Gunther: Coming to a town near you!

Thanks to the magic of the internet, I have been informed that Gunther will be coming to a town near you (and me)!

Mar 14 2008 9:30P	Cleveland/Columbus/Cincinnati, Ohio	Cleveland, Ohio
Mar 15 2008 10:00P	Washington, D.C.	Washington DC
Apr 17 2008 9:00P	U.C. Davis	Davis, California
Apr 19 2008 8:00P	Seattle, Washington	Seattle, Washington
Apr 20 2008 8:00P	4/20 Bash @ Oregon State University (Corvallis)	Corvallis, Oregon
Apr 20 2008 10:00P	4/20 Bash @ University of Oregon (Eugene)	Eugene, Oregon
Apr 21 2008 9:30P	1st Annual Gunther-Palooza in Boston, Massachusetts	Boston, Massachusetts

trivium, trivia-- neuter. matters of small importance

Just because I hear there was some uncertainty on this point...
the first Emperor of Rome was Augustus (the dictator formerly known as Octavian).
If Julius Caesar had been officially made master of Rome, he would technically have been a king. "Emperor" is a miltary term-- "imperator" in Latin-- which Augustus appropriated to make his rule more authentic, since in the Republican constitution a miltary leader might be given control of Rome in emergencies. That way, the senate was still officially the main body of government.
Smart guy, that Octy.

Btw, mad props to Tooley for getting me from the airport. I wish I had a peppermint rose for you.

Forget Zombie Apocalypse, We Have Robots to Deal With.

Apparently Artificial Intelligence will reach human level by 2029

Some people may be preparing for the zombie apocalypse. Yes, I'm sure biological warfare and/or genetic engineering or magic might just somehow create zombies that seek out brains. The debate's still out on whether they'd be able to be fast or not. But that's years away. We have robots to start worrying about, Ala the Terminator, the Robot Devil, and Deceptacon.

Hooottt Pockets.



**also, I changed the layout because I was not posting on here and I thought we needed a rejuvination. Feel free to override my edits!

Wandering around the intarwebZ this morning I was highly amused to find Martini's most recent album on Fbook.  Just him and some baby.  Hilarious/adorable.

So, Thursday is fast approaching and we (minus the DINKS) need to decide how to attack it.  Currently I think ignoring it all together seems like a good idea but I'm open to suggestions.  Something cheap/free seems the best unless, of course, my debit card/driver's license turn up before then...

The Conan O'Brien/ Jon Stewart/ Stephen Colbert feud

The best feud in late night entertainment. What's great is thinking so much of it is improv. As the NY Times describes,

after weeks of sniping at one another from their various desks, they managed to pull off a comedy coup on Monday, and not a moment too soon, as their shows have lost viewers during the strike, according to Nielsen Media Research. Mr. O’Brien, joined by Mr. Colbert, first appeared Monday on Mr. Stewart’s show; Mr. Stewart and Mr. O’Brien then joined Mr. Colbert on his show immediately after; and then they did their best “Three Stooges” (and Sharks and Jets) act on Mr. O’Brien’s show. The three programs are recorded in Midtown Manhattan.

The Blakes @ The Big Easy

Feb. 14th, 8:00 PM - $5

'Soak the Kinks in cheap booze, reignite the Stooges' strut...gritty-yet-hazy rock music' - SPIN

'Who's this? This shit is good!' - IGGY POP

http://www.myspace.com/theblakes

Free Songs
http://www.spokane7.com/music/mp3s/?band=The+Blakes

Toto: The Greatest Band Ever

disclaimer: This is the group that went on the 2007 Toto

So the plan is 7 at 710 and everyone brings som kind of food?
I'm going to man up and walk through the ice flow. But I can't promise that I won't wear my taped-up wellingtons, so I hope no one wants to be classy.
Zat le cool?

Watch out for THE gout

Some people would argue that Gout is not funny. Others would argue that it is. The fact is,

The symptoms of painful, swollen joints, mainly in the lower limbs, are caused when uric acid crystallises out of the blood into the joints.

But Wait, there's more!

Men who consume two or more sugary soft drinks a day have an 85% higher risk of gout compared with those who drink less than one a month, a study suggests.

Groundhog Day

I can't say that I'm having the worst day of my life, over and over and over again, like Bill Murray in Harold Ramis' great film, Groundhog day. Actually, my day has been going fairly well.

At least that's what I'm thinking right now.

Let's apply a little Ignatian Sprirituality to, yes, Groundhog Day. I hope it will open all our eyes and allow us to get at the real heart of what this film speaks to, beyond the humor.

Rather than looking at the whole entire film, I'm going to examine what the experience was like when Bill Murray (yeah, I don't know what his character's name is, even though I have seen that movie many times, including once in theatres).

So I wake up to the sound of my neighbor in the bed & breakfast waking up to I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher. This is actually quite odd because you would think Bill Murray and I would eventually realize we are BOTH perpetually reliving the same day over again.

I imagine I would get quite annoyed at this, as I don't normally enjoy waking up before 9 AM.

And yes, I expect Tooley to understand how annoying this is (read: alarm clock's going off in rooms where no one is).

So not only do I have to relive the day over and over again, but I have to relive being rudely awaken every morning by Sonny & Cher.

So this is torture?

Sartre wasn't too far off in No Exit when he said "Hell is Other People," but I'll qualify that with "Hell is Other People Waking You Up Before 9 AM."

The groundhog in Punxsutawney must feel the same way.

clarification

Tooley, I don't have a burning hatred for your house, still less for the people living in it, but I do have a burning, burning hatred for the completely unshoveled sidewalks from Indiana to Illinois. Every time I go to see you lovely people I'm always soaked up to the knee.

One time, and you may remember this, I was so wet I had to wear Steve's Pink Floyd pajama pants, which luckily were completely unused. But then I accidentally stole his socks. So I'm not sure Steve will trust me with more valuable items of clothing anymore.

I didn't mean to imply that I didn't like you though. You are worth many items of wet clothing.

Yeah, I'm posting at 4:30 am. Sparks. Andrea IMed me at 3 and was like "I'm wasted, come have a homework party," and I was like, "Silly Andrea, if you're going to get drunk at 3 you have to be careful to balence alcohol with caffeine." Fool that I was!

Anyway, since this disrupted any plans I had re: dinner, I am reproposing those plans for Saturday night. We haven't had a dinner together in ages and since y'all graduated I feel like I only see you when I'm wasted at a bar.

So does that sound ok? We could all bring something and meet up around 6ish? My house, or someone else's house, or possibly Piraeus if we get Andrea in on it? Please please please not 710 though please.

I'm thinking I might make tortillas and cheesy rice. But it's hard to think clearly about food right now because anything which has carbohydrates
sounds mind-blowingly good. Some fool freshman left unlabled sourdough walnut bread in Hopkins and I have destroyed it. Yet I hunger for more.