Russian Dagorhir/SCA

From the Russian website Mosnews comes this group that looks very familiar.

Watch Television

There are some cool things to watch on the boob tube. One of the newest shows I've taken a fancy to is '30 days' which is produced by the director of the documentary 'Supersize Me'.

The premise is simple. A camera crew follows a person as they do something for 30 days. The premier episode had the director and his girlfriend living and working on minimum wage in Columbus Ohio. It was hard to watch.

The latest episode was the best so far however. They took a good ole pork eating, Christian white boy from West Virginia and shipped him up to Dearborn Michigan to live as a Muslim for a month. He was instructed to follow all the customs including dress, appearance, diet and religious observance. It was fascinating to watch. The guy they got was, in all truth, an Ugly American and as such found impossible to keep from doing and saying thing that were ignorant and or/rude. But I really have to give it to the guy. He stuck it out. He opened his mind and worked to understand a people and a culture that was completely alien to him. His biggest struggle seemed to be with the prayers, which he refused to take part in for most of the month. He tried to discuss his reservations with an Imam but the language barrier made it hard. In the end he found a contractor who was building a new Mosque who helped explain a lot of things and helped him understand what was going on. In the end he did go through the motions of the prayer (while holding a small gold crucifix in his hand).

I wonder what his neighbors will say to him, or how they will treat him now that he's safely back in his insular home town. It would make for a neat follow up.

The next episode will take a Conservative Red State Homophobe and send him to San Francisco. He will have a gay room mate, join a gay sports team and work at a job that caters to gay clientele. Should be interesting. Go check out the show. It's on FX Network

Refreshing

Today's task was simple. We planned to paint the front of the building atop the Moroccan room. The Barn red has GOT to GO. It's on everything and its old. So we went out, ran errands, purchased a few quarts of paint to experiment with and returned to the house. With the heat in the 80's we were dripping from the shopping trip. We brought out all the brushes, scrapers, paint, rollers, tarps, etc to the roof and began our task. The Sun came out and after an hour I had to come inside or risk bursting into flames. I was already in shorts, a super light weight tank top and sandals and I was still cooking. After another hour we completed painting a section and called it quits. We came in, washed the brushes and cooled down. I checked my email. Then Rossana says "Hey, its raining." Sure enough. Despite a blistering sun only minutes ago. Big, fat drops of rain started to fall.

"The tarps and other stuff is still on the roof"

Although this was a statement, I recognize a directive when I hear it and put on my sandals and ran out to pull all the stuff to the porch. I also had to turn over our rowboat the vengeance so it wouldn't fill up with water. By this time I was soaked and out of breath. No reason to run, there was no way I was going to stay even slightly dry. In fact, the rain itself to so warm it actually felt good. It was slowly washing the stinging sweat from my eyes. I went inside but Rossana was already in the shower using as much hot water as the plumbing could provide. I didn't want to just stand around dripping waiting for the shower so I grabbed a bar of soap and stepped outside where I proceeded to strip down and take a shower in the rain.

Let me say, it was a damn refreshing shower. I lathered up and just let the rain rinse me off. Our shower is a stand up stall and I'm 6'2. It felt great to be able to clean up without smacking my elbows into a door poking myself with the shower head when I'm trying to wash my hair. And thanks to the excessive greenery surrounding our property no one called in any Bigfoot sightings to the local police.

Try doin that while livin in the suburbs. Country livin. Gotta love it.

Link-Fu

Years ago my friend Mike Substelny bought the car of his dreams. A Delorean. He had saved for years and brought it to my house to proudly show it off. It was gorgeous. A work of art and a blast to ride in. I immedietly insisted that he tell NO ONE about getting the car. It was simply TOO COOL to become public knowledge. I then crafted a complex theme party involving terrorists siezing Doc Brown and his time machine. I somehow convinced Mike to convert his new baby into the car from the film. He did an awesome job and the end result was quite a site.

So whenever I come across a stray Delorean link on the internets I take a quick look. I found this link while doing some research about the new (and very cool) Batmobile. I forwarded it on to Mike who replied:

Very cool, Steve, but there are at least five or six DeLorean time machine reproductions that can drive on the highway under their own power. Most of then will be in Chicago next year, along with Bob Gale (one of the Back to the Future writers) and several BTTF cast members.

I'll be driving mine there.

As for DeLorean-related cool links, you might want to check out the projects of my friend Rich Wiesensal, as documented by aspiring movie producer Tamir Arden:
Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads.

Keep reporting on all things cool,

I bow to his superior Link-Fu. Go check it out.

A pleasant evening without fisticuffs

The Ohio Scottish games are held practically in our back yard. And since it was our last free weekend we decided to attend. Rossana and I even kitted ourselves out in our Scottish attire. I think I make a very dashing, if swarthy, Scot in my kilt.

The only trouble was the weather, which was so hot that my brain actually started to malfunction. I find it hard to breath or think, my thighs rub together uncomfortably (I know, TMI) I was pouring sweat just standing still. We did some shopping, looked at the import cars and bikes. Said hello to the Highland Cows and a very handsome Clydesdale and then it began to pour rain. We beat a hasty retreat back to the cool shelter of Bag End.

The rain stopped and friends arrived for the cooking of meats. The temperature eventually cooled down enough to make it enjoyable on the deck, where several animated discussions took place. Rossana dished with our larger than life friend Hoss (also known as captain unfiltered) about what was up in Renfair circles. Lindsey, Cat and Duffy talked about Harry Potter porn and Ed, Patrick and I discussed the relative merits of Wal Mart as a global economic power. Really. It was a very animated discussion. Patrick was more or less of the opinion that there was nothing at all wrong with Wal Mart and that it should be free to operate as it pleases. Ed and I argued that although it's fine to make a profit, relentless price lowering hurts suppliers and helps send more and more jobs overseas to companies with less than reputable workers rights records and product lines that are at times inferior. I boldly proclaimed that I would live to see a Wal Mart in flames. Some one or some group will one day look at that big blue box and decide that IT is the source of all their problems. No one contradicted me.

We ate Cheese Cake and ice cream and retired to the Moroccan room for more lighthearted exchanges. I had a great time. It's good to see friends and I love having a place of my own.

After this weekend we'll be in the season. This is really where the work gets done. Time to get down to brass tacks and sell. I'm just praying for the weather to cool off. I can't take 2 months of heat wave. My skull will pop.