The Power of Dope*, The Promise of Justus**

Yes, I'm going back to the pretentious *'s to to signify multiple meanings. This is also an especially narcissistic self-obsessed post. You've been warned.

Over the last few days, at least a half-dozen people have looked at me and commented "Is everything OK?" Basically, I've turned into the Hu ("Dude, you look like shit"*).

I don't know what it is. Let me re-phrase, I don't know what it is specifically. I feel overwhelmed by a lot of different shit including but not limited to:

1. While the Indians took 2 of 3 games from the Sawx (outscoring them 28-12, ouch), the Cavs have struggled. With their loss Tuesday night, the Cavs are now tied 1-1 in their best of 7 series with the Wizards. The conventional wisdom* is the loss was due in large part by a hard foul on LeBron from Brendan Heywood (Tar Heel*). From the WP's Micheal Wilbon:

LeBron James and the Cavaliers were having their way with the Wizards for the second straight game, leading 19-8 with 3 minutes 47 seconds left in the first quarter when... Haywood grabbed LeBron's upper body and not only stopped him from sashaying to the basket for an easy hoop, but turned his face into a mask of momentary anger and game-long frustration.

It's no coincidence that the Wizards, moments after that foul, went on an 18-0 run that wiped out a 15-point deficit and the notion that the Golden Child is untouchable and infallible. It's no coincidence that LeBron missed 18 of 25 shots and never again went to the Wizards' basket like he owned it and them.

He missed one breakaway dunk, going for the two-hand reverse where he could look back down the court and see if any Wizards were coming to take his head off. In football, which LeBron played a ton of in high school, they would have said, "He heard footsteps."

I have no doubt that the Chosen One's resurrection is inevitable. Tonight, 8:00pm, ESPN, Game 3. I believe.

UPDATE (4/29) - LEBRON IS MY LORD AND SAVIOUR. I shall not be in want.

If you missed it, LeBron almost single-handedly beat the Wizards with a game-winning shot with 5.7 seconds left.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

2. My suitemates from last year may remember that, in a fit of rage and trife, I burned this poster of Ricky Williams in our GC bathroom. For those that don't know, I was angry at Ricky for abandoning the Dolphins just weeks before the season began to go smoke weed. Seriously. Well Ricky's at it again. From ESPN.com:

According to various reports, Williams tested positive, likely in December toward the end of the 2005 season, for a substance banned by the league. In at least three other violations, Williams tested positive for marijuana. Several sources have claimed that the substance in the latest positive test was not marijuana.

News that Williams had failed another drug test surfaced in February, while he was in India studying yoga and holistic medicine.

Fucking hippy. Anyways, see how the Fins, Browns, Pats, and everyone re-build during the Draft this weekend (ESPN, Saturday at Noon).

3. Matt Brown is out of the RI Democratic Primary for Senate. At one point I was actually going to work for Brown. Then I realized he was unelectable and, well, boring. After his fundraising "issues" and blowing all his money months before it would matter, it seems like someone finally pulled him aside and told him he's a loser. Hopefully in a couple years I will be that guy who grabs politicians by the arm and says, "Alright, that's enough. Wrap it up."*

4. It's been over 3 months since I've been in Cleveland. I believe this is a new record. It's the little things I miss. Like this Norton's Furniture commericial:

In finding this video, I found a MySpace account (myspace.com/nortonsfurniture) that may or not belong to the guy who does the commericals. My favorite line:
"About me: I sell furniture...I own a store called Norton Furniture...We have large mannequins at our store so your children won't get bored while you're looking for furniture...We also have free bread...."
Also in the background, an audio player blasts "We Built This City on Rock and Roll" (get it, because its Cleveland).

But that's not all I miss, of course. There's also the airport shootings! From CNN.com:
CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- A man who argued with workers at an airport ticket counter grabbed a police officer's gun and shot a patrolman before he was killed by another officer Thursday, authorities said.

The patrolman was shot twice in the chest but was in stable condition, authorities said. Another officer was treated for a bite to his neck by the suspect, Police Chief Michael McGrath said.

Other big Cleveland news that you don't care about includes on-location filming of SpiderMan 3, the ritualistic killing of a nun, and a poll that shows only 33% of the state thinks Bush is doing an excellent or good job. Among Black respondents, ZERO PERCENT think he's doing excellent and only 2% replied good (the margin of error is 4% BTW). Also our Republican governor, Bob Taft, has an approval rating of, I'm not kidding, 18% (Survey USA).

5. For reasons way too numerous to explicate* here, politics is driving me nuts. I spend at least three hours every day reading political blogs, thinking up campaign slogans, and keeping up with the latest Republican scandals. Even as I'm sitting here, I have bright post-it-notes of political strategy shining back at me.

So I have made a major decision. No politics for the next two weeks. No DailyKos. No MyDD. No Crooks and Liars. No Media Matters. Not even any TheDemIM. Let me deal with graduating college before I save the world.

6. Obviously the issue pressing most on my mind is that in exactly one month, college ends. There's not much I can say about this that hasn't already been said. Instead, I offer this comic of Stewie from Family Guy making fun of South Park (for the uninformed, SPark did a 2-part ep making fun of FamGuy's formulaic structure. From ubersite.com/m/86636 (submitted by Razor):

they must have sensed my affinity for dancing

ok, just a quick thing or two (feel free to push this down, brandon) .

1) congratulations to addie, will and off the beat for making it the brown front page, you guys are pretty much awesome at radio.

2) i was just informed that i won the "grand prize" for taking the senior survey. i have never won a "grand prize" before, so i'm a little let down that this usually once-in-a-lifetime occurrence has gotten me a handful of tickets for and a table at the campus dance instead of something like several million dollars.

but, hey, i won.

some misfortune surely waits around the corner, this smells like a set-up.

on hypocrisy and lucero

apparently a week or two ago, a certain mr. smallberg gave a speech telling people that they should blog.

michael, michael, michael. how on earth did you give such a speech when this blog has barely seen your presence? i think you better start backing up your words. i'm calling you out.

ALSO:

lucero is playing in providence tomorrow at jake's. i expect any reader of this blog who is "of the legal drinking age" to be there. it's free, so no excuses.

Oh Happy Day (but only one day)

I'm just jumping on the Nathan heartwarming news bandwagon at this point but:
1. My thesis is DONE!!!
After 64 pages of hegemonic masculinity, phallic power challenges and televisual realities, it's finally over.

2. My Econ concentration is DONE!!!
Turns out I don't have to even pass race econ, I already finished enough classes. That means...

3. I'm gonna GRADUATE!!!
There comes a point where you will exhale...
Plus Jasmine from home is coming down to Providence for all of senior week.

4. Reality TV is CRAZY!

• Flavor of Love:
• Pumkin (sic) is engaged... to a woman.
• New York could be getting her own show.
• Flavor of Love 2 is beginning pre-production.
  
• Big Brother:
• BB2 is AMAZING after you've jogged.
• This summer's BB7 will be an all-star edition. HOLY SHIT!!!
  My picks - Eddie and Will-Mega from BB1,
  Dr. Will, Nicole, Mike Boogie, and Monica from BB2,
  Lisa, Danielle, and Marcellus from BB3,
  Allison and Erica from BB4,
  Marvin and Drew from BB5,
  and Ivette, Jannelle, and Howie (sorry Kaysar) from BB6.
  
  That's 5 black people out of 16 so it'll never happen.
  

5. Stand-up comedy act #3 SATURDAY at 9p.
A sneak peek: I make fun of white people.

UPDATED (4/13): My computer is dying again. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Hired, sort of.

Robert Scholes, Textual Power
Originally uploaded by cdhu.

Perhaps I'm only posting so that Brandon will feel okay about bumping down Nathan, but for what it's worth: I'll be in New Haven this summer interning for Yale University Press, in the Acquisitions Editorial division. After that, I'm not so sure. Scholarly publishing is what I think I "want to do after college," so I guess this is a start.

I've been reading the Brown Daily Jolt forums a lot, and I've been fixated by this thread about conflict between the sciences and the humanities, and the class implications of majoring in certain things. Although I think most of these analyses (or at least the simplistic humanities=rich, science=poor approach) get it wrong, the whole idea that academic disciplines could be a proxy for talking about class and class tension at Brown is really interesting to me.

So, by way of conclusion: the picture is of a great Robert Scholes book, published by Yale UP, which is about teaching theory in English courses.

HIRED!

i win!

i have a job!

aquafresh extreme clean

i think i should post, because i have not for a while. though really i should be posting on my other blog which i have also been neglecting of late. i am a two-blog man, the servant of two mistresses.

this coming week promises to be eventful in a variety of arenas. i have another (phone) interview for the same job early in the week, i will be getting the thesis draft back, and i am expecting a much needed paycheck. much needed. sono molto povero oggi.

by blogging, i am also neglecting an italian paper i should be writing. we were allowed to choose our own topics; i chose the city of trieste. i've never visited but i've enjoyed it for some time because its name is one letter from "sad" in italian. it is a city constantly on the brink of sorrow. god forbid that central "e" ever blow away. i chose to write about it though because it is easy to research on wikipedia and i already wrote about sergio leone for italian 30.

and, because monday has officially arrived, there are only 8 days until lucero comes to providence to play for free. i will bring a small army of friends and the easily influenced to this show.



this dog represents the sorrow that could await trieste

Not thesis-sing.

Since Brandon's busy writing his thesis, I'll "step up to the plate" with a practical and fun political link: Rifuture.org asked the Democratic Senate candidates 25 questions, and they responded thusly. If you didn't already know, Carl Sheeler is hilarious.

Plus:
The LRB's letters page is blowing up over this article on "The Israel Lobby," which the publication's editor has since admitted was inappropriately capitalized. Aside from the actual issues at hand, I always love a good "I'm so angry--cancel my subscription!" letter. I had always dreamed of being able to write a great one to The Nation about how I'd been a subscriber for six decades, but then I let my subscription run out last year (through neglect, rather than outrage) after only four years.

Thesis-ing

• I'm so cool - John Edwards' official blog has a link to my TheDemIM Fantasy Campaign Manager: John Edwards post. From blog.oneamericacommittee.com:

  Don't know who this piece is written by but it's an informative discussion of the coming race. The "Fantasy Campaign Manager" presents his/her arguments in three parts, scroll down the page to start with the March 17, 2006 piece. DemIM has interesting thoughts for all political junkies. It is biased towards Edwards, but it gives some sobering appraisals of what the race is shaping up to be at this early stage.

• April Fool's Day exists to promote the illusion that you are safe from getting serv'd the other 364 days of the year. Suck on that Baudrillard.
• There's this website called wordcount.org that shows in order the top 86,800 frequently used words. You can also search for words to see where they are on the list.
  
  They have this new service called query count that shows in order the most frequently searched words on wordcount. Meta huh? Anyways, the top fifteen:
  1. sex
  2. the
     
  3. love
  4. shit
  5. god
  6. i
     
  7. cunt
  8. ass
  9. a
  10. pussy
      
  11. penis
  12. vagina
  13. jesus
  14. dog
  15. john
• So I'm about halfway done with my thesis. Honestly, when I first applied for it, I thought I'd only be about a quarter of the way through with a week to go. Then again, maybe I set my expectations too low.