Pacificapocalypse

It’s only an hour.

Just keep telling yourself that.

But it’s not really, it’s more. The lights all wrong for the time of day.

On the 0705 express bus this morning, the bridge is still closed so its more crowded than usual, but it’s a relatively hygienic crowd so the overwhelming sensation of too many people in too little space is not the trial it might be.
Head back. AFX and GMS on the headphones. Eyes closed.
As ‘Outside – Kick Ass (violin solo)‘ comes up, the sun on my face starts to flicker from passing highway signs. Shadow. Sun. Shadow. Sun, and a certain hypnotic quality slips over me. This is like Brian Gysin and Wild Bill’s Dreamachine.
And then my mind separates.
My fore brain is a fighter jet low over enemy territory, 500 knots at 100 feet. Everything flashes by strobe light perfect. (Sun. Shadow. Sun. Shadow.) Then it climbs vertically to 40,000 feet and I can see everything laid out below me in perfect detail. Now it’s GMS and ‘The Crow‘ is building up, layer upon layer like the most beautiful train wreck in the world.
My hind brain is stretched out on a giant cushion, simply reveling in the passage of air through my nose,  the low frequency rumble of the tires over the expansion joints in the freeway have set up a perfect accompanying hum. Extra’s from the tent scene with Xerxes in 300 bring me sensations one by one.
The bus is rocking, now slightly canted to the left as it follows the curve of the freeway.
Someone laughs and it seems to Doppler down too quickly.
It’s only an hour.

I hate the time change.

Always messes with my head.

Ok this is just creepy. An East Bay High School holds a car wash to raise cash for the school water polo team… by having the team stand on the street corner wearing nothing but their regulation Speedo’s luring passersby. Who thought this was a good idea? Would the cheerleader squad in bikini’s washing cars be okay then? There’s so much wrong here.

From SFist:

The kids at Northgate High School in Walnut Creek had a money-making scheme this past weekend. One that, for better or for worse, involved the school’s water polo team wearing only regulation Speedos, standing on a street corner, and luring passersby.

Now that we have your attention, this car wash benefit, at right, has stirred much controversy. It seems before Saturday’s incident, area girls — underage women, mind you — have done the same thing, too, in high school-fundraising efforts.

Hm. Anyway.

The Mayor of Claycord, who writes one of the finest blogs on the other side of the Bay, posed a question: “High school kids standing on a busy street corner while wearing speedos, is it inappropriate, or just a harmless way to promote a high school water polo team’s fundraiser?”

What say you, readers? Are you OK with a business model that uses high schoolers’ budding sex parts as a way to raise funds? Is it OK for schools, just like Disney, to prostitute their underage students for cash?

Also, if you found the image to the right enticing, sign up here for more.

Okay my True Love had nothing to do with this outrage, but I couldn’t pass up a good post title.
Continuing the Wedding/Halloween countdown, I give you: Clown Last Supper *shudder*

Click to embiggen… if you dare.

Catholic iconography?
Check.
Clowns?
Check.
Unending parade of waking nightmares?

Oh you better believe it… check.

Did We Really Need a Robo-Serial Killer?

Via io9

The arthouse gore hounds behind Machined have answered a question you never knew you had: How about a robo-serial killer made from scrap metal in a machine shop? I think the answer is still a tentative “no” even after seeing this mini-epic about a creepy, hairy, shirtless dude who turns a guy he hit with a car into a half-machine serial killer. Now he keeps his robo-pal in the basement and feeds him naked co-eds while watching on CCTV. Really, the entire movie is like this. There is no punch line.

Best comment:

And remember, it’s the labor that cost the most, not the parts.

From the Seattle Times:

Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but recently in Tanzania it has taken a wicked twist: At least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed and mutilated in the past year, victims of what Tanzanian officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts.

Link.

This is *so* messed up, but it is sub-Saharan Africa, where you can get arrested or killed if they think you’re a penis thief.

penis. heh.