Whitechapel - Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10)

Whitechapel - Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) Sat, 25 May 2013 23:00:00 -0700 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/ Lussumo Vanilla 1.1.4 & Feed Publisher Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257614#Comment_257614 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257614#Comment_257614 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:02:55 -0700 warrenellis
For I am a jealous and terrible God -- a three-faced god, like Trimurti, Lugh, or one of the ones off Star Trek. I am Evil Oppressive Patriarch, and yet also Big Bald Bloke With A Computer. But most importantly, I am Internet Jesus, and this is my Sermon:

In the warm, musky twilights of far-off Malaysia, the kingfishers and bee-eaters give way to nightjars and owls, and the fireflies, or "kelip-kelip" as they are locally known, put on a dazzling light show. Thousands of these insects commence their fluorescent display, flashing on and off two or three times a second, some stationary, others circling around. In some trees a whole colony of fireflies will flash in absolute unison, hour after hour, in the manner of the lights on a Christmas tree. Male and female fireflies are both able to flash, but only the males flash in unison; the synchronised display serves to attract a mate. It is a vast conversation of light, powered by a controlled chemical reaction that takes place inside the light-producing organs on the underside of the abdomen.

It is deep in the night, here in Olde England. Chemicals surge down into my light-producing organs, tightly controlled until I am suffused with the purity of illumination. Who will be hypnotised by my nocturnal display? Who will join my conversation of light?

It's Saturday Night Open Mic: you all know the drill by now. Tell me about your week. Tell me something filthy, strange and wonderful. Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.

Speak now. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257619#Comment_257619 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257619#Comment_257619 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:23:51 -0700 Boga_ Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257622#Comment_257622 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257622#Comment_257622 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:38:52 -0700 TAL
It's a big drink & fireworks holiday here in my part of Finland today. I had forgotten about it until I saw colorful explosions through my window. But by then I felt it was too late to invite myself somewhere.

Hot Shots! Part Deux was on tv earlier, so I watched it. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257623#Comment_257623 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257623#Comment_257623 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:45:58 -0700 Alan Tyson
In other news: Addiction sucks, especially when you can't even blame it on brain chemicals. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257624#Comment_257624 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257624#Comment_257624 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:52:41 -0700 Andre Navarro Tell me about your week.

I took it off. The week. And my underwear, but mainly the week. It is wonderful, to take it off. The week. And the underwear. But mainly the week, because I didn't have to worry about what would be the punchline to a daily webcomic strip and how many panels the build-up to it would require and how long it would take me to draw a bunch of mouthless, noseless glorified stick-figures no. I didn't have to worry about that at all. And I also don't have to worry about the underwear. That's good too.

I've made some Decisions this week. I must slow down to speed up. Simultaneously. Wait, this will make sense shortly: by reducing the webcomic to three times a week so I can work on all the other projects I've been neglecting. It's been quite a learning experience, to work on a daily webcomic. It's a shame the most important lesson to stem from it is that it's a fucking stupid, self-destructive and suicide-inducing thing to do for free. So, three times a week now. Everyone's happy. Actually, I am, and fuck everyone.

Tell me something filthy, strange and wonderful.

My mother just called to tell me about a headline she read in a piece of shit "newspaper" today. Apparently a woman was bitten by a snake in a motel. Not in a good way. In a literal way. There was in fact a snake nest below the bed. And according to my mother, this was an expensive and renowned motel.

Also, the woman was married, and so was the man. But not to each other.

I imagine the woman's husband reading the headline, laughing his ass off at the unnamed, unlucky slut, then his wife gets home with two bite marks on her neck.

The headline was that the woman suffered a "picadura" in a motel. This is a horrible Portuguese pun. It means a bite, but it sounds like "pica dura". Which means "hard cock".

I did mention it was a piece of shit "newspaper". Here's one of their frontpages:

The one on the left means "We caught the watermelon woman totally naked". Watermelon woman is a funk dancer.

I should add this "newspaper" sells VERY well.

I fucking hate this country.

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.

Because you're the only Patagonian Love Monkey who'll have me.

Killed, probably. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257626#Comment_257626 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257626#Comment_257626 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:14:00 -0700 JECole While doing the london walk several story ideas came to me. Including one which I can only describe as a grindhouse of several genres. I spent most of the evening in the Montigue Pyke trying to nail the plot down while drinking a Welsh single malt. Smooth as hell, but I can't for the life of me remember its name.
It's a strange thing thinking of myself as a writer and actually doing the work. I feel like at any moment, someone's going to tap my on the shoulder and call me out as being a fraud.
Is that normal?

edited for grammar ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257627#Comment_257627 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257627#Comment_257627 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:30:02 -0700 SigridEllis Photo_00004

Hello!

Tell me about your week.

It's been awfully quiet around my place this week. All the kids' classes start up soonish, but not yet. So there's this sort of slack time. I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Today, for school, my son built a gravitational motor from a kit, and then watched a documentary on the evolution of tank warfare. He's either going to be a superhero or a supervillain. He's six.

On Thursday my gaming group kicked off our new GURPS steampunk adventure. It was well received, I think, but that may have been the Indian food and the wine.

Tell me something filthy, strange and wonderful.

I appear to be writing a novel. I'm 7000 words in and have no idea what I'm doing. But, but, but -- but here's the thing. I will NEVER write a novel if I don't write one. So here's the first one. It's likely crap, and I'm okay with that. (I'm not counting the NaNoWriMo novel I did a couple years back. That one doesn't have an ending, just 50,000 words in sequence.) Believe me, this is filthy and strange and wonderful.

In other news, I realized this week that the reason I like the music of Holst is that it reminds me of John Williams' score to Indiana Jones.

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.

When I lived in Costa Rica, one day my partner and I treked down the valley, past the waterfall, to the home of a woman who had been a schoolteacher in the plateau many years ago. This was for my partner's graduate school research. She was going to interview the woman about, hmm, I can't recall what now. I don't remember the interview. I remember that the kitchen was spacious, dusty, and that all the windows were open wide to catch the breeze from further down the mountain. I remember walking across the pasture and looking out to see the Pacific Ocean, miles away and thousands of feet below. I remember walking back to our hovel, the endless dust-covered trudge up the rutted roads in jeans, of all the stupid things to wear, the straps of the equipment backpack chafing against my shoulders.

But I also recall the white-faced monkeys chittering along the sides of the road.

They were monkeys. Small, filthy pests, honestly. They gathered in the guayaba trees and ate the small fruit, spilling rinds on the ground. But at one point a small family scampered through the branches to my left, racing ahead of us in our trudge, and then jumped across the road to the guayaba on the other side. Monkeys. Right there, in front of me, likely about to pelt me with garbage for fun. I'd never seen anything quite so beautiful. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257628#Comment_257628 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257628#Comment_257628 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:30:50 -0700 pauljholden
-pj ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257629#Comment_257629 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257629#Comment_257629 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:31:16 -0700 StefanJ
Week at work just shot by. Out of work, creative juices are at a low ebb again. I've got a couple of projects on the back burner, but I'm not feeling desperate yet about feeling uninstpired. I spent much, much too much time fiddling about with my home Linux systems, and watching DVRd TV programs.

Good Things:

Oregon summer is at peak wonderfulness. Evenings are just jaw-droppingly lovely. Tonight I'm going to give the dog a really long walk at dusk.

I got a royalty check for some stuff I wrote 25 years or more back. $52 and change. I'm buying a paid Flickr membership.

Taken just now on my balcony:

That's a rocket. I'm not happy to see you. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257630#Comment_257630 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257630#Comment_257630 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:35:10 -0700 ebullientsoul
I landed in Rome, started a nasty habit of an iced cappuccino at about 7:30 a couple hours before anything starts so I can play some videogames in relative peace before anyone else wakes up.

Tonight: I finally decided I'd figure out the Roman subway and Metro system on my own, outside the comfort of a group of students. I decided I wanted to find a particular bar. So, I turned my headphones up, walked out the door and fucking did it. Sure, I walked around in circles for 30 minutes before finding the address only to see that the place is closed for renovations (I think, my Italian isn't real good) and I didn't get drunk, but hey, I proved to myself that I can get around in a city with a shaky grasp of the language and a map.

It's a start. God, I wish I could post pictures. Looking at the orange moon over the Ponte Principe bridge (I think.) was magical. Anyway.

Mr. Ellis: Your influence was indirect, as I just thought man, I wouldn't have even thought to go to this particular bar with no one around me and no working cell phone in a city where I can't speak the language, but hey, if nothing else, I've learned from comics that the adventure is as important (if not moreso, in some cases) than the destination.

@Alan
Man, one day at a time with that stuff. It takes guts to admit you have a problem and then work on it. Don't think about the mountain, just put one foot in front of the other. Keep it up. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257631#Comment_257631 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257631#Comment_257631 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:36:32 -0700 Fishelle My week has been delightful. Moved in last week to the apartment, ready to go back to school. I was worried at first. But so far, the living situation has been pleasant, and my roommates certainly aren't the worst I've ever had. The biggest worry of all was the money situation, and I had no clue how to fix that.
Fortunately, on Monday night I went to the college's studio to do some artwork, and my favorite teacher I've ever had (I took drawing 1 and 2, 2D design, and printmaking 1 and 2 from him) came in to visit with me while I was working. He offered me a job as Gallery Assistant, one of only 2 jobs for students in the art department, and in my opinion, the better one. I get to help students put up shows every week in the student-run gallery, among other things. That's the biggest part of the job I know. I'm especially excited about the other big part, which is letting the other art majors into the studio after hours, because it means I have keys to the building. I'll have a hard time not spending every waking hour there now that I don't have to call anyone to let me in, I imagine.
I think the best part of all this is that my teacher went out of his way to get me the job, and not give it to someone else who may have asked sooner. He knew I'd be the best person for it. Hard work does pay off sometimes. I would've been happy with any job, but instead I got the best one possible for me.
Another few little things:
Number one, I can bypass this apartment complex's internet filter now. So I can look at Zoetica's website again. That was the most annoying thing for it to block. Just nice overall not having to deal with that.
Number two, a friend gave me 4 cds worth of pretty ambient music, one of which is a massive mp3 cd. I hadn't seen him since the farewell of the boy I won't complain about this time. It was nice to see someone that knew who he was, and that could verify I didn't just dream everything up.
Number three, the boy that I said goodbye to this summer has an artist for a father, and he's our first lecturer for the visiting artist class. So I get to see another person that verifies I didn't dream those days.
Last little thing, despite a bit of confusion and lost paperwork, my scholarship went through so I don't have to pay tuition again this year. I was told it would months ago, then there were problems. But I got to feel that relief all over again this week. Lovely.
Certainly has been a strange and wonderful week, although I am short on the filthiness you requested. I apologize, my dear Patagonian Love Monkey. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257632#Comment_257632 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257632#Comment_257632 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:37:14 -0700 badbear
I spent the day at my grandmother's 90th birthday party. You wouldn't expect that to be fun but it sort of was, not least because it turns out memory loss isn't always hideously depressing, sometimes it's kind of funny. I mean that in a loving way. I'm not an animal.

@JECole
I think that is normal. I am technically a professional photographer now, a fact that I find laughable. I even had to write "technically" in there just to make myself feel better.

@ Warren
How was YOUR week? Good I hope. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257633#Comment_257633 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257633#Comment_257633 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:38:58 -0700 Oddcult
I've made soem Cakes Of Light?

Who wants one? ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257634#Comment_257634 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257634#Comment_257634 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:40:57 -0700 JP Carpenter
I'm hugely fortunate to have a decent job and a reasonable standard of living for my family, I know that, but this is bloody well killing me, physically and mentally. I can't read anymore, don't have the concentration or ability to keep from dozing off, don't see how I could break out of it. Photography and music have gone out of the window. And then I look around at everyone else who's doing the same thing, scrabbling around to keep things together, in far far greater hardship and worse circumstances. And then I get angry and upset at the stupidity of our society and systems, that those at the top can get rich by keeping others down - in minimum wage jobs, in crap housing, with no hope and no prospects. And upset that we have a government of obnoxious, reptilian evil cunts. Yes, they replaced a government of authoritarian, incompetent cunts, but they weren't quite as awful. These bastards should be forced to make announcements with no trousers on, so that the public can see that they get stonking hard-ons every time they talk about public sector cuts.

Today I've tried to fight back against my own incapability/exhaustion/depression - strangely it lifted for a bit yesterday, and I've managed to clean the car, cut the hedges and grass, iron three weeks worth of shirts, go shopping for vast amounts of vitamins to try and jumpstart my flagging corpse.

Tonight I've got whisky and two more days of weekend (bank holiday Monday).

Tell me something filthy, ~~strange and wonderful~~

I was innocently ironing, when my partner started going on about childbirth and subsequent incontinence/slackness (not that she's, eh, ever had problems). The conversation went kind of downhill and reached rock bottom when she said 'Hey, my grandma had a prolapsed uterus, imagine that.' I didn't really want to.

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.

Well, I spent a while looking for the right Personal Messiah. It's not easy, they've all got their plusses and minuses. I read their sacred texts, listened to their prophecies, watched their followers, weighed it all up. But none of the others offered Patagonian Monkey Love, so that was really what clinched it. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257635#Comment_257635 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257635#Comment_257635 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:41:03 -0700 Flabyo
I think that's probably what I hate most about these big team videogame projects. You never get a chance to see what anyone else is doing, never get a sense of how it's hanging together, so quite often you've no idea if the game is shite or great until it's pretty much finished. Starting to feel a little envy for old colleagues who've already bailed to go make iPhone apps instead.

It's starting to feel like the whole way in which the games industry does its thing is on the cusp of completely changing. I used to think I'd be doing the same kind of work for my whole career, but now I'm not so sure the market can sustain the huge teams needed to make these epic megagames, and I don't really have a plan for what to do next with my life.

In terms of the filthy, the women's rugby world cup is taking place at the sports centre near the office, and so the bar in there that we sometimes go to for a quiet pint after work has been rammed full of many female rugby players and their fans. There may have been vuvuzelas. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257637#Comment_257637 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257637#Comment_257637 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:01:05 -0700 Russell Lissau
It started Sunday with the final day of Wizard World Chicago, an event that many people had doubts about but that was -- at least for me and my friends in Artist Alley -- simply marvelous. In the four or so years since I began exhibiting/guesting at comics shows, this was my most successful con.

Monday was a day off from work, the highlight of which was a semiannual physical. Despite being 39 and admittedly overweight, the doc says I'm in good health. Huzzah.

Tuesday through Friday were an absolute blur at work. It's campaign season here in the US, and I'm covering a congressional race, a statehouse race and a county board race -- on top of all my usual beats. And there was a lot going on this week for some reason. Typically I'll write 1-2 news stories a day. Tuesday I wrote four. Wednesday I wrote five. Thursday I wrote three. Friday I slacked off and did two. That's something around 150 column inches of copy.

I managed to squeeze in some comics writing. I'm nearly done with the script for "L'ange de Bastogne," and the artist I'm working with is very happy with what he's seen so far.

Tonight I hope to slip off to a local bar for some scotch and some more writing. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257640#Comment_257640 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257640#Comment_257640 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:13:34 -0700 joe.distort
gotta go!

(aka, things are pretty goddamn alright right now) ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257641#Comment_257641 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257641#Comment_257641 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:15:14 -0700 warrenellis It's a strange thing thinking of myself as a writer and actually doing the work. I feel like at any moment, someone going to tap my on the shoulder and call me out as being a fraud.
Is it that normal?

Yes.

Also, Oddcult appears to be off his tits on space cakes, so tonight should be fun. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257644#Comment_257644 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257644#Comment_257644 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:22:46 -0700 celan
Playing a private party tonight and looking forward to the free drink and grub that go along with that kind of gig.

Listened to icaros all day long and then had to venture out to purchase a replacement shower-head at the local big box store, where I milled about with my fellow consumers, a kind of psychedelic experience in its own right. Dr. Girlfriend is camping so there's a little bit more room to indulge in my signature brand of brooding this evening.

The world shows no signs of becoming less strange in the near future. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257647#Comment_257647 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257647#Comment_257647 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:33:44 -0700 joshbales
But now I am exhausted from the heat and beer, and so tonight I shall stay in, read a bit, maybe watch a movie.

A very good day. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257649#Comment_257649 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257649#Comment_257649 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:42:29 -0700 Cameron C.

The other night I made 85 bucks working on this neighbors computer. This was nice.

This morning me and this girl i met out in the desert had breakfast. She hung around while my family and other people helped load my life into my car and a pickup truck.

While packing and stuff she grabbed my digital camera and took a surprise picture of us. Here is me looking awkward.

(edit: do you see my awesome whitechapel messenger bag?!)

Now I live in Burbank, CA with my father and little brother. Again.
During the move my metal Grendel thingy got scratched up and that sucks. Also, my desktop computer wont start.

Hmmm.

I miss her very much. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257651#Comment_257651 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257651#Comment_257651 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:52:18 -0700 Erisah
So that was fun. My spare time (on the bus and when I'm not doing what I should be doing) I'm working on developing a bad, cliched romance novel, in the hopes that the subsequent mental backlash will give me the energy to edit up my monstrosity about a bisexual, mouthy, nymphomaniac vampire slayer.

After a week of this, friday night I decide I am in need of a drink, so I buy a cheap cleanskin and drink in front of the computer screen. Because I'm classy that way. I go to sleep, and spend the next four hours or so waking up from increasingly bizarre dreams, culminating in an Obama look-alike getting backed into a corner by some kind of debt-collector dressed in grey. Obamalike tells greyassassin to leave him his dignity, then proceeds to jump out the window of the many-storied building, but greyassassin somehow manages to stick his knife out and gut him so that his blood spray frames the window.

That was at 4am, at which time I decided fuck sleeping if my subconcious was going to keep pulling that shit, so I spent the next few hours before the sun rose reading fanfiction. Always a good start to the day. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257652#Comment_257652 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257652#Comment_257652 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:52:20 -0700 keyofsilence MY WEEK: My week was full of late shifts at work, and therefore shit. However, here was my evening's entertainment:

Banana flavoured beer is pretty delicious. I think I'm going to have some more of my Dalwhinnie before I go to bed, because that is what Internet Jesus would do. Then tomorrow I'll turn up at work in a pair of piss-stained boxers and scream at everyone there and blame them all for my stinking headache.

Filthy, strange and wonderful: One of the sub-editors at work recently found out I was into comics/writing and has asked me to write short strips for the new magazine he'll be publishing and leaving around pubs for the punters to leaf through. I'll be sure to let you know if/when that project reaches fruition. It'll be good to be published at least, even though I'm doing it for absolutely no money. I'm happy just having fun for now, and if someone eventually comes along and wants to pay me for my retarded brain-scribblings then that's just fine.

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey: You're angry, you love booze and you scream at people over the internet better than anyone else. Also your comics are pretty good, I guess. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257653#Comment_257653 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257653#Comment_257653 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:53:01 -0700 stsparky
Aren't we your personal love-monkeys? ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257655#Comment_257655 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257655#Comment_257655 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:04:44 -0700 joshbales Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257656#Comment_257656 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257656#Comment_257656 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:15:31 -0700 Russell Lissau

It's a strange thing thinking of myself as a writer and actually doing the work. I feel like at any moment, someone going to tap my on the shoulder and call me out as being a fraud.
Is it that normal?

Dear God, yes.
My first published comic book story was a Batman tale, around five years ago. And every day until it hit stores I expected someone to call or e-mail and say, "We were just kidding, you really suck, it's all just a joke."

Every single writer I know has self-confidence issues. It's why we write -- we get validation through other people experiencing our work.

Now... that'll be $150 for the psychoanalysis, please. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257657#Comment_257657 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257657#Comment_257657 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:22:56 -0700 keyofsilence Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257659#Comment_257659 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257659#Comment_257659 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:43:51 -0700 Ninewhilenine83
That banana beer is fucking beautiful. Should be called a beaur (beautiful beer).

Although I'm not off my tits on spacey confectionery, I am the next best thing, pumped full of sugar, caffiene and lacking in sleep, also pumped full of adrenaline since I have around 23 hours to get this first full draft of my thesis in, and I still have around 18k words to write. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. OhgodI'mgoingtodie. On the other hand I have missed this strange kind of high.

This week has been spent looking at my laptop in disdain, knowing that on it's hardrive is impending work, and I've been finding anything else to do other than typing words. I feel very much like I'm cheating doing this...

Strange wonderful and filthy are, unfortunately, not a part of my life at the moment. Strange and filthy may be covered by the fact that I couldn't sleep due to aforementioned state and also due to that state I am in the suit of my birth from overheatedness. Luverly.

Don't let anyone convince you that doing a Masters is fun. It's not. It's boring. It's too long. And "taught" means "you do boring irrelevant shit for two semesters then get told you're on your own from here on out." Something wonderful is that on Tuesday, even if the apocalypse/singularity/zombie nuke death occurs, I am going to watch Scott Pilgrim. Thank fuck for free time. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257660#Comment_257660 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257660#Comment_257660 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:53:49 -0700 Rachæl Tyrell
I've discovered that Orson Wells directed an all black Macbeth in Harlem. In 1936.

He was 20 years old.

I'm in my thirties. I started reading at 3 years old, should have been put ahead four grades, and was on stage every year of the decade preceding my pre-highschool life, always with a lead. I was far ahead pretty early on. But then... I guess everyone got new families and I ended up being an annoyance, something that kept both sides from being able to actualize their new golden life, something that reminded them of a past they'd rather forget. Unless I was being something to fight over.

All this would be far easier to deal with, if I weren't stuck dealing with family. With nobody wanting to admit how abandoned I was. All this would be easier if I didn't have a constant example of how my half siblings are supported, encouraged, helped, in ways that I was boldly denied. All this would be easier if my sister didn't have over 200 pairs of shoes, while I failed highschool gym because I only owned two pairs, one of which were duct-taped together and two sizes too big. All this would be easier if I didn't watch my mother now cook free range chicken for her dogs, while I'd marvel at the food in my friend's cupboards, and the meals they'd eat at home.

Feeling utterly discarded by family is difficult and psychologically damaging.

When you add to that a chronic undefined worsening illness, and living in the US where school and medical costs are insane and social welfare is abysmal....

Well, you're left in a situation where you are depending on and engaging with people who only help you in the most minimal of ways, and put forth the least amount of effort possible - just enough to keep themselves from being looked at poorly in other people's eyes (how angry my father was when he found out my cousin's husband had kindly filled my 23 cavaties for free, since I'd not been brought to a dentist since I was 9). Smiling politely at the distant relatives who think you're just a fuck up, because they don't know of the inequities. You are left in a situation where you are constantly kept inches from impact, but always in freefall.

You are constantly being confronted with the potential that was left to rot. There used to be so much potential.

If I'd had at least an exciting and dramatic but terrible life, I'd be able to think it was worth it. Experience. Stories. But for a decade now, I've just been sick, and trying to pull myself together, hoping to get fixed, watching the world pass me by through a dingy window. Hoping that SOON I'd be free to START my life again.

Every week I tell myself I'll be brief here. Say something good and amusing. That I don't want to be so rambling and bleeding all over the place. That it's always the same old shit.

But I'm smothering, and I don't have anybody.

Sorry, and thank you.

]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257664#Comment_257664 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257664#Comment_257664 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:10:29 -0700 Casey Moore
Writing has actually been going well up until this weekend. Drinking some Abita SOS right now (drank most of a bottle of red wine earlier) and thinking of doing just some crazy drunk writing in a bit. Or I may just go to bed for some much needed rest. Doing some writing in the notebook as I get this out there.

I miss these. Like Confession but without the guilt and judgement.

Been reading a bunch of different things lately and fear it is only going ot get worse between re-reading Do Anything and the backmatter in Casanova combined with the used book section at my comic book shop BSIComics. In the last couple of weeks I have read American Flagg! and Tekkon Kinkreet and now have Luther Arkwright to read.

Got a Blackberry this week (God bless free upgrades in phones from ATT). So I can take photos now. Me tonight staring at the screen. Sorry for the ugliness and scary image.

]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257666#Comment_257666 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257666#Comment_257666 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:18:08 -0700 JECole Well that takes a weight off my mind. Thanks all. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257667#Comment_257667 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257667#Comment_257667 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:18:08 -0700 krakatoakatie
Anyhow.

You are by far the most approachable Personal Savior I've come across. In the name of the Filthy, the Strange and the Wonderful, Amen. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257668#Comment_257668 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257668#Comment_257668 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:22:18 -0700 Fishelle If I could send you some of my happiness and take some of your misery, I would. I suppose you'll have to settle for a virtual hug. Give yourself one and pretend it's me, because I mean it.
I just want to say, it's not that there used to be potential, there still is. I've truly been admiring your photography you've posted here the whole time I've been on Whitechapel. That's something I cannot do. You still have talent and you still have potential. 30's is still young. No matter how sick you are, you still have the potential to make your life anything you want it to be from here on out. It's hard when you can't lean on family, but you have friends, at least here, that you can lean on, at least on Saturdays, right? ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257669#Comment_257669 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257669#Comment_257669 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:22:31 -0700 JECole Mate, it's never too late to reboot your life. Or to become the person you want to become. All you have to do is make the necessary sacrifices.
I know it seems frightening but the alternative is far far worse. I'm talking from experience here.

And don't compare yourself to Wells. Those were different times. Orson Wells was a man who peaked early and spent the rest of his life struggling to make films. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257670#Comment_257670 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257670#Comment_257670 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:28:04 -0700 Brigman
This evening, I was allowing my 1.75 year old some time to “air out” from a diaper change, and he proceeded to shit on one of the dining room chairs. Classic.

But this really has me steamed:

I follow Rainn Wilson on twitter, right. If you don’t know, he’s an actor here in the States most known for his role on the American version of The Office. Late afternoon on Wednesday he tweeted, “I don't know how this got leaked. From a court case. Weird. (Link withheld)” I click it, right. It’s a young woman, quite good looking; orchestrating a prank against her roommate for telling everyone on Facebook she has herpes. This girl, who makes my pants a bit tighter, has this dude jump out, home invasion style, upon the other’s entry. Predictably, the victim screams and flees the dwelling. The perpetrator (did I mention I want to fuck her?) and her accomplice follow, laughing. They get outside just in time to see the panicked roommate get plowed by an oncoming car. The hysterical prankster keeps the camera rolling as they reach the roommate, blood spilling on the asphalt, eyes as vacant as the blogosphere.

What the fuck!? Really!? What a cockdouche. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257671#Comment_257671 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257671#Comment_257671 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:29:56 -0700 stsparky go to the library and look at Tolstoy's Bicycle -

It quite simply demonstrates that there's no such thing as an age limit (it's named for the fact that Tolstoy decided to learn to ride a bike when he was 67).

Fuck Orson Welles. We'll dance on his grave when we're 150. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257672#Comment_257672 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257672#Comment_257672 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:31:28 -0700 teasmaid Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257674#Comment_257674 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257674#Comment_257674 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:44:30 -0700 allana
this is my third session of avoidance so far this evening. the first was to watch several episodes of Big Bang Theory; the second, to go to the hospital and play cribbage with my mother, whom we've today learned suffered a mild heart attack on thursday night. i really wish i had taken this weekend off work: being her and me at the same time is exhausting. i can see why her heart needed to take it back a notch.

my feet hurt and i'm cranky and someone is actually listening to Stealer's Wheel and singing along on the street. i really wish i was moving to my new place right now.

also i had some heavy-duty soldering planned for this weekend. you know just when you realize you have too much free time and start to formulate wild and enjoyable plans to fill it, something like this happens and suddenly the free-wheeling, always-there, super-caring spirit you've worked hard to cultivate just evaporates?

i want ice cream. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257675#Comment_257675 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257675#Comment_257675 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:45:38 -0700 allana Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257678#Comment_257678 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257678#Comment_257678 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:50:22 -0700 Fauxhammer Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257679#Comment_257679 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257679#Comment_257679 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:55:45 -0700 Casey Moore
We had just moved here in June before Katrina.

Some days it feels like it was forever ago, and other days it feels like yesterday.

I am thankful everyday we made it through alive and had a home to come back to. Less than a 100 yards away people weren't so lucky. A lot has changed in 5 years for us and for NOLA. Some things haven't. But the one important thing the storm did for me is it made me realize how much I love this city and area and dig my feet in the ground and now I refuse to leave.

I invite everyone to come on down to New Orleans. Drop a line on Whitechapel if you do. There are a few of us here (and we still need to have that meet up). We will show you our city. Give me enough warning and I will make sure you get a good home cooked meal here.

5 years ago. Natural and man made disasters. We survive though. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257680#Comment_257680 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257680#Comment_257680 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:01:14 -0700 JECole
New Orleans is a city I plan to visit at least once before I shuffle off this moral coil. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257683#Comment_257683 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257683#Comment_257683 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:28:43 -0700 epalicki Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257685#Comment_257685 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257685#Comment_257685 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:35:48 -0700 FilmFan I get angry and upset at the stupidity of our society and systems, that those at the top can get rich by keeping others down - in minimum wage jobs, in crap housing, with no hope and no prospects. And upset that we have a government of obnoxious, reptilian evil cunts. Yes, they replaced a government of authoritarian, incompetent cunts, but they weren't quite as awful. These bastards should be forced to make announcements with no trousers on, so that the public can see that they get stonking hard-ons every time they talk about public sector cuts.

This.^

But I should be asleep. Otherwise, nothing to complain about really. Night all. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257686#Comment_257686 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257686#Comment_257686 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:43:07 -0700 oldhat Michael Cho print of Robert Johnson that I bought for my music journalist father. He loves it and will be framing it and hanging it up in his office.

I also finally got myself a Ghostbusters shirt and I swear, if I get ONE MORE pick up line involving who I should call or how I will be called or any of that sort, I'm going to go fucking nutso.

And now I'm going to go vomit chips because, since I've gone off dairy and bread temporarily, that was the only thing I could eat at the con. FOR TWO DAYS.

Goodnight. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257687#Comment_257687 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257687#Comment_257687 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:52:55 -0700 CamyLuna Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257688#Comment_257688 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257688#Comment_257688 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:52:57 -0700 glukkake
I screenprinted a special project for Amanda Palmer, took over as the lady in charge at the studio while bossman is away at Burning Man and have been freaking out how I have one and a half weeks left to finish my stuff for SPX. Today, I went to Coney Island where Dr. Sketchy's held a flashmob with a beautiful model dressed up as a mermaid, complete with hot pink sparkly tail. Then I coaxed Molly into riding on the Cyclone and laughed at her squeals.

Also, I won the creepiest prize ever:

I also had a vision last Sunday about a videogame that will be simple yet beautiful. So now, with all that spare time I have lying around, I'm working on putting together a team of artists and developers to make this happen. I'll probably document the whole experience on a gaming blog from planning to execution. I went hunting at a party last night, but proceeded to drink so much that I spent the first half of today a huddled, shivering mess of hangover.

You're my personal messiah because you don't judge me when I'm hugging the tiles. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257692#Comment_257692 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257692#Comment_257692 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:15:29 -0700 Aurora Borealis
Got called on Tuesday whether I want to return within a week or two, said "sure" and then got a second call two hours later if I can come in TOMORROW. So now I'm back at work, sliding the standing tv sets under these rubber bands that hold them to the pallets (so that they don't fall off or slide around) and plug in the power cord.

1200-1500 times a day.

I need to buy some new speakers/stereo thing cause the ones I'm using... well... I think I just lost part of the midrange in the left one and the upper half of bass and most of high range in the other one. Music sounds strangely jarring now at times (especially guitars).

No major dramas in my life at this very second other than the fact that day work leaves me with too little free time to really make something, but I'll get back into the groove in a bit. First two weeks are always the worst with that. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257695#Comment_257695 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257695#Comment_257695 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:36:48 -0700 CinnamonAndSpite
@Rachel is not alone in the feeling stuck thing, I had that same very listless no-where kind of feeling this week Examining other accomplishments, wondering how it applied, coming to no particular conclusions. I myself keep hoping being stuck is some kind of life-school type situation where you learn before you FLY! But at the moment it seems to be more like the winds of change bring nothing more than sticking my nose out of my burrow, staring up at the sky, and finding nothing but the fleeting promise.

Art21 has posted 4 new episodes to PBS, so that means I will be finishing up a Robot between raging and wondering at art. I would rant some about that but like always I feel unqualified to defend my ranting. Although I do wish that someone had sat me down at 16 and fully explained this too me, instead of flat declaring things I -should- go look up, in which I did and found no context for meaning with. Maybe they just didn't understand literal mindedness?

I will be off to Dragon*Con this week, which will be fun hopefully. I don't always react well to big crowds, which his a HILARIOUS quirk to be taking to a MEGA con like this one is. If I'm lucky I'll get to go see a Dali Show, have some tea, eat plenty of good food, and be well rested for the Atlanta heat and crowds. Maybe even see some old friends of mine. Sometimes I super miss being younger and stupider and more enthusiastic. Although it is quite a breakthrough that I cared as much about my costumes this year as those of my significant other. I may be slowly getting over the inherent issues of dating a very attractive dude.

Dirty, Filthy, Slim, Me. When will I find her again? Who knows...

]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257696#Comment_257696 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257696#Comment_257696 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:37:07 -0700 cdthomas
Again, the week: Weird.

I attempted to ride a bike Sunday for the first time since the 1970s. (Dog dead, presents instead of presence, don't ask....) I had two good guides, but they had to reassure me that the innocent bystander watching me coast and spill on the weed-caulked, glass-strewn parking lot was being supportive. (I hate being exposed like that.) In any case, I managed to work coasting practice into practicing loading my bike on and off our bus system.

On my way home through the smoother-paved alleys, I noticed how many trees we have bearing fruit: Crabapples, peaches, apples. I'd never even considered turning crabapples into jam, but the trees are dropping fruit and even gleaners in these hard times haven't gotten to them yet. sigh

I try to compensate for the disappointment of my belated and meager container garden by going to the farmer's markets, a pastime just as costly as going up to the casinos up in Blackhawk. I excuse being weighed down with zucchini and cukes, garlic, onions, by saying that I'll cook more dinners: I actually have. A co-worker's helping me out with my 'putting up' obsession by giving me her tree's produce. They're in the crockpot now, for plum butter.

There's something about smelling slow-cooked fruit through the night that reminds me of Thanksgivings and Christmases as my grandmother started onions and sage for dressing, apples and sweet potatoes, for pies. I can take care of myself; the winter will have fruit in it. And massive school supplies, the way I'm going.

This week I began finalizing an independent study that will allow me to study stage combat and physically-based theatre, something my creative writing program doesn't normally do. It's almost distressing to no longer suppress in an academic setting disquistions on the fight choreography I love (CHUCK? Was robbed), or the evolving body of Lucy Lawless, from Xena to Spartacus, because I'm now with students who get it -- they wish they had access to mocap tech so they could make better unarmed combat games.

With my gray hair, it's too easy to say [insert optimistic youth-based cliche here], but since you know my heart, Personal Messiah (of short-duration: Mama's still praying for me, God rest her soul), you know what I mean. But, if you were a PM worth the stones, you'd make it so every brewpub in my state also brewed cider -- most of them import Strongbow to serve with their locavore cuisine. I know the licensing makes it tough, but if they finally allowed liquor stores to open Sundays, this can happen, can't it? Please?

Oh, yeah, I had to pay a highwayman called a plumber to cut off a garden hose from the faucet this morning. Still pissed that I didn't know that modern hoses leak without a washer, so tightening them bare only makes things much, much worse.... Took an afternoon at the yarn store, to sort myself out. Taught a woman to crochet, so I guess my karma's under repair

As for filthy, here: Good Lord, what goes on basic cable now.... ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257698#Comment_257698 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257698#Comment_257698 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:47:54 -0700 mattrd
Going to work on the remainders of a bottle of Absinthe I bought last week, distilled not too far from me in the Okanagan Valley. Yum.
tastey, tastey absinthe

Bought a couple of books today, haven't done so in a while (I love used book stores)...
mah books

Guess the whole quitting smoking thing might be regarded as sacrilegious here, but my lungs are going to stop healing so quickly in a few years...

I'm taking over the place I moved into a few months ago as my roommates are moving out, just signed a year lease. Ooh, responsibility.

filthy

-- the gypsy brass band show I'm going to see tonight should be pretty filthy. Especially with a few shots of absinthe in me. Night all.

edit: forgot to add, I played ping-pong at this pool hall in town against an apparent Saudi ping pong champion tonight. Pretty wild. His serves just cut that ball right through the air, man. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257702#Comment_257702 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257702#Comment_257702 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:35:06 -0700 Casey Cook
I spent my time off this week playing the Age of Conan MMO, in theory because I wanted to check out Funcom's game engine as I am excited about their upcoming Lovecraft influenced MMO The Secret World, but the truth is I am just a sad game junkie bouncing from one shiny object to the next.

When not smiting savages in the name of Crom I spent some time working with my recently acquired Amplitube software. Amplitube is a first rate guitar amplifier modeler, with dozens of amp models, stomp boxes, speaker models, and even a crap load of different microphone models. Gear head that I am, there are so many toys to play with it's like having a music store at my disposal. Not much coming in the way of new songwriting yet, but I am still mentally recovering from my last band cratering back in Feb. The songs will come, right now I am digging into new tones instead of new tunes.

Just finished season 3 of Lost, which we skipped the first time around due to being too busy with the aforementioned band. It was a bit of a slog getting through this season at times, but friends tell me things pick back up now.

The Conan game inspired me to go back to the REH source material, which I snagged on the Kindle for my iPhone. It's great stuff and holds up a lot better than I expected.

Filthy- bathroom tub backed up twice this week, luckily we have a good plumber
Strange- taking a nap at 3am
Wonderful- the Netflix app for iPhone, which is really cool. I want the entire Netflix library available for streaming and I want it now. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257705#Comment_257705 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257705#Comment_257705 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:00:41 -0700 Val A Lindsay II Tell me about your week.

This week has got to be the last week I'm not endeavoring to be creative. I've all these wonderful tools at my disposal and have no inspiration. Maybe it's unseen lack of companionship or depression on my part. Most likely it's from just laziness after doing my job. A friend suggested turning a room in my place into a studio and, even though there are only two, I think this might be a really good idea...

Tell me something filthy, strange and wonderful.

Well, apparently someone found a torpedo at a construction site in Philadelphia . The part that's most entertaining...

PennDOT spokesman Charles Metzger says a transportation department archaeological team found two men sitting on the torpedo drinking beers on Friday morning.

Or perhaps this; An airline leaving Heathrow to Hong Kong scared hell out of it's passengers when it abruptly played a recording stating they were experiencing technical difficulties and about to land in the sea. Not too awesome if flying is your phobia of choice. Ok, that's all I got...

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.

Because you have the biggest testicles of steel known to us all and if banshees wrote stories they'd still pale in comparison to yours. You compel us, Mr. Ellis. You compel us to think, interact and participate. If those aren't reasons enough, I'm not sure what are.. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257707#Comment_257707 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257707#Comment_257707 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:46:19 -0700 Rootfireember
My city continues its slow and shuddering death, and with every attempt of the current powerholders to prevent that death, takes on a more Frankenstein-patchwork look. No bits of corpses here; just gracile signwork that can't serve its intended purpose, next to cracked and crumbling cement. It's not putting lipstick on a pig, it's taking a slab of pork, writing "oink" on it in sharpie, and expecting it to gallop about merrily.

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.
You know, I know it's not what you're thinking of, but the phrase Patagonian Love Monkey makes me think of a lemur in an alpaca wool hat and mittens handing out valentines. It would be totally, mind-numbingly adorable. And then I try to associate that with you, Warren, and my brain breaks. What was the question? Where'd my caffeine go? ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257709#Comment_257709 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257709#Comment_257709 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:06:03 -0700 joe.distort Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257711#Comment_257711 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257711#Comment_257711 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:26:10 -0700 ReverendJoe
As for my week, I started hitting the gym seriously on Monday. My friend and I are going five days a week. He's a great workout partner in that he knows what he's doing and he'll push me, but not too far. It hurts to walk or sit down right now and I'm loving every minute.

The only filthiness that I have to report is that I enjoyed a lap dance with a stripper tonight while wearing the stolen monkey puppet. She told me that I couldn't touch her, but the monkey could. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257712#Comment_257712 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257712#Comment_257712 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:11:20 -0700 Oddcult
In other news, I've gone totally fucking mad and am opening a retail business in the west country. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257714#Comment_257714 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257714#Comment_257714 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 01:49:21 -0700 Exploder

I'm the one who tells a live audience at 8 o'clock in the morning that the secret to comedy is to keep the hate that lives inside you and to project it out at audiences.

We were still quite drunk at 8 o'clock in the morning.

On the way back I got a transcription job that I'm currently taking a break from because it's been basically twelve straight hours of typing with a short stint telling ha ha stories in a burrito joint, of all places. Pays very well, though of a very temporary nature. Monday it's off to Telluride to show movies to people then another paycheck. The super fun part of all this is that until I get that paycheck I have exactly twenty dollars cash.

That's enough, right?

Right?

edited to embed video instead of just linking ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257723#Comment_257723 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257723#Comment_257723 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:54:38 -0700 snafu
This coming week is the fun one. Both kids have school performances to go see. My daughter is in a dance troop and my son in playing piano with various combos from his school. Looking forward to both shows, but it's also a busy week at work so I'll be doing some extra hours other nights to make up the time.

I've been rereading Cerebus for the past couple of months. The whole works, letter pages and essays included. I'm up to 280 and I'm taking a break for a few days or a week. I really had a tough time getting through the Three Wise Guys stuff.

Before that I spent a week reading the entirety of Y The Last Man. Brilliant. It's always a thrill when Pia Guerra shows up on the REWORK/REMODEL thread. I need to find out what she's got out there now. I haven't seen any books she's done since Y finished. That was a while ago. Anyone know what she's got out there?

As always, an honor to visit with the Internet Jesus. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257724#Comment_257724 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257724#Comment_257724 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:05:31 -0700 icelandbob
You are indeed my Patagonian Love Monkey because you help teach me the facts of life on a near daily basis. Plus light also shines out of your Orifices on a nightly basis...

Alas i´m skint right now and i don´t get paid till Tuesday. Luckily we still have 3 bottles of wine left over from the flatwarming party the previous weekend so no DT's here this weekend. But i´m alone and naked here right now as Sigga has gone off to work a temporary second job this weekend. We're now starting to feel the pinch up here and we may need to start taking second jobs to help buy nice things, like Electrricity and internet connections... and Beer! Will probably have to take some bar work up again, as well as continue my writing.

As for the writing, Some last minute stamping on the keyboard and the latest issue of our paper came out on Friday. Damn fine read, although all my stuff still seems to have plenty of spelling mistakes. i think our proof reader may have a drinking problem or something. But afterwards we all got together in a traditional UK style "lets get drunk after work on a Friday", which doesn´t really happen in Iceland. Here the editor and staff reporter said they think i´m ready for interviews and they want me to interview some of the acts for this years Iceland Airwaves festival! Now this is VERY cool and i said "I´LL DO IT!!", followed by a prompt "oh Shit!" as this would mean having to talk to people on a professional level, which i am very poor at (At my job in a bank, they though i had aspbergers or something), so now i´m going to interview Mount Kimble this week and i´m cacking it. Hooray to being a journalist!

and we are getting a cat in two weeks! I will rear it in my own image and it will be fearsome and cute at the same time.

PS - This is how small a world we live in. We have a very popular metal band in Iceland named Sólstafir, of whom i´m very good friends with. they left this week to play at a rock festival in Norway. There they were assigned a hospitality co-ordinator... who was none other other than our very own Oda Elisabeth! Have just had an online chat with her to get the juicy details (She really liked the drummer). But sometimes, this world can be waaaay to small to be truly anonymous anymore...

No recent pics here, but i promise to get you one for the next time... ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257727#Comment_257727 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257727#Comment_257727 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:21:41 -0700 Pupato
Friday, i invited my girlfriend to a romantic dinner at home wich i wanted to be very special, something for us to remember. It was our fourth aniversary.

She arrived & we made love into the shower; lighted the candless, sat at the tabe & had a very special dinner wich i´d been preparing during almost all the day. First, rice cooked the cauldron way (with real sea flavour on it), then some octopus carpaccio from a russian recipe (with salted paprika),
& a bottle of Riveiro (white wine from the North of Spain.
After a lemon sorbet for dessert, i openned a bottle of Champagne & left in front of her my gift: a little blue box wich she took in her hands & opened with sparkling eyes, into the box there was a note, she took it & read:
"Your mother fucks better than you"

Yeah! This week i´ve been trying new & imaginative ways of commiting suicide.

For example, last saturday night i went out & tried to drink the same quantity of alcohol as an english man.
I was almost near to dead, but somebody took me to the hospital.
So, this morning i´ve tried to have the same breakfast as an english man, but i´ve ran out of food, & that´s another failure.

Today i´m going to call the USA (not all, just Washington) & going to tell them i´ve discovered oil under my house. That will be a success, i guess.

@Rachel, Wells was an egomaniac, & a liar, one of the best in making people belive what he wanted them to belive,
so you shouldn´t take as reality a word coming from him... & about the youth success matter... fuck teen vampires!
Wanna tell you i love your posts, & really enjoy reading them : ) ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257729#Comment_257729 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257729#Comment_257729 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:44:44 -0700 kperkins Tell me about your week.
Just a fucked up week all around. My job sucks. My life sucks. But, especially, my art sucks. Waah, waah, waah. I haven't been in a mood like this since I quit drinking 10 years ago, and I haven't missed it a bit. The onset is because my wife quit her job, which was really affecting her health, and our relationship, so that's great, the bad part is the new job has severely less hours, and we still have her student loans and other bills to pay. Thinking about it really has me set in a not very good place/mood right now. I'll come out of it, but right now it sucks ass.

Tell me something filthy, strange and wonderful.
I got nothing this week.

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.
Because you did not release the arse eels up my arse with a shovel last week, when you well could have. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257736#Comment_257736 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257736#Comment_257736 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 06:03:58 -0700 roadscum
Driving past Cardiff on Tuesday tugged a few heartstrings, moping does no good though, life goes forward, there is no reverse gear.

Got some kind of new fangled virtual bass amp thing on order at a local musical equipment shed, might splash out on a new (cheap) bass to go with it.

Something filthy, strange and wonderful? Nope, nothing at the moment unless you count the new toilets in Pitmans Close, which were pretty grubby and had some rather odd people hanging around. The closest thing to wonderful was a load of cheap bread after a bakery job on friday, got a couple of loaves as a prezzie for KK. That's about as exciting as life gets these days - and you know what? It's actually not that bad.

Personal Messiah? yeah, why not?

Patagonian love monkey? Strictly no pets sunshine, if it comes round here it'll get a bloody good spanking... ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257742#Comment_257742 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257742#Comment_257742 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:14:26 -0700 razrangel
That moment in an otherwise empty stage when an actor embodies the truth, a moment that is fiction and yet resonant to anyone paying attention, when the whole audience is experiencing the same condition, that is when communion occurs. Everyone present observes the same instant and the details go beyond the ken of the five senses. The actor and the audience member's eyes meet, tiny hairs along the body stand on end and you are, profoundly, more truthfully with someone than almost any intimate moment can achieve.

That is what i strive for in my chosen artform. I do theatre. I live for the perfect transient moment when we're all in it together, to the utmost. I do whatever I can, whenever I can to create those moments again and again.

Just got back a few hours ago from a retreat in the mountains with my theatre company. IT was absolutely perfect for remembering just what drives me to do theatre. It's hard to express the above - usually I'm stopped by the sense that it's just too... I don't know, fuzzy? gooey? Artsy fartsy? But riding the high of the retreat, for a little bit, I don't care. I fucking love those moments when, without looking, I can tell that the entire audience is tense, holding its breath, on the verge of weeping or exulting or convulsing with fear reactions. It's only a split second. I can't tell what anyone is thinking on a regular basis, and I can't claim to really know even in one of these moments, but broadly there is a flash of just knowing, of being so close to someone that I know what you're about to say sometimes and taking immense pleasure in hearing you sound it out.

Nothing can invoke truth like that. Only live performing arts. But where dance and music have their time scales and the audience moves with the measures, good theatre artists listen deeply to the currents in the audience and respond to them. Hard, maybe impossible to do it consistently. But it's the only worthwhile expression of drama.

That's all I got right now. It's been a long weird week, but Saturday was all about theatre. It scoured my soul of the grime from money and work and family bullshit. Left me a bit raw, you could say.

And Warren, as for why you go over and above "a writer I dig" - check out #TeamWhitechapel on the Twitters.... Fucking terrific group of weirdoes and nerds, all of whom I've never met and whose tweets I look forward to. You did that. Thank you. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257743#Comment_257743 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257743#Comment_257743 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:17:19 -0700 rickiep00h
Stopped at Half-Price books and picked up Stephenson's Snowcrash and a couple video games (Mario 2 for NES and Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest.)

Oh, and there was the inspection on the new house. That was pretty uneventful, and we didn't really learn anything we didn't expect to. We're really hoping this hurries up and ends soon. I just want to be out of this one and into the new one and never have to move again if I don't want to.

But mostly the week was pretty uneventful. Nothing to really bitch about aside from my parents being stupid, and that's something pretty much everyone can bitch about at some point.

Tell me something filthy, strange and wonderful.

Been listening to a lot of Gaga this week. I think that qualifies as all three. And to the people that bitch about Gaga being disposable pop garbage, I say SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO THE DRUM LINE ON BAD ROMANCE.

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.

Because you write things like the opening post. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257744#Comment_257744 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257744#Comment_257744 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:19:54 -0700 Erisah
I've mentioned before that my majors are psychology and linguistics, so I've got a couple of years of reading up on language and thought under my belt. Suffice to say, in case you have any doubts in the matter, any comment suggesting that there is a single gene responsible for language is utter horseshit.

Oh, and speaking of "love monkeys" (though these guys are from the Congo)it occurs to me I forgot to mention something filthy, strange and wonderful before:

Bonobos are a kind of ape, closely related to the chimpanzee. Linguists and psychologists like to try to teach them sign language, (which is why I've heard of them,) because they are very, very intelligent apes.

You might be wondering at this point why then, you've never seen any of these Bonobos at the zoo.

Simple reason: they spend pretty much all of their spare time masturbating and/or having sex for fun. They can't get enough of it.Wiki A casual google image search is quick to back this up.

"Sexual intercourse plays a major role in Bonobo society observed in captivity, being used as what some scientists perceive as a greeting, a means of conflict resolution, and post-conflict reconciliation. Bonobos are the only non-human animal to have been observed engaging in all of the following sexual activities: face-to-face genital sex, tongue kissing, and oral sex..."
bonobogrin

Told you they were intelligent. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257745#Comment_257745 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257745#Comment_257745 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:20:24 -0700 government spy Tell me about your week.
I posted this somewhere already, but it still stings. My ex-girlfriend/mother of my kid decided to start telling people I raped her some time ago. Not only is that completely untrue, but man, it hurts. Haven't had a relationship with the woman in over ten years, and apparently she has re-written history. She also claimed that I had attempted to rape one of my best friends, and that I am some sort of monster that the world needs to be rid of.

Now, occasionally I am kind of a dick, but I've never assaulted a woman. Never even liked the idea of rape-fantasy. My friend who was included as one of my imaginary victims, was pretty insulted. I had a few friends come to my aid and make me understand that I'm okay, and that this falls under "crazy ex-girlfriend syndrome."

The part about it that upset me, is that you have someone that you spent a number of years with, enjoy so many experiences, sex, drugs, music, (THE KID) etc, and all of a sudden one day, they decide you are a monster and that there are no good memories anymore. Right after a break-up you expect that sort of thing, but ten years later, after being roommates for a while, moving apart and becoming friends again, going out, seeing bands, and just plain being friends for the kid's sake, and then one day, it's like *poof* there's nothing left of a friendship from 15 years ago. Having that taken away is like having an old friend die. I'm in mourning for my friend. My "ex" I could care less about.

Tell me something filthy, strange and wonderful.

I learned my problems are no big deal, compared to my friends who stopped what they were doing to take care of me. And they have real (life threatening) problems. Very humbling. Trying to learn not to whine so much.

Tell me exactly why I am, indeed, your very own Personal Messiah and/or Patagonian Love Monkey.

Because since I have come to this forum, this community, I have learned more in the past couple years than I had thought possible. A day doesn't go by where I walk away unimpressed by everyone here. Thank you for allowing me to be a (small) part of Whitechapel. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257749#Comment_257749 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257749#Comment_257749 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 08:04:22 -0700 Warped Savant Tell me about your week
I worked, it was boring, I ended up reading all 26 columns of "Do Anything" while at work one day (you were right, Ellis, it reads much better as a collection than as a weekly piece. Where's the second one?) I left work early to attend my friends' wedding. It was a beautiful night, they're two of the only people I know that I think should be together, and I realized that I have a lot more respect for the groom than I thought. Not that anything happened last night, it was just something that I noticed. I also met one of the more interesting people in my life last night. Her boyfriend was in the wedding party so she sat at a table of strangers but was probably talking more than anyone else. I've also been reading Morrison's run on Batman. I like it so far, and I hear it only gets better and better.

Tell me something filthy, strange, and wonderful
Part of one of the speeches last night: There's 4 stages of sex in a marriage. (I'm sure most of you have heard the first three so I'll shorten them a little) The first one is anywhere sex where you have sex as often and anywhere you can imagine, the second stage is bedroom sex where it's in the bedroom, on the bed, missionary, blah blah blah, the third is hallway sex where you pass each other in the hallway, the guy asks for sex and the woman says "fuck you", (now for the one I hadn't heard) the fourth stage is the S&M stage. She sleeps and you masturbate.
Now, this was the guy that was the best-man at my wedding, and this was a very toned down speech due to the bride telling him that he would cut off his other ball if he said anything inappropriate. The speech his best-man made at his wedding was x rated (and that's an understatement.) There's a reason I told him he didn't have to make a speech, and a reason why when he got up to make one anyway I dove for the mic and turned it off. He ended up to give a very nice one though 'cause he'd had his fun and didn't know how anyone there would react to something different.

Tell me exac- MONKEY!
Sorry, skipped ahead and got distracted. Monkey monkey monkey monkey. Funny story about that: A friend of mine was once in an elevator completely distracted and stood there bouncing up and down saying "monkey monkey monkey monkey" over and over and over for most of the trip down. He suddenly realized that there was another person in the lift with him, looked over and saw a very angry looking black man. He tried to apologize and explain, realized that it would get him nowhere and slinked off the elevator as meekly as he could. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257754#Comment_257754 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257754#Comment_257754 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:22:07 -0700 256

She told me that I couldn't touch her, but the monkey could.

This is AMAZING. ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257758#Comment_257758 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257758#Comment_257758 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:35:24 -0700 Verissimus For a week...

Things can only get better! ]]> Saturday Night Open Mic (28aug10) http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257765#Comment_257765 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=8819&Focus=257765#Comment_257765 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:58:07 -0700 Fauxhammer
Got my first rejection this week. Fuckin' sucked. ]]>