life without a subject line

this time the GOP candidate is definitely the "flip flop"

2008-05-19T11:33:00.001-07:00

thanks for all the interviews McCain!

Aaaaaaand - Politics Again

2008-05-06T22:30:00.001-07:00

While I was glued to the news tonight, I found out about this blog written by an undecided Democratic Superdelegate....

http://www.mrsuper.org/

I haven't looked around on it too much yet, but it looks damn interesting. The anonymous Superdelegate gives his take on the primaries and candidates. He also gives an insider look at the life of a superdelegate: the courting, the press attention, and the secret emails between superdelegates.

T.bone

Beer Golf

2008-03-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Right, so let's get back to the fun stuff.

Obama-thon

2008-02-13T11:18:00.001-08:00

Pretty soon I'll post another funny video or something...But back to the election.

I just wanted to take a moment to point out just how much of the popular vote Barack Obama is really getting; check out this quote from the Daily Kos:

Barack Obama didn't just beat Hillary in Virginia. He didn't just get more votes than John McCain. In "red" Virginia, Obama got 142,000 more votes than all the Republicans put together. And that was with Hillary Clinton taking 100,000 more votes than John McCain.

I have respect for Clinton voters, but I think you have to take these numbers into consideration. Obama is a once in a lifetime candidate who can engage HUGE numbers of voters. With the delegate race still tight (but Obama now leads), the Democrats should recognize that they have a winner on their team, and they should nominate him.

My name is Tim and I approve this message.

Polling Place Project

2008-02-07T23:10:00.000-08:00

Just to show I am a man of my word - here's my polling place photo from Oakland CA, 94611:

In fact, you can see my other photo and descriptions on the NEW YORK TIMES website. Not bad eh? Even more impressive - the NYTimes got this idea from my homie DigiDave's project on New Assignment last year.

After all of the complicated long division was done, super duper pooper-scooper Tuesday didn't really plop down any results. Kind of frustrating since I was hoping it would be the end of my obsessive drooling over this race. While no great news came out of it for the Dems, at least Romney dropped out! Couldn't stand that guy - and I heard some conservatives cried!?!? These people need help...

Know Your Candidate

2008-02-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

Tuesdsay is the big voting day. While some of us may have chosen a candidate already, here's a list of policy comparisons on all the major issues:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/

It lists both Obama and Clinton...and the forgotten Mike Gravel. And while I assume we're mainly decomcrats here, the Republican champs are listed too. There's also a video clip link below each candidate's statement...if you want to hear them speak on a topic.

My name is compositsketch and I approve this message.

It's a big vote - take a picture

2008-01-29T10:43:00.001-08:00

Next Tuesday, all of us Californians get to say who we want the next leader of the free world to be. With some very decent candidates to choose from (on the Dems side), and a lot at stake - the polling places should see a record turnout.

So, why not take a picture? Voting in America is an interesting, inspiring, and often super confusing process. Thanks to my friend David Cohn (aka 'digidave') I've learned of a cool nationwide project to document the voting process: http://pollingplaces.nytimes.com/

It's simple enough - take a photo of your polling place. For example, I have to vote inside a church. How crazy is that - I always thought state and church were separate. I personally think that a lot need's to be changed about the voting process. Hopefully, with the help of the New York Times, this project can shed some light on what changes need to be made.

Also, register to vote. There is no excuse - I will think less of you if you don't vote in this presidential election (although, the general election is more important).

Here's where you can sign up: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm

not a bad point....

2008-01-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

Google Reader

2008-01-11T13:08:00.001-08:00

I am still a puppy dog to this whole blogosphere extravaganza...but I'm learning to bark louder, day by day.

One tool that anyone can use to sniff out their favorite websites more rapidly (notice the dog theme continues...) is GOOGLE READER.

It don't even matter if you blog or not - this is an awesome way to check news headlines from all sorts of sources, at the same bloody time! Or you favorite "blogger", or band website for tour updates, or youtube channel....

You can share certain news/feeds/stories as well - which I have done over the right side of this page. (Which I call "Casting Out the Net")

Alright, I'm writing too much about this thing now....Maybe Google should pay me for this post...

"everybody's going to die" but not over the top rock n' roll!

2007-12-04T13:00:00.001-08:00

This post is a shoutout to my friends and former roomates Mr. Divisadero and the Party Boy Lifestyle.

These dudes are badass. Plain and simple. Along with being good friends of mine, the group of 4 also plays extremely fun and over-the-top operatic rock. I'm not a music writer, but if I were - I would say their songs are a cross between the B-52ish zaniness and Queen-esque ballads...then again, I might just be ripping off my friend Jake from Crawdaddy Magazine.

I recommend giving them listen. They also released their first CD, which was about a year in the making, and it shows.

Music, CD info lives here:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=55892078

A YouTube performance clip, where Jack falls into the crowd, lives here (right around 01:30):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KcyZNbLLWyE

O'Shea Bros - Copa Pinot Noir

2007-11-26T23:17:00.000-08:00

hat

2007-11-11T23:45:00.000-08:00

let's start with a book reco

2007-11-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

Right, so I don't necessarily want this whole thing to be about book/film reviews...but while I'm still working it out, I thought I'd wax poetic on this book:

This book chronicles the day to day trek of its author, Rory Stewart, as he spends several months walking across Afghanistan. He made the journey almost immediately after the 2001 invasion by U.S. and coalition forces. In my opinion, the book should be required reading for Westerners. If you're going to "re-structure", or "regime change", while "bombing the hell" out of a country, you should have some idea of what's on the ground there. At one point, Stewart points out the historical context of his trek:

"The country had been at war for twenty-five years; the new government had been in place for only two weeks; there was no electricity between Herat and Kabul, no television and no T-shirts. Villages combined medieval etiquette with new political ideologies...All that had made Afghanistan seem backward, peripheral, and irrelevant now made it the center of the world's attention."

Aside from being a great read, the real value of Stewart's journey is that he makes Afghanistan such a reality to the reader. He is able to do this because of both his skill as a writer and the fact that he is on the ground the entire time.

Throughout the book, he refuses any sort of transportation, be it by jeep or mule. This is a particularly gutsy move when dozens of soldiers and ex-warlords try to persuade him otherwise; not to mention the expansive Soviet mine fields that cover certain regions of the country. He relies on strangers in small villages to invite him in every night, eating their simple food (oftern dry naan bread and rice). He trudges through waist deep snow at altitudes reaching 14,000ft. He sleeps in crowded rooms on the ground, where the only warmth comes from a small stove burning dung (I'm guessing mule crap). I think that the end result of all this is that one gets an insight to the Afghani daily life. Simply by walking and relying on the country's people and resources, Stewart knows more about the nation than most government agencies working in Kabul to re-build a new Afghanistan.

I highly recommend this book. And if you're worried about it being very dry - it's actually funny at times, and very concise. It is definitely one of the best travel books I have ever read (maybe calling it a ''travel'' book isn't fair...but oh well).

first salvo

2007-11-04T22:52:00.000-08:00

still working out what to do with this... but i like the title i've chosen "life without a subject line". sort of an attempt to jump into some stuff...ideas, art, more ideas all piled up. hopefully all to create some sort of outlet from the usual day of communicating through "subject lines" at work and even with friends.

but for now, sleepy time.