TV puts us right in people's bedrooms in the middle of the night with the romantic green glow of night vision TV.
What ever happened to the idea that reading, going to the movies, watching TV was about escape? I want to get away from reality when I'm being entertained. I want to be distracted from what's real- I want a hope for the future, or and alternate universe. Distract me- make me think. Give me some good old fashioned sci-fi. Don't get me wrong- i like to pull the curtain back on the wizard from time-to-time too, but I still appreciate the attempt at production.
i know Jar-Jar was corny. I know that alot of those digital effects in movies don't look as good as stop-motion animation, but give me the fake anyway!
I just can't help but think that sometimes its cool to read The Count of Monte Cristo or some good old fashioned poetry by John Donne. i want more Star Trek on TV and less Road Rules. I don't care where the next Survivor is.

I'm sick of reality- I'm gonna go watch my x-files DVDs.