People Who Didn't Heed Their Parents' Warnings

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Col. Sanders Loves Him Some Chicken

Col. Sanders Loves Him Some Chicken
Originally uploaded by Thomas Roche

Is it just me or is this one of the creepiest pictures in the world? I am a meat eater, so I may be a bit hippocritical, but WTF? It's creepy. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, November 2007.

The Russian Mob in Goa

The Russian Mob in Goa
Originally uploaded by Thomas Roche

Interesting piece on South Asia's English-language Times Now site about the influence of the Russian mafia in Goa, a resort town famous for its gorgeous beaches and spacey trance music.

"As the increasing number of drug deaths among Russians increase, TIMES NOW's correspondent Aditi Sharma mounts a special investigation to solve the mystery of the growing influence of russian drug mafia in Goa.

"A Russian national -- 48 year old Andrey Dmitriev -- was found dead under mysterious circumstances last Sunday. The police were quick to pass it off as a heart attack. But soon enough, the truth came tumbling out. Initial reports ruled out a cardiac arrest, hinting at the possibility of a drug overdose. In 2007, at the same hotel -- where this Russian nationale was residing, another Russian -- 35 year olf Cheron Sergey -- was found dead. The cause of the death was Metabolite Morphine or Heroin that was found in his blood stream along with high levels of alcohol.

"Both deaths now recorded as mysterious, the case files have hardly moved further and Mumbai police has few answers. Despite repeated attempts, the police are refusing to divulge details, but its apparent that there is intense pressure to get to the root of the case.

"However, TIMES NOW decided to take the investigation further across the country from Mumbai following the link to Goa, where an older, as yet unsolved case is becoming a matter of diplomatic debate. An alleged Russian undercover agent -- 25 year old Evgeny Kuzmin -- was found dead in North Goa in December 2007."

Read More.

Image from www.cia.gov.

Boston Mobster's Bid for House Arrest

Boston Mobster's Bid for House Arrest
Originally uploaded by Thomas Roche

More DiNunzio-related fun at the Boston Herald, in a story detailing what alleged mobster Carmen "The Cheeseman" DiNunzio will agree to in order to secure house arrest rather than stay in the big house.

"'What a Mother’s Day!' DiNunzio’s heartbroken 70-year-old mom Anna exclaimed from behind a closed door yesterday. But she declined to comment on her son’s latest arrest and bid for freedom.

"In a two-page conditional release proposal filed by his defense attorney Anthony Cardinale, DiNunzio volunteers to:

* Conduct no non-cheese-related business in the North End.
* Travel only to his “Fresh Cheese” shop in the North End, court hearings, meetings with lawyers and medical emergencies.
* Be tethered to a GPS anklet from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. daily at his home in East Boston.
* Consent to random searches of his home by the FBI and the installation of a pen register (a device that records telephone numbers dialed) and/or telephone trap (a device that records the numbers of incoming calls).
* Agree to a “no association” list of names drawn up by prosecutors - people with whom he must have no contact.
* Post $20,000 cash bail, plus a personal surety bond of $200,000."

I'm always fascinated by the legal details of mobster trials. What's more, since I hate leaving the house, I look upon the idea of house arrest with what is probably an ill-advised eagerness, an enthusiasm for the concept that I hope will never be sufficient to make me do crimes.

While there are plenty of cheesy puns in this story, it remains mercifully free of abuse over DiNunzio's weight. Not so with Howie Carr's latest column, in which he asserts that the death blow to the Boston mob (a branch of the venerable Patriarca Crime Family, also known as "The Office" -- no I'm not making that up) was dealt by the great seasons played by the Red Sox and the Patriots.

Says Carr:

"Oh sure, there were other factors, like the rats Whitey Bulger and Stevie Flemmi, and the local FBI, when its agents weren’t taking payoffs from the above-mentioned non-Mafia gangsters. Then there was white flight and the birth dearth, not to mention cocaine, which decimated hoods by the score.

"But the final coup de grace came from the recent winning seasons of the local teams. Carmen “the Cheeseman” DiNunzio and his sad-sack crew relied on bookies for most of their income, and local bookies have had a bad run lately, a very bad run."

....“I am thinking of filing a class-action lawsuit,” one local attorney said Friday, “on behalf of the New England Mafia, against the Patriots and the Red Sox, for winning too much and destroying the business.”

Actual cheese via Wikipedia.

Fur Seal Caught Molesting Penguin

Fur Seal Caught Molesting Penguin
Originally uploaded by Thomas Roche

Image: Fur Seal on the Kerguelen Islands, from Wikipedia.

MSNBC has a disturbing report of inter-species sexual assault:

"A seal has been caught on camera trying to have sex with a penguin.

"This seems to be the first example seen in the wild of a sexual escapade between a mammal and a different kind of vertebrate such as a bird, reptile or fish, "although some mammals are known to have attempted sexual relief with inanimate — including dead things — objects," said researcher Nico de Bruyn, a mammal ecologist at the University of Pretoria in South Africa."

Oh, also:

"The Antarctic fur seals of Marion Island are the only seals known to eat king penguins. The thrill of the hunt felt by the seal the researchers saw may have channeled into its sex drive, as the mating season had just come to an end.

"'It may have wanted to eat it and half-way through the chase changed its mind,' de Bruyn speculated."

Everyone who hears about this seems to react with laughter or strange sexual innuendos, but all I can think of is how fucked up that must have been for the penguin. The bird, who was of undetermined gender, apparently escaped without injury.

Ducky Doc

I'm on TV! And the internet.Please, post a response so they will keep airing it. Or at least click the LIKE IT button on the top left side of the screen. Thanks! xoxo - Ducky

P.S. I always get nervous when I'm on TV. Ooook!

Postal Reassurance

Oh good GRIEF.
Originally uploaded by Cherie Priest

Writer Cherie Priest, author of Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Wings to the Kingdom, Dreadful Skin and Not Flesh Nor Feathers, received this bizarre note from the postal service that seems to be reassuring her that the barbecue sauce on her parcel is not a weapon of mass destruction. Thank God!!!

Amusingly, her LJ post on the topic is headlined, "OMGWTFBBQ???" which is pretty much the reaction I had when I saw this note, followed by laughing until I soiled my own parcels.

Madonna Viral Marketing

Madonna Viral Marketing

by Amelia G : May 13th, 2008

So, I think Madonna is pretty awesome in general, but I’m vaguely baffled by her message to YouTube video. In it, she is supposedly vacuuming the set for her 4 Minutes video because apparently other people didn’t take care of it. Then she tells the world of YouTube good job on making tons of videos for her 4 Minutes single. To date, her thanks for making essentially fanfic versions of 4 Minutes video has received 3,175,135 views on YouTube.

The actual official Warner Bros video for Madonna’s 4 Minutes has only received 846,562 views. It opens with a little rap from Timbaland and most of the song is a duet and coordinated dance moves from Madonna and Justin Timberlake. Madonna and Justin Timberlake take off some of each other’s clothes during their choreography and, unlike Janet Jackson, I guarantee Madonna won’t apologize or pretend that her clothing flying off is a wardrobe malfunction.

A search on YouTube for +”4 minutes” +madonna yields 2,860 results, including both the fanfic (or whatever YouTube people call this sort of thing) vids and multiple copies of the official video and various video responses to the go ahead and make videos based on the video video. This sort of viral marketing is all very meta. Will encouraging people to do more of what they were going to do anyway work to Madonna’s benefit? Will it sell more of her music, raise her stock for endorsements, or otherwise make bank?

I don’t know the answer and I’m really interested in hearing what other people think about how this will work as a marketing effort. Do you enjoy fanfic videos? Regardless, you should watch the real official video because it’s fun candy and Madonna and Justin Timberlake dancing is way hotter than most porn.

And, to the desperate, sell-out assholes who will say that Madonna’s boots in the video mean fetish is crossing over to mainstream . . .

( Read more )

Kink.com seeks male bottoms for TSSeduction
Some of you may know that my day job is at Kink.com -- they are very much in need of bioguys interested in performing for pay as BDSM bottoms with transsexual women for Kink.com productions.

If you're interested, please drop me a line or go to www.kink.com/modelcall and, if you like, mention in your application that I referred you. You can also feel free to email me with any questions.

Office Set, The Armory

Office Set, The Armory
Originally uploaded by Thomas Roche

Antique office set, kind of looking like a World War II German flight officer's lair. Note, amid all the flat-grey, wartime-boring furnishings, the clock set to 4:20.

[cancer] New adventures in pain management
Dropped off completely yesterday as a result of some new adventures in pain management. Let's just say the IPO failed on that venture. I am better now but it made for quite an overnight.

Meanwhile, my extracted bit of colon tissue has made an appearance. I am pleased to see my insides so directly

May be home Thursday, but still on very low energy/highly reduced schedule mode for a week after that point.

Doctor soon. Later days!

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: hospital racket

Game On.
_________Part_1___________

_________Part_2___________

__________________________

Why is the only one asking the real questions on Comedy Central?

Current Mood: thoughtful

The Kinds Of Questions That Torment My Days
Why do they call it figging when it involves a piece of ginger?

Priceless
Went to see the French film, Priceless, this weekend. It was wonderful! Plus, the star of one of my fave movies, Aimilee, was in it. Go see it if you want charm, some good laughs and gorgeous French Riviera locations. ;)

My teeth hurt. But the end is in sight.

P.S. My dental technician needed a permission slip from my obs/gyn in order for me to get an x-ray. Way to make me feel infantilized just a bit, there.

Tweeted

09:49 Making breakfast and working. At the same time. #
11:09 Photos from Harvard: foryourpleasure.typepad.com/ Including vagina cupcakes! #
22:08 Back from class and the gym. Now it's time to decompress and get ready for tomorrow. #
22:39 Turning off the cumputer after a long day. Shower and into bed to read my book on Audrey Hepburn. See ya'll tomorrow! #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Alice Walker: Expect nothing, live frugally on surprise.
This weekend was an adventure, and a reminder to have no expectations or judgment, and to be very flexible. The reason for the trip to Seattle was originally to spend the weekend with Tallulah on her birthday, and hang out on the beach at one of her friend’s house, and leisurely drive a minivan she had been given back to Portland. However, plans started to change without warning. Thank you to the BF, who checked in as she could and stored my truck and keys for me, and to Tiny, for the bungie cords to strap my laptop to my bike.

After finding out at 11pm Friday night that I had to be up at 4am Saturday morning to catch a 6am Greyhound bus to Seattle (because Amtrak was sold out), I caught up on some reading and rested on the bus, but wasn’t able to sleep – and we arrived late in Seattle because the bus driver got lost in Tacoma. By 1pm I had arrived and bought lunch, quickly engaged in a walking whirlwind of shopping, and we were having Tallulah’s birthday dinner by 6pm. As the plans for the weekend fell through, we headed back to Portland at 8pm after some quick vehicle maintenance, and with the help of a cassette player attachment to my iPod and much truckstop coffee, the minivan and the sleeping Tallulah arrived safely just after midnight.

I received two hugs and a thank you, crashed in Ruby’s daybed by myself, and was given coffee, a quick breakfast, and Tri-Met bus fare - which got me to the Illuminati Safehouse, where unexpectedly Tam and I finally got a chance to talk. I ate a late lunch on Hawthorne with Angel, called my mother, and by 6pm, I was on the road, slabbing down I-5 with my long-unridden Harley, and arrived safely in Salem by dark, in time to take care of Phaedrus and sleep.

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: Assemblage 23: Opened

Something's wrong with Tigger
I just got a call from K. Something's wrong with Tigger, my 17 year old baby kitty. She's always been a cranky old lady so I worry that it'll be hard to tell when she's not well. K noticed that Tigger was drooling in her sleep and also this afternoon. She's not a drooler. And when K went to wipe her mouth she noticed an area at her lip like a skinned knee or an infection and she screamed when K tried to open her mouth. She's not as vocal as usual. She is drinking water, so that's good. K's going to see if she eats when the automatic kibble feeder goes off this evening.
We have an appointment with the vet but that's not until Thursday morning. If it seems to get worse or she's not eating we'll take her into an emergency vet. Hope it won't cost too much - as money's tight.
I'm worrying and stressing, while several thousand miles away in London. :( I'm just so glad that K's there.
Any animal experts out there there an opinion?
Do send her some good vibes.

here are photos of our three kids

Tigger on her favorite spot

Tigger and the elusive Yoshi

King David at 5 month and King David at 10 month in the same basket

King David, first week at home and already claiming the laptop and lap. Tigger is not amused.

Yoshi shares her room and her sun with King David

Photo bits from Buenos Aires
Here are photos that didn't quite fit into my travel report a couple of weeks back.

[Door of Buenos Aires]

( Read more... )

[Architectural Features]

( Read more... )

[Butcher & Grocer]

( Read more... )

[Trail made by ants at the park. They're really amazing engineers!]

pot...kettle... black
Bush says world should condemn Myanmar
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_myanmar;_ylt=AmzvY2S_SX_mWCNUyDyweNms0NUE

ummm hello Georgie??? This is Katrina calling... umm yeah lets talk

Current Mood: shocked

How bad it is
No one at work has said a word. NOT. ONE. WORD. They must be scared pantsless to make any comment to the bald person in their midst, lest HR rain down upon them.

So: Not only do I get the fun of exposure to all kinds of kewl sensation that the hairful never experience, plus the aerodynamic elegance of it all, but my very presence becomes challenging. (Those of you who know me probably already consider my presence challenging. To you I say, SHUT UP.)

In other mindfulness news, today I noticed the exact moment that I burned my very last calorie and began digesting my internal organs. It happened midway through the second block of the walk back to the office from the gym -- PLINK!

.

Current Mood: silly

Comedy, pathos and lots of naked, dangly bits!
I'm way behind on a Tribeca-SXSW-general movie log post, so recycling this CineKinkster item as a reminder/place-holder. But a great movie - highly recommend!

A stand-out at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, we've got our eyes on The Auteur, the sweet and raucous story of Arturo Domingo, the one-time leading director of art-porn cinema (Five Easy Nieces, Requiem for a Wet Dream, Full Metal Jack-Off), who finds himself at an all-time low in both career and romance.

The movie is a perfect fit for CineKink and we'll naturally be looking to include it in our next fest. But that's still a ways off - approximately 291 days as of right now, but who's counting? - and we'd love for it to find the audience it deserves in the meantime.

And you can help! Currently in the running for a slot in From Here to Awesome, a new festival that strives to cut through a lot of distribution mumbo-jumbo and make films more widely and directly available, you can take a gander at the submission trailer for The Auteur below and then make your desires known right here:

(It plays a much larger role in the actual movie, but watch for a few cameo appearances of the Clinton Street Theater, past and possibly future home to CineKink: PDX!)

Should standard model releases give % of sales?
I posted this question on a certain modeling site and some people seemed awfully freaked out by the notion and some were particularly troubled by the idea of having the whole deal with a model spelled out in one document. They seemed to think it would take two. I'm going to write something more article-like and less journal-like on this at some point, so I'd love to know what other folks think.

For many years, my standard boilerplate model release for nude shoots has given models a royalty % of any significant lump sum sale to a third party. If I pay a model at the time of a shoot, this counts as an advance against future royalties.

To me, this seems fair.

A lot of times, at the time of a shoot, you don't really know what the images will be worth.

Giving up rights to place images, in order to do trade, seems very wasteful to me. What if the work is great? As an artist, I want my work seen. But, if the work turns out very valuable, it seems like all parties should benefit, not just the photog or just the model.

It seems kind of like bad math to pay a model $75 an hour to pose nude or semi-nude for artsy shots when the photog has no idea who he or she will sell the images to and odds are good it will be for less than that.

But it also seems unfair that, if a photog does get a windfall profit from photos of a particular model, the model does not usually share in this.

Should standard model releases give models a % of a photog's sales?

Current Mood: looking forward to a latte

P.S.
Most if not all of these innings and outings will happen after WisCon (in a week and a half!), b/c I am so very booked until then (other than this weekend, which seems relatively clear so far).

Diet Soap Party Report!
Once again, I got no pictures. I am useless when it comes to pictures. I even brought my camera! But I always just get so busy talking that I completely forget. So no pictures, unless someone else took them ... sorry!

But anyway, the Diet Soap Launch Party on Saturday was a wonderful success. I want to particularly thank our readers,

tinaconnolly,

camillealexa (who, by the way, is now our new poetry editor!!!),

stephanieburgis (which will probably come as a surprise to Stephanie given that she wasn't actually there, but I read her story "Stitching Time," which the owner of the bookshop hosting the reading called "chilling"),

davidlevine, and our special super surprise reader, all the way from Eugene ...

seventorches!

We had a great mix of attendees, Dojo regulars as well as Portland spec-fic gadabouts like

joshenglish, Dave Goldman, Mischa DeNola, my own dear sister

coffeecuresall,

kateyule,

kblincoln,

mrajm, and the intrepid (and probably now sleep-deprived)

robvagle.

The folks at the Writers' Dojo were wonderful and accommodating as always. What a wonderful venue.

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated!

Current Music: Sanghata Sutra (Complete) - Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche