Boner

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Amazing%20Horse/

All I look forward to is bed time so I can snooze away some of this school pressure without realizing I'm wasting time.

freaked myself out the other night, trying to go to sleep. felt a ghost shadow roll over
my face in the dark, a substance darker than dark, but started thinking what if it's just me,
ghosts i'm in the process of leaving everywhere i go, what are ghosts but figures in other times
or dimensions. am i just leaving ghosts of myself everywhere i lay, spreading dark shadows like
dandelion apomixus, flowering spirits in space.

Hi All,

This is probably ver obscure, but I wondered if anyone might know the title or author of a book I read as a child. I was very young so don't remember many details apart from being fascinated mainly by how strange this book was.

The story was split between 3 time periods which I think may have been three incarnations of the same person. One was a green-eyed boy who I believe had an affinity for alder trees, which was viewed with suspicion as in the book they were unlucky (+ his weird eyes) - he came into conflict with priests who looked after him and out of superstition then ultimately cast him adrift at sea. There was some implication that he was being continually reincarnated perhaps.

Interleaved was a second storyline which centered on a man perhaps called sourney who lived in the drowned world which may have been set in the future and finally he was a "lion" or god of some kind. It is possible he was trying to communicate with his former self in some way...

I think there may have been some stylised illustrations reminiscent of hieroglyphs.

I do remember the book also contained some poems and the boy cited a riddle to the priests which started "Will the fishermen launch the lion on the ocean deep and blue.." and her taunted that they would never know the answer and it would haunt them... Rather like this book search for me!

Thanks in advance for any help!

[ It actually reminded me initially of The Blue Hawk although that's definately not the book. ]

The movie "Surrogates" starring Bruce Willis [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986263/] has reminded me of a story I read a long time back, and I'm hoping you can help reunite me with it.
In this science-fiction story, people animate robotic bodies and leave their bodies at home or in some kind of custodial facility. The main character is a famous fighter, taking part in gladiatorial games as a media spectacle.
While out on the town in a "sporty model" he is drawn into a conflict with another robot body, and winds up being framed and jailed in a scheme to make him miss his scheduled appearance for a fight and therefore forfeit.
He shows up for the fight in his own body, and they have to let him fight, since the rules are based on the pre-robotic-body boxing sports.
Ringing any bells? I'm not sure whether this was a short story, novella, novel or what. It might have been in Amazing or some other sci-fi digest, but I won't even guess what year it was written.

The Chiropractorrrrr!
Originally uploaded by jinty.

Oh, I wish. We create the superheroes we want, right?

I'm looking for a book that I read as a child about 10 years ago. I get the feeling it was quite a 'grown-up' book for my age at the time (7ish), but still aimed at children, aged 11+ maybe. I also think it was quite popular at the time, if that helps.

The plot was about this boy who wanted to get into this city, or possibly it was just some kind of large workplace, but in order to get in you had to have something on your neck. I can't remember properly what it was, but it was a sort of capsule that was sealed on your neck. And he didn't want to get the actual thing because it was bad and would defeat the purpose of going in to discover what was in there. He managed to fake it, and got in, and had this mentor/servant type person who was possibly some kind of alien, and he actually got quite close to him and felt guilty that he was faking because he didn't have the real neck-thing, and also because I think he had to hurt him at some point in order to do some investigating on his own. I think he might have eventually been found out.

I can't remember anything more specific/how it ended, sorry! But any help would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I read this book forEVER ago, and I don't remember anything of the plot but this one scene and it's really bothering me. See if you guys can take a stab at it.

There was a girl, probably about in her early twenties, who was feeling really down and went to a gay bar so that she wouldn't be somewhere where guys would hit on her. She started talking with the bartender and accused him of being straight, which he denied. But they had a long conversation throughout the night and he admitted that he was indeed straight, but pretended to be gay because he thought he couldn't get a job at the bar otherwise, and the two of them became friends. I don't think the bartender was a major character in the rest of the book, but the girl definitely was.

...and that's all I remember, sorry.

So I'm applying for all kinds of jobs... I can't seem to pass the unicru test.
They screen out psychopathic cartoonists pretty effectively. I promise not to hurt anyone at Borders Books. I'm not actually dangerous.

I promise.

Today is my real birthday. Facebook is filthy with lies.

I spent all weekend in Columbus with friends. I like spending time with young people, they don't have the hideous disaffection of all these jaded old farts and breeders I surround myself with. I kid, of course. I'm one of those jaded old farts myself.

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I exposed a lot of people to 'The Thirty-Six Chambers of Shaolin' and 'Punk Attitude'. I don't think either went off to great effect because, well, I didn't get laid. Kids these days! haha

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Realization: long term motivation is impossible when one does not expect the world to exist for much longer.

Man 'ripped in half' in motorcycle crash given remote-controlled bionic butt http://ping.fm/k1jLJ

New entry on the other blog: http://lunar-circuitry.net/wordpress/?p=555

A friend just wrote to tell me that someone has just uploaded Cinema Sewer #10 to #20 onto a popular movie torrenting site. In the email he says:

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"I dunno how you feel about that since most of those issues are out of print now and the uploader DOES tell everyone to go to your site and buy your stuff. But at the same time most of that material is in the new book too and it is still redistriuting your shit without you being involved, and for free.

So I dunno, but i thought you'd at least like to know that not only are DVD's being given away for free, and music being given away for free but books and fanzines are now being given away for free too.

In my estimation there is less and less point in doing any of this because the pople who put the money up to do the actual work wont be able to afford it much longer..."

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I can't say I'm too thrilled about that.

On the one hand, downloading rare out-of-print movies that no one can get otherwise seems to be a perfect use of the technology. And music downloading makes a whole hell of of sense. Bands make all of their money from touring so giving the music away and getting lots of new fans is brilliant marketing.

But what the fuck do I get out of someone else giving away everything I do? Nothing. It's not "free advertising" for my next big tour or something. Those magazines and books are where I make the money to be able to keep printing it and making more. I have serious doubts that someone is gonna download #10 to #20 there for free and then turnaround and send me money for the same thing.

I'm kind of disgusted and disappointed that some fan of mine thought this was a good way to help me out. Thanks for nothing, asshole.

So what do you guys think? Am I not seeing the big picture here? Or am I justified in being pissed about this? Feedback, plz.

So, For the past two years or so, I've been trying to be "incognito." Now I once again want to be incog-NEATO! (oh god, please make me stop!) But seriously, identity can be a slippery eel that's hard to keep a grip on. I had a dream when I was a young whippersnapper that my life would be interesting and exciting. The price one pays for this is facing a greater number of challenges, both internal and external. When I was younger, my battles always seemed to be external: Me vs. the world and other people. With age, the battles became more internal: me vs. me vs. me. The downside of an "interesting" life is that it has to change all the time and you have to change with it.

Often, when I'm in transition between one "self" and another, I withdraw into a sort of neutral place and re-emerge when I feel like I'm on steady footing. Often the transition involves rejecting the past self. Sometimes I have this visual picture of myself from one year to the next, all the me's standing side by side, then I see all the me's make a 90 degree turn to the right and slap the preceding one upside the head. And so I rejected the past self.
Only problem is: then I started thinking "but wait! my past self DID have so much fun! I STILL WANT THAT!" and so, in the process of rejection, there was a sort of re-integration. Thank god, because this "neutral" phase has gone on for almost three damned years.

Much of my problem stemmed from placing my "self" out there for public consumption. I made myself a "brand;" and not only my social life, but my career was tied to it. I chafe under the pressure of having to behave a certain way and live up to specific expectations and when I perceived the "expectation" as coming from some anonymous consciousness in the outside world, I started hiding inside (if that sounds way neurotic, I assure you...it is!)

Now, being "incognito" has been kind of a lovely learning experience in itself. When I was a kid, I felt like an outsider involuntarily... I was "different" and didn't want to be. When I was a young adult, I decided to be "different" on purpose. It became very important to me to be seen and to express myself in everything I did. Once that became a duty instead of a privilege, it just wasn't as fun anymore. It felt burdensome. I didn't want other people to be telling me who "myself" was. I went from "freedom" meaning being able to express myself to meaning I didn't have to express myself.

These incognito years were my chance to feel what it's like to be "normal." I mean, there's only so "normal" a person can be in New York, but I just tried to be as neutral as possible. I still have a certain "physical expressiveness" (aka: awkward nerdiness) that gives me away, but if I dressed normal, I could get away with it. It was nice not to be pre-judged. It was nice to be able to conceal or reveal myself willfully. It was nice to feel invisible. It was nice to be happy letting other people shine instead of clamoring for the spotlight. It was nice to watch from the outside for awhile.

Now I'm trying to take the timeline of my life and take all the disparate parts and re-assemble them into some integrated whole of who I am now. I'm also trying to balance the negative and the positive. I've always veered between either extreme. Either from the egotistical "I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW HOW GREAT MY LIFE IS!" to the paranoid: "Oh god...everyone just thinks I'm a name-dropping attention whore! Maybe I'm giving the wrong impression!" And the problem when you "put yourself out there" is that people will confirm both sides. Trouble was, I was at the point where I was like "I CAN'T BE WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE! I WILL ONLY DISAPPOINT YOU! I CAN'T TAKE THE PRESSURE!"

So, yeah, self-re-assembly. Stay tuned.

Solved! It's "The Little Friend" by Donna Tartt. Thanks!

I just saw this book yesterday at the local library's book sale, and I really liked the blurb I read on the back, and for the life of me, I can't figure out what it was called, and why I didn't just buy it.

For most of her life, she's been over-shadowed by her younger brother. When he was a baby, he was found hanging from a tree outside, dead/murdered. The girl tries to solve the mystery with the help of her friend, and uncovers something very huge.

I know it's not a lot to go on, but I didn't actually read the book, so that's all I've got. Thanks in advance!

Found! "Mind-Call" by Wilanne Schneider Belden

I'm looking for a YA book with a female protagonist. At the beginning, she has a migraine headache, and when she wakes up from the drugs she's been given for it, there has been a big earthquake (?) and everything is flooded. She packs up her family's sailboat and takes off. She finds a young boy in a flooded apartment building, and I want to say she knew he was there through some kind of telepathic link. Eventually they wind up at a complex with a number of other children who have survived the disaster -- I think they have to crawl under a barbed wire fence to get in. I remember one more scene, where the protagonist is talking to a guy at this complex and he gives her a book to read (I want to say it's a quantum physics text?) and she reads something like a hundred pages in ten minutes, and he tells her that she and the other kids there are "matrix thinkers", and that rather than going from point A through B and C, to point D she just skips straight from A to D. This might also be the reason they have psychic powers, or something?

This is all I can remember, and I've been looking for this book for years, it's got to date to the mid-nineties at least. Thanks very much!

I read this small children's book of scary stories when i was a kid. i don't remember the name, obviously, and i don't remember specific stories. I do remember that the stories were really twisted and dark, and their were vampires, witches, werewolves, i believe, and zombies. It had a black cover with a frame around the edges of the cover cut into squares of all sizes with pictures of the creatures. I don't remember a lot of humor, but i loved it. I looked it up online and I don't think it's scary stories to tell in the dark by Alvin Schwartz, unless those books had a previous cover. I looked up Very scary stories online and nothing popped up either. Please help, if you need more info i can try to dig some up.

I've not really been posting about it because, heck, boring, but there may be a bit of a problem with my knees. The symptoms (crepitus, locking and giving way, pain exacerbated by inactivity, walking on slopes or steps) are suggestive of something called various things but surely the most ironic is "runner's knee".

I don't run. Well, sometimes upstairs, or for the bus, or if I'm late. But I don't run. You know, because I have to be careful of my knees.

( pain )

Just another Sunday evening, painting demons striding across a desert landscape.

This also happened today:

• 10:53 Swiss cuisine includes rosti and steak, ravioli and trout mousse and an anxious swiss chef who gave us amuse-bouches of plum and parma ham.
• 10:57 It was a very odd thing to find tucked in the corner of a huge redbrick booze barn full of big screens, steady drinkers and occasional dogs.