tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59726672012-01-25T15:27:54.322-08:00by Matthew Jent, age 32.Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.comBlogger4661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-45119179663377730062012-01-25T15:27:00.001-08:002012-01-25T15:27:54.333-08:00

For the second time since I've lived in Baltimore. For the first time, probably, since the summer. I ran for: 41 minutes and 42 seconds. I traveled a distance of 2.92 miles. I burned 356 calories. My average pace was 14'15", but I'm not sure what that means. Per minute? That can't be right. (I know these things because my robot phone told me so.) (My robot phone also shows me a map of the

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-49616490283886009582012-01-16T12:59:00.000-08:002012-01-16T12:59:08.890-08:00

Chris Hunt is my uncle, and he wrote a book. It's called My Life with the Scorpion Kitten and it's about his life over the five-year period he spent with Mathias, a cat he adopted with his wife, my mom's sister, my aunt Tina. Early in kitten-hood Mathias got a severe eye infection that cost him an eye, and left him blind in the eye he still had. He also had the feline leukemia virus, so I'll

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-90212143312273485042012-01-13T12:20:00.000-08:002012-01-13T12:20:11.911-08:00

Hey guys. What's new? I have a new Dungeons & Dragons group. My last regular group was during the LA Days, and we played 4th edition. That's the one where the core races & classes are split up over multiple players' handbooks, and everyone gets sweet special moves when they level up. If you get through 2 or 3 combat encounters in a single session, then you're moving at a pretty quick clip. If

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-10016417051541988882011-05-29T20:13:00.002-07:002011-05-29T20:13:18.054-07:00

The city’s got a feeling summer. Hot concrete. Horizon’s obscured, by buildings or distance or mist. It’s key to choose a city with some green. It gives you that feeling of wet that will permeate your skin -- get under your skin -- get into your clothes. So you’re never quite dry. That’s how you know it’s summer. You’re never dry. Not entirely. The smell is sweet; sour; sickly; death and birth

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-59208081070190104092011-04-11T12:49:00.000-07:002011-04-11T12:49:50.875-07:00

(very much inspired by this piece on the Rumpus by Chloe Caldwell). On the left sits Testimony for Man, a history of the City of Hope medical center outside of Los Angeles. It's on top of a Verizon bill I'd rather not open. An iPhone I found under an overpass in L.A. has the headphones plugged in. I use it as an iPod. Most recently I listened to an episode of This American Life about a reporter

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-4542083387921817662011-04-02T12:49:00.000-07:002011-04-02T12:49:45.339-07:00

I just packed up two boxes of books, and in the second box I included volumes 1&2 of American Elf, the daily comic strip diary of James Kochalka. American Elf was where -- long ago, in the distant early-aughts -- I first heard of a town called Burlington, Vermont. Flash forward several suns, and I've been living on the outskirts of Burlington since last October. You can tell you're in my part of

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-66646405272597720082011-04-01T11:35:00.000-07:002011-04-01T11:35:11.586-07:00

Last week I spent about 24 hours on a train, traveling down to Baltimore and back. I was visiting friends and taking some writing time and getting away from the lingering winter for a long weekend, but with that much time to kill on the train, I did a lot of watching-the-world-go-by. This is Battleboro. I also watched some TV. I successfully made it into, and out the other side of, Generation

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-24964026939436545162011-03-28T12:29:00.002-07:002011-03-28T12:29:58.830-07:00

From over here.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-68436847130864309392011-03-19T11:18:00.000-07:002011-03-19T11:18:32.841-07:00

It's been a pretty intense morning of self-loathing + self-indulgence that's seen the arrival-by-post of my 19-inch Galactus action figure... ...mixed with a breakfast-through-lunch marathon of LOUIE, trying to watch the entire series before it's zapped away from Hulu Plus after today. I've owned a lot of action figures in my time, but never one so large, that also talks. Pictures of Galactus

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-33993438877903726712011-03-09T11:45:00.000-08:002011-03-09T11:45:59.981-08:00

I'm sure a lot's been written on Star Trek and sex since the original series aired, was cancelled, was re-discovered and was resurrected, but I've been watching the first season at an episode-or-two a week pace for about a month, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how damn sexy it is. The pop culture understanding of Captain Kirk is that he was hopping from planet to to planet, doin' it with any

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-32822452705793750432011-03-08T11:09:00.000-08:002011-03-08T11:09:07.672-08:00

These days I'm spending time with On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen Asma, a book that explores the idea (so far) of monsters and memory. I'm not very far, but one of the things it addresses -- an idea I ran into first on a History Channel/Discovery Channel entertainment-doc about monsters -- is that the myth of the cyclops -- a giant, one-eyed man -- might have come

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-23682446715742576292011-03-05T08:06:00.000-08:002011-03-05T08:06:19.096-08:00

This is one way Papa died. We’re on the bridge and he’s telling me stories of his life. You know. Uncle Roy, twenty dollar bills, true things and false things also. A kid approaches, black and poor like Elvis would sing about, dribbling a basketball. No -- it was a pink bouncey-ball like you’d buy for three dollars at a Rite-Aid, from a wire bin, only he didn’t buy it, he stole it, because like

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-13321708850333235452011-03-04T07:06:00.000-08:002011-03-04T07:06:09.955-08:00

Congratulations! Despite what everyone in grad school said behind your back, you finally made it. Well, I have some good news and I have some great news. The good news is that you are finally, undoubtedly a grown up. Someone resembling Sean Connery is going to approach you any second now to explain how tax codes work, tell you the best ways to cook meat, and give you a money clip and a drink

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-63328842779571115552011-01-21T14:59:00.000-08:002011-01-21T14:59:21.728-08:00

Though I've long been a Marvel Comics nerd, I have only recently read the first year's worth of the FANTASTIC FOUR, which essentially birthed the Marvel Universe as we know it. Though the series continues to this day, the first 102 issues were done by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, introducing not only Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch and the Thing, but also Doctor Doom, the Skrulls,

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-31055174543350977182011-01-05T11:16:00.000-08:002011-01-05T11:16:12.269-08:00

Uncle John sits huddled in the basement under a heap of sweaters and blankets and many pairs of socks. His feet look bloated and too big. He waves me over. There's a coffee cup in front of him on the table, but also a bottle, black and gold-capped. He sits in front of his radio, but the radio isn't on. "It's the women in this family," he whispers. "They do not speak." I approach him and bounce

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-20099243748264913812010-11-29T12:17:00.000-08:002010-11-29T12:17:07.432-08:00

- Adrian started to amass mixers and drum machines and synthesizers in our latter high school days.  I spent all of my money on D&D handbooks and comics, but he spent his on his tools.  He would DJ parties, weddings and school dances.  I think it was our senior year when he and Jeff Lay went in on a minidisc recorder and made their first songs.  - No!  Memory is faulty -- because first there was

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-44467609434268809622010-11-29T10:27:00.000-08:002010-11-29T10:27:26.973-08:00

- Though I have a long history of being in fake bands, I've never been in a band-band.  I mean, except the school band -- I was a saxophone! -- but that was more of a social group, at least for me.  It's how I found my first high school D&D group, how I discovered the hill on Market Street, and how I got to kiss girls in high school (holy smokes -- that's true!). - However!  My pal Adrian was

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-80998287817333177102010-11-27T09:41:00.000-08:002010-11-27T09:41:25.587-08:00

- I met Julie Powell once, briefly, in an alternate universe where I worked in public radio in California.  She said "I like your tie, oh, I like your belt, I like -- everything going on here," and she gestured to me from toe to head.  I took it to mean that I'd gotten lucky when I put my clothes together that morning, but secretly I thought it meant, "if only this person could know MORE, could

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-77344220283708583292010-11-23T08:31:00.000-08:002010-11-23T08:31:04.499-08:00

- My biggest take away from looking at a scale of the universe and me is that there are Giant Earthworms that are possibly longer than 7 meters.  This knowledge triggers something in my lizard-brain that shouts "kill it with fire."  This is not fair to the giant earthworm, which most likely possesses neither strange sonic sensors nor slobbering mandibles that seek to consume me, and I will

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-53084802902843816642010-11-20T17:14:00.000-08:002010-11-20T17:14:18.160-08:00

Things of note, as autumn swiftly disappears... - I will need to rediscover my gloves if I'm to keep biking like this. - Bells!  And dimly-lit homes as I bike past. - Patience.  Allow the cushion to settle beneath you. I have always had trouble with this. - "He wears a purple sash and a black mustache, in a honky tonk down in Mexico." - I had the thought today that keeping a journal is like

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-89551177716948757132010-11-18T19:26:00.000-08:002010-11-18T19:26:14.376-08:00

I miss that MySpace blog function that let you post "What I'm listening to now" after every blog entry.  I'm sure there's a way to do it on blogger (or at the very least, on tumblr), but I'm too out of practice to understand widgets and such. (What I'm listening to right now:  "Another One Rides the Bus" by "Weird Al" Yankovic.) If I can talk about the Beatles again (if I could ever stop

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-75627357777903048562010-11-10T09:35:00.000-08:002010-11-10T09:35:18.225-08:00

New shoes make me envision the way my arches bend.  Especially over a bridge.  I pass an older couple taking a picture of the lake and I imagine they will talk about the way my foot bends after I run past. "You can tell he's running for the right reasons," one will say.  The other nods knowingly, then points at a particularly impressive mountain. Regular, formalized gatherings of friends.  A

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-54685217754893460332010-09-07T14:53:00.000-07:002010-09-07T14:53:06.914-07:00

I'm in the midst of a cross-country move these days (L.A. to Burlington, VT), but even as I'm out and about the fine folks at Fanzine have put up a chapter from my novel-in-progress Brand New Berto on their website.  It's accompanied with an illustration from my pal & bearded brother Ben Costa, whose Xeric Award-winning comic you can enjoy at Shi Long Pang.  Or go to your local comic shop and

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-64062140775228522412010-08-17T11:35:00.000-07:002010-08-17T11:35:21.253-07:00

Originally posted May 9, 2008. The last of the re-posts. And then Laura said, it's as simple as this: girls are crazy and boys are dumb. (Almost two years later, when I have repeated this for the hundredth time, Ryan will say: that's the basis of like every stand-up routine ever. But I guess it's true.) And then Adam said: I tend to date girls who can hide their crazy for about six months.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-13160380906009739092010-08-17T11:34:00.000-07:002010-08-17T11:34:02.715-07:00

Originally posted May 7, 2008 It's the weather that does it -- the sun on the back of my neck -- and the way summertime smells, even in far away California. The days are back to being bright, and it seems like the sky stretches out farther than you can see. Maybe it's the illusion of a cloudless sky over ocean, the first time I've lived next to such a thing, but just because it's an illusion

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-34806574676058204022010-08-17T11:33:00.000-07:002010-08-17T11:33:00.918-07:00

Originally posted March 18, 2008. Holy shit -- it’s springtime. And this whole thing is going to happen again, one way or another.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-45688544872950811652010-08-17T11:32:00.000-07:002010-08-17T11:32:01.339-07:00

Originally posted March 17, 2008. The first time I drove from Chicago to San Francisco it took me more than a week. There was a crack in the windshield of our car -- a white Cavalier we called the Coyote -- and we stopped the first night in Iowa City. We left early and of our own accord, but later legend had it we were run out of town. It’s hard to keep straight which parts really happened and

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-38424442052667302412010-08-17T11:30:00.002-07:002010-08-17T11:30:59.945-07:00

Originally posted March 13, 2008. Mama is on the couch in the morning, same as last night. Her belly moves when she breathes, so I know she’s not dead. I can’t remember when she wasn’t wearing that very same sweater. She’s on her back and her side at the same time, if that’s even possible, all twisty and uncomfortable-looking. A blue blanket is half off her and half on. Maria is on her side and

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-60838435313962389582010-08-17T11:29:00.002-07:002010-08-17T11:29:50.030-07:00

Originally posted March 5, 2008. I used to think God was a man with a mustache, dressed like Han Solo, who shot a watergun from Heaven when it rained. I asked Ma about it once. I said, "Does God have a gun--" And she got mad and yelled, no, God does NOT have a gun, don't ever say, don't ever THINK that God has a gun! Well, that's fine. But then where does the rain come from?

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-4479066767007732202010-08-17T11:20:00.001-07:002010-08-17T11:20:02.516-07:00

Originally posted March 3, 2008. "There comes a time when passion has to take over." "Yeah, but what if you can't convince them of that?" "Well…"

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-43974241073752703582010-08-17T11:18:00.000-07:002010-08-17T11:18:04.588-07:00

Originally posted March 2nd, 2008. "It's hard for me to ask people for things." "I know, but I'm asking you to ask me." "…" "I'm saying it's important for me to hear it from time to time." "I know." "To know that you still feel it, you know?" "When have I ever acted like I didn't feel it?" "For -- the last six weeks?" "…" "I mean --" "It's fine. It's how you feel." "So now you're mad

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-87219814693241617392010-08-17T11:17:00.000-07:002010-08-17T11:20:44.365-07:00

Originally posted March 1, 2008. The Golden Bough says the Hungarians used to light a need-fire (and first of all -- dude, they called them "need-fires" … !) at night to keep away vampires and spirits of the dead. It's from this that the belief in sunlight as a source of vampiric destruction comes, but originally it wasn't held true that fire destroyed the vampires. It simply kept them at bay,

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-55900783134387837842010-08-17T11:15:00.001-07:002010-08-17T11:16:15.739-07:00

Originally posted February 25th, 2008. In the attic, where it takes so long to reach. But you can still see the dust dancing in the sunlight -- the sun is still taller than the windows. At night, sneaking outside to smoke in the corn. The yard is lit by the moon and the stars. The sky is a dark blue-black and everything around you is clearer than it really should be, but slower too. At dawn

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-85974719108015827482010-08-17T11:10:00.000-07:002010-08-17T11:10:35.691-07:00

Originally posted February 25, 2008 I remember living in Oakland, in a house that I did not like, pining for a particular girl for another month or so... Oh, my. Love, then. Love lately is patience, and asking for patience. Or: hoping for patience. Love is understanding -- or, hoping -- that March will be better, and April better than that. Or at the very least that better is coming. Love is

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-55687511177676807972010-08-17T11:08:00.000-07:002010-08-17T11:08:05.269-07:00

Originally posted Febuary 23, 2008 This is all so hideously embarrassing.  I feel like I'm posting some old high school diary ... I wrote this two and a half years ago. I am 29 years old. Wait -- I am 28 years old. Later I'll be -- wait -- it's 2008, I am always one older than the last digit in the year, so later this year, I'll turn 29. But right now I am 28. Here's a true thing: sometimes

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-48848417837870936152010-08-16T16:53:00.001-07:002010-08-16T16:54:15.666-07:00

 I visited Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello twice last summer and I took a tour of the main building once.  Partly the visit sprang from being a burgeoning American history nerd, and partly it came from reading Time Wastes Too Fast, a webcomic/essay by Maria Kalman -- a brief excerpt of which is at left. Kalman's piece on Monticello wasn't my introduction to Jefferson as a Renaissance Man,

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-59629066514282135442010-08-16T00:34:00.000-07:002010-08-16T00:34:04.908-07:00

In those golden days of 2008 I started a project on my MySpace blog called "100 Themes in 100 Days" -- I'm not sure what led me to the it, but it was a challenge on DeviantArt with a numbered list, and at the time that was just too attractive to pass up. The DeviantArt idea is to draw a hundred things based on those hundred themes, but you know, you work with what you got, so I started writing

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-18981565345449583802010-08-15T22:11:00.000-07:002010-08-15T22:11:03.879-07:00

Scott Pilgrim!  It was the movie of the weekend.  The only thing keeping it from movie of the year were two outrageously better movies, released earlier this year*.  That's not the narrative playing out in the box office tallies this weekend, but, you know... ... whatcha gonna do?  It'll find the kids on cable. But what's been resonating with me most is something I read in an LA Times article

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-85923529123514513272010-08-15T19:46:00.000-07:002010-08-15T19:46:34.222-07:00

Let's get back to it.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-55914458255768877372010-03-27T18:15:00.000-07:002010-03-27T18:15:08.879-07:00

I Am A: True Neutral Halfling Sorcerer (4th Level) Ability Scores: Strength-12 Dexterity-10 Constitution-13 Intelligence-15 Wisdom-13 Charisma-14 Alignment:True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-20938090865752515472010-03-23T17:13:00.000-07:002010-03-23T17:13:04.651-07:00

NEW PHOENIX A frontier planet on the edge of inhabited space, New Phoenix was founded in (xxxx) by missionaries from (planetname) to escape the religious persecution they faced at home. While some missionaries remained behind, they quickly became a marginalized and repressed political afterthought -- the Pilgrims of New Phoenix, as they came to be known, were left to chart their people’s course

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-34536808323203049862010-01-19T11:18:00.000-08:002010-01-19T11:18:00.906-08:00

Edgar Allen Poe -- American author, poet, drunkard and creep. Little known fact? He is dead. Correction: people in Baltimore know that Poe is dead, because because when they're not busy dealing drugs, wiretapping people who are dealing drugs, being murdered in prison by associates of their crime-lord uncle, or bemoaning the state of the police department they work for while getting drunk

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-24092270419170176792009-10-26T14:53:00.002-07:002009-10-26T16:40:45.613-07:00

Movies I want to see:-Paranormal Activity-new(ish) Coen Brothers-um. Things I want to eat:-Sandwiches-Burritos. Burritos that I have not made myself.-Pancakes!Music I want to listen to:-"Suedehead" is on right now, which is pretty good.-early, skiffle Beatles.-later, Get Back Beatles.TV I've been watching:-Battlestar Galactica, again. I think this is my third or fourth time through season 2.-

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-56523100537485677352009-08-14T23:08:00.002-07:002009-08-14T23:15:26.635-07:00

Thinking of shared worlds again ... playing Fallout 3 and a new D&D 4E campaign has me itching to world-build. I think my perfect vision is a wiki based around a concept that would be split into different eras or specialties -- and four or five writers would contribute, each specializing in a corner of the universe that may or may not overlap with the others. One of the basic rules would be

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-32498820731481377712009-08-12T23:43:00.001-07:002009-08-12T23:43:59.571-07:00

I was just reading A Brief History of Nearly Everything, particularly a chapter that dealt with the age of the universe -- where I'm at right now some scientist or other has speculated that the universe is 20 billion years old. And it got me to thinking -- probably too simplistically -- but it got me to thinking, how can we really think about "years" on a scale like that?Because a "year" is the

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-14174713553444041052009-05-20T09:25:00.002-07:002009-05-20T09:35:42.301-07:00

"Let me start by saying the women of my generation have a reason to be fired up."This is what you said in a dream. Not to me -- I read them in an interview. Your face (and your hair, and your mouth -- you wore a lot of lipstick in the photo, if you'll forgive my saying so) was on the cover of American Legion, which I think is a magazine my dad gets from his union. There were pictures inside,

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-26384636035197090082009-04-11T23:17:00.002-07:002009-04-11T23:23:04.302-07:00

There was something I wanted to share with you, but it doesn't seem like I really can. (But then that's what this blog has become, yeah?) It would seem like I was being petty, or that I felt things that I really didn't, or that I didn't feel things that I really did.I won't quote it exactly, since that's not the sort of thing I believe in tonight. But it's a sentiment expressed in Michael

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-3935857379747654982009-04-09T10:08:00.002-07:002009-04-09T10:13:21.238-07:00

Last night I had a dream that I moved back to my old house in downtown Oakland, and all the old cats had been dropped off there as well. My old/new roommate said my ex-girlfriend had left them there the day before, saying it was for "a month or two." I was really happy to see Tubby again. I picked him up and it still felt like carrying a baby horse.But then I kept finding pee everywhere -- my

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-87343013475744144632009-04-02T21:44:00.003-07:002009-04-02T22:47:01.324-07:00

Back to the car for a minute...One of the things BSG left me with was this idea of species memory. SPOILER ALERT if you're thinking of watching the show, but the ending basically tells us that we have neckties and democracy and a legal system because, 150,000 years ago the human race as WE know it was born from a human/cylon hybrid baby.(Look: it's a good show.)And I'm not so much talking about

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-51192747480665493532009-04-01T10:10:00.003-07:002009-04-01T10:45:49.585-07:00

Nerd Alert: over the course of the ten hour drive to Baltimore, I spent most of my time thinking about Battlestar Galactica. I won't bore you with why you should have been watching BSG if you weren't, because this isn't really a story about a TV show. But I watched the last episode of the show, went to bed, woke up early and got in a car headed east. I had a little Cylon on the dashboard of

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-85004641433173240012008-10-03T16:47:00.003-07:002008-10-03T17:07:57.728-07:00

I've been playing the LEGO BATMAN video game lately (as the only video games I seem to retain any proficiency for are those designed for 8 year olds), and it got me to thinking: they really ought to just End Batman.Maybe that's what DC is up to with the upcoming Neil Gaiman-scripted "Whatever Happened to the Dark Knight," or whatever it's called, but I really think Batman, as a comics property,

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-42710295060622575422008-09-27T17:31:00.002-07:002008-09-27T17:32:21.915-07:00

"That's my darling Luke. He grins like a baby but bites like a gator."

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-32758046864106805292008-09-25T19:58:00.002-07:002008-09-25T20:02:37.088-07:00

from the So I Won't Lose It Dept....The Beat's look at the cancellation of DC's Minx line....another lesson in how Comics Just Don't Get It, burying Minx comics in with the graphic novels and manga, instead of fighting to get them in with the YA titles. I can attest to the fact that Barnes & Nobles have a graphic novel section in their childrens' departments -- it's young readers stuff, to be

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-67003732312312389322008-09-21T16:18:00.004-07:002008-09-21T16:20:12.930-07:00

(found on the Beat.)

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-77788878977530337442008-08-15T11:40:00.002-07:002008-08-15T11:49:56.792-07:00

And I mean, such a strange day.I woke up with SJ, my back hurting, but grateful to be there with her on her floor, hoping to hold her a little longer. She'd turn her back to me and I'd curl behind her, or I'd lay on my back and she'd rest her head on my chest. Finally she said, after several false starts and faux awakenings, "I think I'm up.""What?""I think I'm awake."We laid there a little bit

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-15950561499579418122008-08-04T12:37:00.002-07:002008-08-04T13:09:38.055-07:00

I'm housesitting for a friend of mine these days and he has cable TV, so basically that means, whenever you think of me these days, I am probably covered in a blanket and watching cable TV. Right now there's a movie about Leonard Cohen on, and I have it on in an attempt to finally like Leonard Cohen. Much like sushi and coffee, Leonard Cohen is one of those things I managed to avoid, with no

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-40515345526585048502008-07-03T13:08:00.001-07:002008-07-03T13:10:16.557-07:00

There's no better way to celebrate America's birthday than with Muppets.(I like the wiener backdrop about a minute and a half in.)found on BWE

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-50930925516433374602008-07-01T00:20:00.003-07:002008-07-01T00:22:45.764-07:00

found on the Comics Reporter

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-71115336443793353722008-06-30T19:36:00.002-07:002008-06-30T19:42:08.869-07:00

Unemployed Creepo wages one-man war on drugs ...'They said the agent, a man some had come to know as “Sergeant Bill,” boasted that he did not need search warrants to enter their homes because he worked for the federal government.'... until an intrepid small-town reporter checks his name on Google or something, and discovers there's no such thing as a “multijurisdictional task force” sending

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-25478613085411154242008-06-27T16:08:00.002-07:002008-06-27T16:20:15.146-07:00

Movies I want to see:-The Dark Knight -- I wasn't wild about 'Begins,' but DK looks like the radness.-Pineapple Express -- sort of.-Hancock -- mostly just because the original title was 'Tonight, He Comes.'Things I want to eat:-Indian food -- always.-Chick-O-Stick -- which means I'm itching for a road trip.-Green apples -- they're good.Music I want to listen to:-My Morning Jacket-The Avett

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-4532564888210762862008-06-27T14:25:00.002-07:002008-06-27T14:30:31.559-07:00

For all my dislike for comics these days, I can't stop THINKING about them. It occurred to me in a nappy-haze this morning (I woke up, ate breakfast, THEN took a nap -- it's about time to get myself to a new town, folks) that the folks who find FINAL CRISIS too confusing are the same folks who lurve ALL-STAR SUPERMAN -- the only difference being ALL-STAR is based on an imagined continuity, more

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-12495667604971603052008-06-26T19:43:00.004-07:002008-06-26T20:06:13.153-07:00

I visited the comics shop today, more and more a thing I do based on specific books coming out rather than as a once-a-week affair. This time I was looking for FINAL CRISIS #2, being the latest issue in DC's latest opus. It wasn't very good.This time last year I was doing a lot of comics research. I was chest-deep in a comics writing project and getting ready for my first San Diego Con -- I

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-11079586762093837722007-08-25T02:28:00.000-07:002007-08-25T02:30:11.243-07:00

-Age 3: Like early man, I have trouble telling the difference between waking life and dreams. My Aunt Sheryl, my dad’s step-sister, only a few years older than my big brother Dave, passes away but her spirit is kept safe, entombed in a bulbous device of yellow plastic, with a red knob and many pipes. It comes to my attention, at a time unspecified, that the bulbous yellow device is a water

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-86625335622352029592007-07-13T12:37:00.000-07:002007-07-13T13:02:59.902-07:00

I buy new music maybe once a year. I like new music, but it's usually just not my priority -- I'm happy to keep listening to the same Blues Brothers record if it means I can get a new book or two. But I made my annual purchase recently, for the sake of the new, for the sake of the blog...The White Stripes -- Icky ThumpEvery review I've read says the same things about it -- a return to form

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-53152713622749494662007-07-07T16:36:00.000-07:002007-07-07T16:59:17.236-07:00

Sort of taken from Laurenn McCubbin, who I do not know, but whose blog I enjoy...Where I’m at:5 movies I want to see:Knocked UpSicko10 CanoesSunshinethat new Harry Potter thingI've enjoyed the hell out of most of the movies I've seen this summer. PIRATES and SPIDER-MAN 3 were swell, despite what folks might tell you.Things I want to eat:Anything snack-like. We're going to get a new cookbook

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-19375229898542756642007-06-09T02:14:00.000-07:002007-06-09T02:21:21.600-07:00

I spiffed up Sequential Heart and posted some comics reviews there -- the idea is to run a group-blog where a few folks will post short reviews of comics a few times a week. I started things off with recent issues of SHAOLIN COWBOY, ALL-STAR BATMAN & ROBIN and SPIDER-MAN. I'm working up some more graphic novel-y fare right now, and Amy plans on contributing some mini-comic reviews in the near

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-71308422360326851992007-05-29T11:43:00.000-07:002007-05-29T11:54:24.285-07:00

So I saw this on Variety:"In an unprecedented marketing move, 20th Century Fox and the Franklin Mint have created a Silver Surfer U.S. quarter that has been put into limited circulation in advance of the release of "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer."And my first thought was, "At long last, the Silver Surfer is on the quarter." And then I thought ... well wait a minute ... they're

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-28632276296392955222007-05-11T01:15:00.000-07:002007-05-11T01:16:31.727-07:00

"Luck is opportunity plus preparation plus luck."

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-85065660861970875542007-04-30T12:45:00.000-07:002007-04-30T13:18:52.893-07:00

Mike Gravel is a former Senator from Alaska, current Democratic Presidential candidate, and has his fingerprints on all sorts of accomplishments we're grateful for, and take for granted, these days: ending the draft in America (by filibustering, for FIVE MONTHS, a bill that would have extended it), ending nuclear testing in Alaska, establishing the Alaskan Pipeline, which now provides 20% of our

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-8779727291518960782007-04-27T15:45:00.000-07:002007-04-27T15:51:06.472-07:00

My friend sees coyotes in Chicago:I can't decide if this is awesome or terrifying. I guess it's both.In other news: there was a naked lady in my driveway earlier. She was sunbathing, so I guess that makes it summertime. Or, it just means I live in California these days.Also, this is a thing that happened today:

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-76437463497266080622007-04-23T14:05:00.000-07:002007-04-23T14:07:20.732-07:00

Ben Costa, Amy Martin, and your humble author, selling our wares at APE in San Francisco, April 21, 2007. Details, memories, dirty secrets to come.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-47607818639739334052007-04-20T13:40:00.000-07:002007-04-20T13:43:43.787-07:00

Via Warren Ellis:"Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the former mayor of Cleveland who is seeking the 2008 Democratic nomination for president for the second time, has selected a date to introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.""...Multiple congressional offices confirmed to RAW STORY that they had received the letter, but none had been apprised of the impeachable offenses

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-32227529120490021452007-04-19T12:23:00.000-07:002007-04-19T12:24:07.587-07:00

So I won't lose it: a run-down on KAMANDI. I love the "world name" Kirby came up with -- "Earth, AD."

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-55687795531482260152007-04-16T14:19:00.000-07:002007-04-16T14:20:52.766-07:00

Make Internet TV is a website that helps me n' y'all make, um, TV on the internet:"This guide has step-by-step instructions for shooting, editing, and publishing online videos that can be watched and subscribed to by millions of people."Very soon, this site will feature short videos from experienced internet video publishers. If you're interested in sharing your expertise, visit the Make Internet

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-64586566548564098752007-04-15T02:53:00.000-07:002007-04-15T02:54:40.445-07:00

6 Ways to End a TV Series.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-17905320936549384442007-04-15T02:42:00.000-07:002007-04-15T02:45:20.841-07:00

Found via Warren Ellis -- it's from M. John Harrison's blog:"Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding."Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalises the urge to invent. Worldbuilding gives an unneccessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader’s ability to fulfil their part of the

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-75890335580875057702007-04-15T02:41:00.000-07:002007-04-15T02:42:38.111-07:00

Cave Story, an 8-bit style video game with very basic controls and a whole lotta plot. I played for about two hours tonight, and I still get flustered when I fight a Boss -- having the movement keys on my right and the action keys on my left is almost too much for my Nintendo-trained brain to handle. But it's fun, and it has a video game kind of storytelling technique that might be interesting

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-69458404465379133572007-04-12T13:23:00.000-07:002007-04-12T13:27:14.915-07:00

BoingBoing also has this picture today, from a blogger who has "a small collection of photos of mothers disguised as chairs."

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-74037902177497809672007-04-12T13:22:00.000-07:002007-04-12T13:23:23.212-07:00

This Vonnegut quote turned up on BoingBoing:"Do you know what a Humanist is? I am honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in that functionless capacity. We Humanists try to behave well without any expectation of rewards or punishments in an afterlife. We serve as best we can the only abstraction with which we

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-20094014062068271452007-04-11T21:31:00.000-07:002007-04-11T21:39:30.289-07:00

The NYT is reporting that Kurt Vonnegut has passed away:"He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island."His death was reported by Morgan Entrekin, a longtime family friend, who said Mr. Vonnegut suffered brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago."The article goes on to talk about Slaughterhouse-Five, of course:"The defining moment of Mr. Vonnegut’s life was

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-90175101428282375022007-04-03T20:54:00.000-07:002007-04-03T20:59:49.156-07:00

The house is bigger than anyone can tell. No, bigger isn't the word - it's the size of a house, as it should be. But it's more expansive inside, there are balconies without a clear path to reach them. And once reached, without a clear path away. But again, "balcony" isn't the right word - "loft" is better.The point: the outside has four walls, and clearly defined beginnings and beginnings,

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-14218672010293428522007-04-03T20:49:00.000-07:002007-04-03T20:53:27.827-07:00

"There's mystery in the world, and we don't get all the answers ... seldom is a thing truly exhausted and known completely, and when it is, it cast aside as an empty husk, learned and experienced, but also forgotten. It becomes the empty shell of a mollusk, wrapping paper, a conveyor of something, but not the thing itself. It was once experienced and loved, but is now forgotten - it never

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-68111598765977556692007-03-27T10:31:00.000-07:002007-04-15T02:56:26.399-07:00

(And then last night I had a dream that George Strait was sitting next to me at some kind of cafeteria lunch, but I was kind of a dick to him. But it was because he had his boots off and was putting his feet up on the table.)

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-63755517072428219892007-03-23T14:22:00.000-07:002007-03-23T14:28:33.806-07:00

I had a dream last night that I was playing the Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive VCR board game ... only I was playing it with Captain Picard, Riker, and Worf. Usually my dreams tend toward pretty ordinary but uncomfortable things, like I'm working at my old bookstore again, or I've moved back in with my folks, or the brakes on my car don't work anymore. I've always wanted to have

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-82682699329655080852007-03-07T13:22:00.000-08:002007-03-07T13:24:31.270-08:00

From Warren Ellis, who found it wherever he finds these things:Vampire Dictator Stopped with a Stake: "Serbian vampire hunters have acted to prevent the very remote possibility that former dictator Slobodan Milosevic might stage a come-back - by driving a three-foot stake through his heart."Miroslav Milosevic (no relation) said "he and his fellow vampire hunters acted to stop the former dictator

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-57882653140643183112007-03-02T17:13:00.000-08:002007-03-02T17:16:20.641-08:00

Someone over at the Engine posted this, and it made me laugh:

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-67970024078937392042007-03-01T14:18:00.000-08:002007-03-01T14:23:39.710-08:00

Artist Eric Poulton has undertaken an awesomely nerdy art project - reimagining Star Wars as Steampunk. That's Darth Vader! There's a bigger version on Eric's blog, as well as some rad renditions of Han & Chewie and Jabba the Hutt. Jabba even has a little mustache.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-18886113468756492342007-03-01T02:03:00.000-08:002007-03-01T02:06:03.892-08:00

From the BBC:The city council of New York has voted to ban the use of the word "nigger"."The resolution to ban the so-called "N-word" is largely symbolic as it carries no weight in law and those who use the word would face no punishment."There's more in the link, but that's the meat of it.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-39329932687780421772007-03-01T01:29:00.000-08:002007-03-01T01:44:27.120-08:00

NASA's New Horizon's space probe was pointed toward Pluto and the frozen, sunless reaches of the solar system on a nine-year journey after getting a gravity boost Wednesday from Jupiter.Yeah yeah, etc. etc., New Horizons is flying to Pluto at 52,000 (!) miles per hour, giving us a view of Pluto we've never, ever had before.But!Here's the best part:"Project manager Glen Fountain said the craft

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-63665208401547528662007-02-28T02:24:00.000-08:002007-02-28T02:34:34.769-08:00

Ahoy!We here at the Fun are taking a short break from posting pictures of Tom Vilsack to tell you about the 24 Hour Non-Stop Poetry, Fiction and Performance Kablammy I'm taking part in Friday March 2nd through Saturday March 3rd. It starts at 6pm Friday and runs through 6pm Saturday, and it features readers like Kate Braverman, the fine folks from Kitchen Sink Magazine, and plenty of my pals and

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-78047537417010665672007-02-26T01:08:00.000-08:002007-02-26T01:26:17.185-08:00

Chris Dodd, Democratic Senator from Connecticut and Presidential Candidate, has introduced legislation - the Restore Habeas Corpus Act - to effectively repeal the Military Commissions Act and, er, restore habeas corpus as a Constitutional right. The website above is paid for by "Chris Dodd for President, Inc." and does a better job of setting Chris Dodd apart from his Democratic opponents than

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-29053510247768464462007-02-23T16:19:00.000-08:002007-02-23T16:22:02.288-08:00

2008 candidates and their presence on the interweb.Interesting facts - Joe Biden and John Edwards and Chris Dodd are all over everything, even Facebook and YouTube ... while most of the Republican candidates simply have their own websites up, and nothing more. And some of them - I'm looking at you, Tom Tancredo - barely have even that.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-32642069839001616522007-02-23T13:55:00.000-08:002007-02-26T01:08:32.113-08:00

Definitely Running, Yes:Sam Brownback, Senator from Kansas. Supports Congressional term limits; calls the number of abortions since Roe v. Wade "a holocaust"; supports a Constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage AND civil unions; supports "teaching the controversy" surrounding intelligent design in public school science classes. Notable quote: "No raise money, no get bonus."I don't eat

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-87304081321672157362007-02-23T13:36:00.000-08:002007-02-23T13:39:26.894-08:00

I found a better Vil-sad picture:"I guess I'll go eat worms."

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-72892733924109014382007-02-23T13:08:00.000-08:002007-02-23T13:15:07.709-08:00

"It is money and only money that is the reason we are leaving today," said Tom Vilsack, wrapping up his campaign for President. "I came up against something for the first time in my life that hard work and effort couldn't overcome. I just couldn't work any harder, couldn't give it enough."Vilsack was the first Democrat to declare, in November 2006. Obama, meanwhile, spent the weekend diving in

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-58506136629113150862007-02-21T21:57:00.000-08:002007-02-21T23:32:46.744-08:00

Democratic Candidates, For Sure:Joe Biden, Senator from Delaware. Co-sponsored the Biden-Roth-Cohen Flag Protection Act, which sought to make mutilation, defecation, or burning of the United States flag punishable by up to one year in prison, and/or a $1000 fine. Notable quote (besides that stuff about Obama everyone has already heard) : "In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-67173816268028617972007-02-05T13:02:00.000-08:002007-02-05T13:10:37.951-08:00

Here's a thing that happened to me once:"Every weekend until the winter came we went to Shaun's house on Saturday nights. We stayed all night and crept down to the woods after dark. The Man would be there in the trees, or sometimes he'd already be in the yard crawling behind us. He was always lower than us to the ground, quieter and better hid. Close to Halloween he wore a white skull mask

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-77016535954260401022007-01-12T13:43:00.000-08:002007-01-12T14:14:23.695-08:00

I love the Amazing Randi. He's made it his life's work to look at people who claim they can talk to ghosts, or sense spirits, or communicate with Venusians, and say, "dude, whatev." I'm no cynic - I'd love for all of that junk to be real. It would be rad to live in a universe where spooky messages can be passed from beyond the grave - or just to know what happens when you die. I'd love it if

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-13249773807081879722007-01-02T23:22:00.000-08:002007-01-02T23:32:27.705-08:00

From John Rogers, who wants to propagate a meme without asking anyone to participate. Here are 5 Things You Don't Know About Me. One of them is untrue.1) I learned how to ride a bike when I was 24.2) Once, I spent Christmas Day (and the following New Year's Day) working as a radio DJ. I played a Nirvana song from their Unplugged album and a dude called the station to tell me that I made his

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972667.post-73441303941672001542007-01-02T23:15:00.000-08:002007-01-02T23:16:23.966-08:00

Ray Harryhausen's creatures, in chronological order, in about four minutes.Found via the Beat, which used to have an address I could just remember.

Matthew Jenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05056568940094648387noreply@blogger.com0