1.31.2006

Watch this....

....and get really angry/frustrated/embarressed.

1.30.2006

My Tip Makes the News

So, before this goes any further, I declare under penalty of perjury that I am the one that sent in a tip to Sploid.com and Drudgereport.com about Congressman Marty Meehan altering his Wikipedia website. I am excited that the story was picked up, because I consider such politically-motivated hacking of a site like Wikipedia vandalism. But I am the one who found it first, even though no one is crediting me.

You can read about it here:

Sploid.com

C|Net News

If you need proof, I have email from the editor of Sploid thanking me for the tip!! :)

Podcasting!

So, I ordered some a USB headphone/microphone set yesterday (with my Amazon gift certificate) and very soon yours truly will be podcasting right from his iBook G4! I will be using Apple's GarageBand to do so. I'm sure the first podcasts will be fairly amaturish, but I am really looking forward to trying this out! I practiced in the car all the way home today.

As soon as it's up and running, I will upload it to iTunes where you can subscribe to it (either Mac or PC --- you just need to download the latest version of iTunes from www.apple.com/iTunes). That way, you can hear my malifluous voice every week, ranting about anything that happens to strike my fancy.

I'll keep you posted!

PS - If you have any experience in this, let me know --- any advice will be useful! :)

1.29.2006

A Trip to the Movies

Tania and I went to see "Brokeback Mountain" on Saturday, and I must confess that I was in no way prepared for the emotional knock-out that it delivered. I'm not even sure what to write about it. We were both completely emotionally drained when we left. We — and everyone around us — spent that last 20 minutes or so in tears that were impossible to stem.

Despite what some are saying, this movie is not about "gay sex." It is about love. An incredibly powerful love, over the course of 20-30 years (the timeframe is a little fuzzy).

Heath Ledger was incredible in his part. He did a fantastic job of portraying the impulsiveness, the isolation, the underlying guilt and anger, the longing, and the excitement of true love.

This is one the best movies I have ever seen, and I still am haunted by it. I am literally speechless, which those of you who know me know is a rare occurance, indeed.

1.26.2006

It's been a while, so...

Picture fun!


Individual vs. Corporate Taxes



The wonders of platic surgery!


1.23.2006

Uh-Oh

It may not be a desirable solution, but there is a military solution."

W. Patrick Lang, former head of Middle East intelligence at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, talking about the Iranian nuclear crisis.

1.19.2006

I Wish We Knew This 3 Years Ago...

"As traditional Arabs, I don't think democracy is part of our nature."

Sheik Muhammad al-Khalifa,
the prince who runs the Economic Development Board in Bahrain.

1.16.2006

Entertainment News


#1. Who is this prick? I think he used to date Paris "Waste of Oxygen" Hilton. What kind of total asshole dresses like this? Read the article on Gawker.com to find out just what a bastard this guy is.


#2. For you "Matrix" Fans: co-director Larry Wachowski is a transvestite (and possibly a transexual) who broke up with his wife to be a with a dominatrix who was married to a female-to-male transexual who still had a vagina. What?!? Read the article at Perezhilton.com.

The main article about Larry Wachowski is at Rolling Stone.

Here's some photo evidence as well:

Larry is on the left in both photos.

(<--Photo by Bob Riha Jr./Wireimage.com)






















And by the way, I don't really care what Larry Wachowski is, as long as he's happy. I just think it's an interesting story, and a somewhat surprising one. I guess we now know why they were so press-shy in the last few years. Well, this, and the fact the Matrix sequels sucked.

1.14.2006

A Super-Secret Conspiracy?!

I love conspiracy theorists, especially those on the right — the members of the so-called "Patriot Community" (see below). I came across the video posted below on Google Video of the Day, and is hosted at Google Video. It concerns a right-wing "patriot" radio host from — you guessed it, Texas — who infiltrated a summer camp held at Bohemian Grove in California in the summer of 2000.

Apparently, many of the world's elite — the Bushes, Henry Kissenger, Alan Greenspan and the like — belong to the Bohemian Club, an organization about 112 years old. They apparent have some silly ritual each summer where they burn "dull care" — that is, the cares of the outside world — while they vacation.

To you and me, this probably smacks of grown-up frat boy/secret college society silliness. To the "Patriot Community" this appears as a super-secret, conspiratorial, pagan ritual by the world's elite. These men in the video often talk about "bankers" — which is code for Jews, of course, and was often used by anti-Semites like Father Coughlin during the Great Depression.

The video shows an odd ritual, to be sure. But is it any odder than believing that Jesus walked on water, or that eating a wafer at Mass is eating Jesus? Not really, to my mind.

The radio host who stars in this vingette completely loses it at the end (around 0:47:00 or so) when talking about the "elites" and about his family's history of fighting for freedom.

He is truly scary. He helped to rebuild David Koresh's temple near Waco, and believes that the government blew up the Oklahoma City federal building. He's that kind of scary.


There are days, my friends, when I think that Lincoln should have let the South go.


1.12.2006

Parental Nonsense!!

So, I read in the online New York Times today that some parents of children with ADD and/or ADHD believe that their children are so-called "indigo" children, very special beings sent here to save the planet. These children are, supposedly, hyper-smart and attuned to the earth. Blah, blah, blah.

Is it any wonder that this phenomena began in the 1970s?? This article is hilarious, because parents with out of control children — in other words, bad parents — are desperate to believe that their children are not defective but special.

What a bunch of bullshit. Enjoy the article!

1.11.2006

1.10.2006

Posting Google Videos

I have already mentioned Google Video of the Day, and I learned from that site that you can now post such videos on your own site simply by copying the code. So, here is a test post! :)

1.09.2006

A Sure Sign of the Apocolypse

I went to Blockbuster today, which is an unusual trip these days because I have NetFlix. Unfortunately, I finished one of my NF discs last night, and the one that arrived today (Battlestar Galactica [1978] vol. 3) was cracked and thus unplayable.

Anyway, I looked around Blockbuster. The movie I really wanted, Bill Murray's "Broken Flowers" was out.

While looking at the New Releases, I noticed that EVERY COPY of Vin Diesel's "The Pacifier" was checked out.

Every single copy.

Lord God in Heaven, rain down your justice upon us!

In happier news, I *may* have a new reader -- my good friend Matt from Pennsylvania. Matt and I met at Boston College my first year there, and have been friends ever since. If you're out there, Matt, welcome! Be sure to leave a comment on occasion!!

1.01.2006

Happy 2006!

To all those who read this website, either regularly or occasionally!

I wish you all a very happy New Year. I hope that it brings all of us happiness, success, and joy. I sincerely hope, as well, that all of our men and women in uniform come back stateside safe and sound, with their very difficult and complicated mission completed.

Thank you for reading "Zalandria." I hope that you've had a few laughs over the last 7 months. I hope to continue in the New Year.

To my friends and family: thank you for all that you've done for me, in 2005 and every year. It is a pleasure and a priviledge to know you.

All the best for 2006,

~ Shawn