Jai Guru Deva Om

No Plugs Tonight.
Hey it's a Holiday!


Happy 4th of July
Rain, New Beford Fireworks were cancelled and rescheduled for Saturday.


So More About Malach at last Saturday's Red Sox Game
Read the blog from a few days ago for more info. I do have a few pics though:
First one is of course Malach the Merciless on the mound at Fenway just before Beckett arrived out of the dugout to meet him, Second is Coach Rick (hence Rick's Ranger); my sister-in-law; Dan, who has Down Syndrome; James who is slight MR, behind Varitek. I got a video, but it is NESN, and MLB property, I am going to transfer it to MPEG format and we will see how long I can keep it up on YouTube before the MLB Police come get me.

You are listening too . . .
Across the Universe and absolute favorite of mine. A version of the song first appeared on the 1968 charity album for the World Wildlife Fund, No One's Gonna Change Our World. A modified and probably better version appeared then on Let It Be.


Lennon was inspired to write the song after listening to his then wife Cynthia speak, and the thought "words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup" came immediatley to his mind. He immediately grabbed a pen and piece of paper, wrote the lyrics, fell asleep and promptly forgot about them. Lennon stumbled upon them the next day, went to his piano, and began to write chords for them. The song is obviously heavily influenced by Lennon's short term interest in Eastern Thought during the time the song was composed. It is also influenced by his interest in Trancendental Meditation, hence the mantra Jai Guru Deva Om which links the verses and the bridge. The phrase roughly tranlates as Salute Teacher Deva, Om, refer to Brahmananda Saraswati aka Guru Dev, and Om being the natural vibration of the universe, and tantrict kind of chant.


The lyrics while straightforward and highly surreal as in much of Lennon's stuff from that 67 - 68 period. They are also hightly image based. Lennon himself stated it was perhaps the most poetic lyrics he ever wrote. The song was initially thought of as a single, but Lennon was not happy with it's direction. They tried a bit of everthing, including a comb harmonica, backing vocals from some Apple Scruffs. The track was put aside and forgotten. They had seriously thought about releasing it with the Yellow Submarine Soundtrack, but Lennon had become disillusioned with Eastern Philosophy by then and did not like the mantra of the song.

The Beatles were convinced after the song was heard by Spike Milligan to be released on the charity album he was putting together. The song was remixed by George Martin, the sonds of birds were added to the beginning and end of the song.


Though never fully satisfied with the recording, Lennon was very attached to the song and played it during the recordings of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. The Beatles insisted on adding it to the Album, and by the time of the final albums mix, Lennon's contributions were limited anyway, and this was a good way to fill that gap.


The final mix, done by Phil Spector, is slowed several ticks, and full intrementation was added. This is the version most people are familiar with.


The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Gotta love the Devil Rays.


Now this is a real American!
Joey Chestnut!

STEROIDS!
STEROIDS!


Chilean Lakes.
Have a Crack Problem.


Al Gore III
So, when does this kid meet Dubya's two wild girls? And you can get a Prius to go 100 MPH?


Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach, and you will read my blog

My Adventure with the Boston Red Sox

Plugs.
There is a new piece of fiction from Ben Byrd, entitled Evanescent. It has nothing to do with the band, thank God. Also you need to read Malach special expose' on Pro Wrestling over at the WoW. Me and my buddy Otis Serunigs uncovered a 50 year conspiracy . .. Oh yeah, speaking of Pro Wrestling:

Don't make me GO BENOIT on your ass.
by
Malach

Get this custom shirt at Zazzle

Yeah, I am a bit of a internet whore

Some Clarification.
OK, Blogger was acting up a couple of days ago, but I managed to fix everthing and 6/29's blog is now up, and dated and timed correctly. That has several updates, info on this Beatles song, and a funny Sarah Silverman video as highlights.

I did a little digging to see what the issue was. Evidently, Blogger has been having issues like with FTP loaded blogs since the complete switch to Google. It will affect a number of these blogs for a few days then correct itself. The FTP Blogger community is pretty pissed about it because it is an obvious issue with Blogger, and should be a known issue, but Google keeps reffering people to talk to their host providers. Someone like me who has been using the FTP platform since 2004, it seemed weird that my FTP protocols would suddenly be screwed up. Well it fixed itself in about 42 hours, but like many FTP blogger, I seriously thought of switching services, we will see.

Also, in terms of yesterday's blog, well there is a story behind that . . .

My Adventure.
So, Malach has been playing on a Unified Special Olympics Softball team for about 10 years. I have told you stories about this before, but those of you new to the blog, I will explain.

Unified Softball consists of a team of half Special Olympians (who are disabled adults with cognititve functioning issues: MR, Borderline Intellect, Autism etc.) and half "normal" partners. The team is 15 with 8 Olympians and 7 partners. On the field you have 5 partners (at most) and 5 Olympians. Same with batting, but you can bat 11 with a Olympian batting in the extra spot. They then try to match physical skills of partners with the physical skills of Olympians, and division the team based on that. The lower level divisions have more severely disabled Olympians and partners with worse skills. Malach's team, Rick's Rangers, is in the top division, a step or two below a regular men's softball team (in fact we have beaten a few regular softball teams in scrimmages), and in the past 5 years we have won the Gold three times, the Silver once, and the Bronze once. MA Special Olympics (SOMA) uses us as a model team, while competitive, we display some awesome sportmanship, and have fun partners and athletes.

So, a couple of weeks ago SOMA asked us to represent them at last nights Red Sox game, they did not give us much info beyond that we would see the game, get on the field for batting practice (BP), be involved in opening ceremonies, and maybe toss out the first pitch. The Sox were putting on a Disability Awareness Night and honoring persons with disabilities.

OK, cool, Malach has always wanted to toss a ball out at a pro game, and perhaps, I could finally blow out elbow and get John Henry to pay for it. So we get to Fenway, we are lead into a waiting area, and we get to go out on the field for BP. They has this roped off section from dugout to dugout; got to watch the Rangers do BP (Yeah kind of Ironic we are Rick's Rangers), walk around the warning track, edge of the grass, see Sammy Sosa up close and blast some balls.

Ok, some impression, I have been to Fenway tons of times, never on the field. So, being right behind homeplate, and playing a lot of Baseball, I never really realized how close the Green Monster is, and the right field corner with Pesky Pole. I think with a Aluminum bat, I could probably reach the wall, ff I can could catch up to a fastball. The second thing I realized in the grass is so spongy, it really slows the ball down on grounders, and by the time they get to the fielder, they aren't going any faster than in my Men's Softball League. Interesting. So we are hanging out there, taking pictures, meeting Tina Cervasio, getting occasional glimpse of Francona, Ortiz, Beckett and such. Cool. There are also a couple of other disability organization out there, Miss America Wheelchair, and such too. We find out we are not throwing out the first pitch; a deaf girl a monkey are (the monkey was a capuchin monkey, trained to help quadripeligics). Kind of dissappoiting but what the Hell, still cool to be on the field.

So then a Red Sox official comes down, and tells us there has been a change of plans. They are going to annouce our names and positions and we need to head out onto the field in those postions, and then wait for the respective Red Sox player to join us out there (WHAT?); and then quickly meet them, stay out for the National Anthem, and then run back in. So needless to say we were a bit dumbfounded. Oh, and by the way, the whole thing was going to be carried live on NESN in front of maybe 10 million people.

So, Malach, who is the only pitcher on the team has to run out onto the pitcher's mound, and wait for Josh Beckett. Cool, you know Malach, he loves the spotlight, no problem. So, we run out onto the field, they announce all our names, Malach poses in his best stretch on the mound in front of 40,000 people. Some quick thoughts . .. yeah, I can do this for a living (pitching), and yes, the Green Monster is very short. Suddenly the Red Sox burst out of the Dugout, and after a quick hello, I show Beckett my elbow destroyed from years of pitching, asked for some advice, he tells me I am screwed. A few impressions. Besides Beckett, baseball players aren't too big. Manny was about my size, Dustin Pedroia is about 5'8", and Youkillis is the exact same size as Otis Serungis. So we get off the mound for the National Anthem, which is being sung by a kid who is deaf. He gets about halfway through it, and start giggling uncontrollably (remember this is live), Beckett and I start to half laugh, I quickly state, "if we can get the crowd to help" . .. suddenly as this kid is stumbling, the crowd burst into the remainder of the anthem. Great crowd it was awesome. Shook Beckett's hand, wished him good luck, we were wisked off the field to our Bleacher seats where we were stars for the rest of the evening. I looked on YouTube for a video of this, none up yet. I have a recording, so do a few others, so one should be up soon. Malach also has several pics of him on the mound (there is a cool one with my back to camera in a convincing stretch), but they are in Otis Serungis's camera, he has e-mail them to me. . . I will post them as soon as I get them.

I apologize for shaking Beckett's hand, I think I gave him a blister.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
So let me get this straight, the lose 2 in a row to the worst team in baseball, but the rest of the Division hasn't gained ground? Mood: I the AL East the worst division in baseball?

Look at me.
I'm CNN, I have a new website . . . BLAHBLAHBLAH.

OK, look.
If you are going to try to kill a vampire, stomping on it won't kill him.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach, oh man, Bas Rutten rocks.

No Blog

But tomorrow Malach has some stories about the Sox, game, and perhaps some fun pics of him and Josh Beckett.

I am Malach and I stood on Fenway's pitcher's mound.

Carry That Weight

Plugs
A couple today, first Sunshine 47 now up, entitled God's Tank, you will enjoy this one. Also in an attempt to make purchase of this website merchandise easier, I have started loading the stuff in my store. Another advantage to that is you can now see the rated PG13 and R t-shirts, that Zazzle won't show you unless you register, expect more soon. Also, thanks, this Zazzle store had been very successful.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
We are back to the winning ways, squeaking out a win vs. the Rangers. Now, some news. Malach is going to tomorrows game. Malach's unfied Special Olympics Softball Team has been chosen as a representative of MA Special Olympics to attend the game, batting practice, perhaps meet some players, and toss out the first pitch. The Red Sox are sponsoring a Disability Awareness night. Here a bit of Irony. My team is called Rick's Rangers (named after our coach). The Sox are playing the Texas Rangers. We will probably also get on TV sometime, so keep a lookout for Malach (6' about 225lbs, glasses, I will try to sneak in some type of ad for my site). Mood: Tossing out the first pitch.

You are listening too . .
The last 5 minutes of the side 2 melody on Abbey Road. The songs Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, and The End. This is how most of the word is used to hearing it, it is played this way on the radio. They are actually three seperate short songs, that fit extremely well together. We will go over each. This will also be the last songs I play off of that Album.

Golden Slumbers is the beginning progression and runs right into Carry That Weight. In fact both songs were recorded at the same time as a single piece. Golden Slumbers is based up the ballad of the same name by Thomas Dekker, and borrows heavily from the lyrics. McCartney saw the sheet music at his father's home, but being unable to read music, he was fascinated by the lyrics and went about creating his own arrangement. McCartney uses some very strong vocals in the mid part of the arrangement, and the song harkens to some of his solos hits of the 70's. The song fits beautifully in the time and place of this band. Lennon was not present for the recording owning to his auto accident, but did provide some vocal overdubs.

Carry That Weight is the climatic meledy that not only starts the end of the album, but also brings in a number of elements from early parts of the side 2 melody. It quickly segues into The End, with change of pace. The middle bridge of the song reprised You Never Give Me Your Money and also feature some rifts from Here Comes the Sun. This song again is about the break up of the Beatles; part of it is Lennon "carrying the weight" of guilt for his part of ending the band and Yoko coming in the middle, and the other part is McCartney reflecting upon himself taking on the majority of the business management of the band after Brian Epstein death, another contributing factor the bands demise. Many of the band members also echoed the sentiment that anything the every did solo, would never equal the whole, so the would always be "carrying the weight" of the Beatles.

The End is the last song to appear officially on the album (beyond a short 30 second "hidden" track), the last song of the melody, and one of the last songs ever recorded by the band. The song is very symbolic and interesting, all four Beatles have a solo in the song, including Ringo only drum solo he ever recorded. Ringo despises drum solos and had to be convinced to do it. They actually recorded the song with guitar accompaniment, but turned the volume down in mixing to get the effect of a drum solo. Each Beatles also has a guitar solo McCartney's poppy crunch (which has been heavily sampled in the hip hop community), followed by Harrison's techincal romp, followed by Lennon dirty feedback, you can hear each particular style in each solo. The song also ends with the famous line: And, in the end, the love you take; Is equal to the love you make. That line perhaps simply best describes the Beatles music and career.

More Chris Benoit
This is becoming almost and weird as the JFK assassination. The person who posted the death of Nancy Benoit 14 hours before they found her body, left a statement at Wikipedia today. You can read it here. It was also interesting to hear the first comments from Benoit's father, and comments from Chris Jericho and Bret Hart, friends of Benoit. It good actually to see Bret after his 2002 stroke.

YUUUCK
Veggie Booty. Seriously, what the hell kind of name is Veggie Booty? Story time. Malach full time employer has the largest food pantry in Southeastern MA. I work one floor above it. Kind of nice, I can get tons of food for my clients when needed, and if I forget lunch . . . well, the other day, we got this new cup of soup in. It was called Cock Soup, yes it was chicken . . .

My God.
I wounder if I can view this garbage in YouTube? Why did I even ask?

Why fix it?
Just invade that part of Mexico. BEHOLD THE POWER OF MALACH!

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach and I read in Cosmo . . . ew.

Octopus's Garden

Not really a plug, but kind of.
No site updates tonight, I had a night game, and just got back. We won against the team we were tied for second for. Also, the Sandlot Softball site is back up, so you can follow along.

Also read about Ratzy's big plan over at the WoW. Look like most of us are going to Hell.

Malach's Silver Hammer.
I just realized I forgot to tell about Malach's Silver Hammer. First, Geek Alert. Malach is a RPG character I have been using for about 20 years. Know jokingly as Malach the Merciless, full name Malach diMedici. I always revive Malach when I roll really well in character creation, the latest version of Malach was in D20 Dungeons and Dragons and had an 18, a 17, 2 16's, and everything else was above 12. He is always a Mage. His one quirk he always had was his weapon of choice, a warhammer. In one of his most powerful incarnations was in MERP. In that he was some ungodly level, developed spells whose effect included liquefying an groups of enemies skeletons, and had a ultra power warhammer of disintegration and returing.

You are Listening too . . .
Octopus's Garden from Abbey Road. The song was mostly written by Ringo, with a small amount of assitance from Harrison. It was only the second song Starr had ever written, and the second to appear on a Beatles album, and perhaps his best know song.

Starr's inspiration was a boat trip in Sardinia, he was offered Octopus for lunch, which he turned down. The Captain began to relate a story to him how Octopi spend their day on the bottom of the ocean collecting shiny things for their nests. The song is thought to be part of the small collection of Children's songs The Beatles wrote (the other being Yellow Submarine, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, All Together Now). The song has been performed by the Muppets, The Wiggles, and Raffi, which futher propogates the notion. The song and many of the other mentioned can also easily be associated with psychoative drugs.

There are a couple of interesting sounds, included McCartney and Lennon's vocals compressed to create a gurgling sound, and Starr adding the sound of bubbles being blow into a glass. The charm of the song lies in it's simplicity and limted over production. It is about a retreat from the hectic life, and one into beauty, happiness, and safety.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Look, they are on a roll, and then a 48 minute rain delay. They are back on though, and Beckett's pitching a gem. Hopefully Schill just has a tired arm, he will go on the 15 day DL, and we bring Lester up. Mood: Let's close it out Beckett.

This is weird.
Of course I think we know where this will all end up.

Yeah, this ain't shocking.
Bloomberg was about as Republican as I am.

Hillary Soprano.
What makes in funny is how bad the acting is. Make sure you watch the video. Perhaps, just perhaps Malach will make an I Got a Crush On Hilary video.

HMMMM.
Will the next Tiennamen Square be the Internet. Oh man, I just got banned by the Great Firewall of China.

Need Help Hiding Your Pot?
Just ask this nice officer for help.

John Travolta dissapproves of Anti-Depressants.
But he very much approves of secret homosexuals romps with random runaways . . that the way Scientology.

Malach's Quote of the Day
If God has made us in his image, we have returned him the favor. - Voltaire

I am Malach and Paul is Dead?

Come Together

Some Plugs.
There is new 8 1/2 by Eleven up. This one is number 543 and I think Lucas is on the LSD as it is about Neon Butterflies. Also, the Wand of Wonder has gone a bit nuts with funny and weirdness over the past couple of days.

Also check out one Malach's internet buds psuedo journalistic website about his Philadelphia Phillies team from his Playstation 2 game MLB 07 The Show. Nova Fan is a bucko, and in his late teens. Some well written stuff there, and interesting moves.

Malach also is a huge Beach Boys fan (who rock, Brian Wilson is a fuggin' genius) playing at his MySpace. Also I heard a version of Brian Wilson by the Bare Naked Ladies, sung by Brian Wilson. A bit surreal

Taunton State Hospital.
So, Malach spent half the day doing a presentation and attending a resource fair at TSH. It was fun interacting with some of the populace still there. I wanted to explore some of the abandoned buildings, but I did not have much time. In MA, asylums fell out of favor in the 70's and 80's, and those here now, are those that really can't operate outside, but are not say mass muderers and have hope for release.

You are Listening too. . . .
Come Together off The Beatles Album, Abbey Road. Even though Abbey Road was released before Let It Be, it was the last album to be recorded by The Beatles before their break up. It is considered one of their most tightly constructed albums, even though by this point they were hardly a conhesive band.

After the disaster of the Get Back/Let It Be recordings, McCartney suggested to George Martin that they get back together and create an album just like in the old days, before the band began to disintegrate with The White Album. The Beatles, who at this time all agreed this would probably be their last recording together, agreed to "go out on a high note". The two album sides had highly different characters with side one a collection of single tracks, and side two contains essentially a 16 minutes medley of interconnected short songs, both finshed and unfinished, mainly from the White Album and Let It Be recording sessions. For example many people are used to hearing Golden Slumbers and Carry Weight played together, but they are actually seperate songs.

Why? Many cite Lennon having little involvement on this album, and McCartney wanting to tie a few things up with these remaining Lennon and McCartney shorts. Lennon had actually left the Beatles before finishing up Abbey Road.

This was also the only album recorded by The Beatles on an 8 track recorder one of the reasons for the overall better sound of this album to previous ones. It was also the only one recorded on a solid state soundboard giving it a much rawer sound. It made entensive use of a recent technology, the Moog Synthesizer.

Abbey Road is also famous for it's album art, perhaps the most famous and oft parodied album cover of all time, and a central feature of the Paul is Dead urban legends (more on that later).

Come Together is the opening track on the album and a straight out 70's rocker before 1970. It was written by Lennon, and began with an attempt at writing a theme for Timothy Leary's CA gubenatorial campaign (vs. of all people Ronald Reagan). Of course Leary got arrested for drug possession and sent to prison (yeah, they called him Tricky Dick for a reason). It was transformed into a track that digs at both McCartney and Harrison and also references Yoko and Bagism.

Lennon played rythmn guitar and and sang lead vocal for the track. The exclamation you hear of "Shoot" during the open bassline is actually "Shoot me"; the me is drowned out by a handclap. McCartney played bass and electric piano, Harrison lead guitar, and Ringo all the percussion.

Aerosmith did a extremely popular cover of the song in the late 70's, and many people recognize that version sometime more often than the Beatles original. It would be remembered as Aerosmith's last top 40 hit until the late 80's a decade later.

Man.
I wonder how much my Iranian Porn collection is worth now?

150 year old whales.
Imagine being this whale? I love how New Bedford always mentioned when it comes to old time whaling.

When I was 25 . .
Uh Lynn Spears, shearing off you hair, and having a mental breakdown, is not trying to figure it all out.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
I don't want to talk about it.

So.
Let's go skinny dipping.

Y'know.
Flavor Flav informed about this back in 1990 . . . 911's A JOKE!

MMMMMM
Gigantoraptor.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day
What would one do with a big one that needs to be searched for, if there is a small one that is already in one's hands? - Filipino proverb

I am Malach and I could be making this all up.

The way things are going, they're gonna crucify me.

Plugs.
Sunshine 42 is up, and I hope you like trains. Also Malach left an interesting pic, and message to the buckos on the DOMT.

The Raccoon.
So I caught the raccoon in the garbage yesterday for the first time, and it was only 7:30PM and still light out. The thing is huge, like the Jabba the Hutt of raccoons. So I yelled out the window "Hey!". He stopped, stood up on his hind legs, and I swear he flipped me off and ran off.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Another win, and Pap looked like his old self today. The Mood: Barry Bonds in Fenway this weekend . . that should be interesting.

Gotta Love Paleontology.
They always find cool stuff. Isn't that right Carl Everett?

Speaking of Dinosaurs . .
YAY!

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach your Mr. Right

Something I forgot to tell you. . .

But first plugs . .
Part two of Along the Road in Tainted Lover Erotic Stories(TLES) is up. As always TLES is rated Mature 18+.


Something I forgot to tell you.
As many of you know, Malach is a pretty good slowpitch softball player. Not only is he a good pitcher, but he is also a pretty good batter. I am currently batting in the low .600's, and my lifetime average is about that.


Now, strike outs do occur in slow pitch softball, Malach usually pitches 5 -10 a year. Malach has struck out also in the past, and he did for the first time in about 3 years Wednesday. Count was 3 balls and 2 stikes, low arc, I thought it would hit before the strike zone, clipped the edge . . . don't worry, weird game, I struck out 2 of their batters (both with Knuckle Balls, nasty wind). That is 5 for the year and we aren't even halfway through the season.


The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Always interleague for the BoSox, in National League Parks. Up against the Diamondbacks tonight. Beckett hit 2 homers last year in Interleague play. Mood: Let's get back on a win streak.


That thing after my Garbage.
Yeah it was a raccon, my wife caught it last night . . . it was the size of a Rotweiller.


BOO HOO WAHHH WAHHH
Kudos to Judge Michael T. Suaer for sticking by his guns and sticking Paris back in the clink. Paris does not deserve special treatment, and I would put her in with the general population. Also Paris's behavior; girl your 26 years old, Mommy and Daddy's money can't get you out of all your trouble, why don't you, Lohan, and Britney start setting good examples for the young girls of this world.


And her behavior upon leaving the courtroom, I'd charge he rwith disturbing court too. The CNN video is mildly entertaining. That rag TMZ got a bunch of stuff to peruse too. I have also decided to add the job of Sociallite to my resume.


So uh ..
How much is the over/under on when Satan calls in his favors with Dick Cheney?


Damn.
Serously, how do you cut off a leg with a pocket knife, nevermind your own?


ChuckaConde . .
ChuckaConde
ChuckaConde


ChuckaConde, let me rock you
Let me rock you, ChuckaConde
Let me rock you, that's all i wanna do
ChuckaConde, let me rock you
Let me rock you, ChuckaConde
Let me rock you, let me feel for you
ChuckaConde let me tell you what i wanna do
Do you feel for me, the way i feel for you
ChuckaConde let me tell you what i wanna do
I wanna love you, wanna hug you, wanna squeeze you too
Let me take you in my arms
Let me fill you with my charms, Chucka
'cause you know that i'm the one to keep you warm
Chucka, i'll make you more than just a physical dream
I wanna rock you, Chucka
Baby, cause you make me wanna scream
Let me rock you, rock you

Yeah, gotta pull that one out everyso often, making t-shirt of it tonight.


Malach's Quote/Video of the Day.
Thank you, officer. We love the police. - Paris Hilton (Yes that is Paris's godawful music on her website, Dr. Murk has a great quote on that "It soundd like Britney sing in a Jamaican Toilet").


I am Malach, and Paris, the stars may be blind, but the paparazzi ain't.

When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.

Plug?
Yes, the return of 8 1/2 by Eleven! Expect a plethora of plugs tomorrow.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
No game tonight, and yet again, another weekend series with the Yankees at fenway.

Speaking of the Yankees.
Not only does it seem A-Rod is screwing around in his wife, it seems yesterday that he yelled "Mine" or "Hah" while running base as the Toronto 3rd baseman and Short Stop were trying to field a fly ball, causing them to stop and the ball to drop. It is interesting to read and hear some of the reactions to the incident on the field, especially from his team mates. All the years I have played baseball and softball, I don't think I have ever seen something like this, but again, it is up to the player to also catch the ball.

What is going to be really interesting is when A-Rod opts out, and the Sox make move for him. This is about the most hated man in Boston . . .

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT???
MIKE-MIKE-MIKE VICK!

DUDE!
Your no longer working for Dell!

YES!
The Cold War was so much more fun than the War on Terror!

Nessie (and BigFoot).
There is a new Nessie video shot this past Saturday, they say it is by far some of the best video of it ever. I've seen it, not really impressed. But looking at other Nessie video on YouTube, I found one of the best cryptozoology video ever, the Patterson BigFoot video, and this one cleaned up by computer. I remember first seeing this as a kid, it really freaked me out, as this is very realistic and natural. I love still to this day, no matter who they hire and how hard they try, they can never duplicate this video, it figure, and it's ambulation.

MMMMMM
Rare endangered northern white rhino.

So.
Paris is going to jail her other half is going to jail . . does anyone else see the reality TV potential in this?

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach, and Samuel L. Jackson makes good white guy.

Half of what I say is meaningless . .

Some plugs for youse guys.
After a number of email requests, I have republished my primer on pitching slow pitch softball from 2005, that was taken down from Hill TV. It is now located at Third Option Media, but there is no direct link yet. You can find it here. I added a quick addendum too. Yes, I am soon remodeling TOM.

Also there is new Fetus-X. Some more weird, morbid, poetry.

You are Listening too . . .
Julia, and Lennon favorite from The White Album. Malach personally doesn't like the song, not really sure why, beyond feeling it is a forced song. This is the final song onrecord one, side two, or CD 1. This is the first and only time Lennon did a solo Beatles song (McCartney did a number of them), and features Lennon on all vocals and guitar. The finger picking style of this song he learned in India from band friend Donovan.

The song is about his late mother Julia who was killed after being hit by a motorvehicle driven by a drunken cop in 1958. Part of the song is also about Yoko Ono, and her name, which in Japanese means "child of the ocean" is alluded to in the lyrics. Some of the song is also inspired by the poem Sea and Foam by the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran.

The song itself is very restrained and poetic, Lennon's vocals are only double tracked in select sections of the song. The song is also recorded at a low level, and if you have this album you find yourself turning up the volume for this song, only to have some of the other song blow your ears off. Also interestingly, for a intimate, emotion subject, Lennon kind of changes that with this song, which is more spiritual and meditative. Also interestingly, if you did not know the facts of Lennon's mother, your wouldn't get it from the song.

My Garbage.
About a week ago, I told you about my garbage being dragged about 75' across my yard toward the woods . . . well look what mom showed me today.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Well, I suppose they got to lose a game sooner or later. Pitching wasn't all that good tonight and they are currently down by 4 in the 8th. Day off tomorrow, back to the Yankees for the weekend. Mood: Let's win the next one, or this one.

Ca-razy Weather.
Drought at the Okeechobee Swamp. Crazy Hailstorm in Denver! Don't worry it's beautiful here.

Malach's Quote of the Day
Whether or not I like someone doesn't depend on what kind of genitals they have. - Margaret, Liquid Sky

I am Malach and I pitch.

The Walrus was Paul!?!?!

No Plugs Today.
Sorry Buckos.

So Malach has realized something about himself.
So, today was yet another beautiful pre-summer day, almost 90 degrees. So, I am out in my studio painting, while the kids are playing in their wading pool and with the hose, with the large double doors open watching them while I paint. My 4 year old daughter keeps coming over to help and give advice. I am playing The Beatles album Love. Get into a conversation with my 5 year old son about the meaning of the song All You Need is Love. So, what does Malach realize? I am closet hippie.

So is the a phrase for a geek/hippie? A Gippie?

Speaking of the new painting.

Since I haven't done a painting since the last commission a few months ago. And since so many people liked following along with the painting and what I think about and do while I paint; I decided to do it with this one. Unfortunately, I did not photo my pre-canvas creation process which I will do next time.

So, at left is what I worked on today for about 2 hours. I wanted to do a painting about my kids, but I got inspired by one of the Beatles songs we were listening too, so this painting is about my 4 year old daughter and will be entitled Livy in the Sky with Diamonds.

First is in kind of hard at this stage to see the textures that were applied to the canvas from some of the junk I keep around my studio. It will be a bit more obvious once I begin to work on the piece and highlight some of it. You will also notice, once again, a strange shaped canvas. This is just two similarly sized canvases, put together, but instead of brackets, like usual, I actually just screwed the top canvas onto the bottom, throught the stretcher bars, so the top canvas is raised from the bottom about 1". I then made this haphazard cover up between the two from assorted pieces of fabric, canvas, plastic, and netting. Also added, a some paper (you can see the fringe hanging off the canvas at the right of the image) a gate handle, a squirt gun, and a few other odds and ends including a dredel.

The first 2 hours of this piece is basically blocking in the image, color and composition, very rough, but you can see the basic form of what I am going for. I use fairly straight forward color for this process. I will be building up the star and diamond patterns, adding more light, and defining the figure a bit more next session.

So, later.

Playing baseball with the boy, the boy's got a pretty good swing for a 5 year old. Using a fairly heavy padded bat, and a practice baseball. Line drive up the middle on the old man. This is the first time I have ever taken a ball in the groin, all the years I played. Luckily he's only 5, and I was back to speed in 10 minutes.

Something is stalking my garbage.

So, I live in the suburbs, on a dead end street, in a semi wooded area. We get skunks, raccoons, possum, rabbits, the occasional woodchuck, and occasional deer and coyote. I have a fairly long yard (about 180' which ends in a fence, beyond that fairly dense woodland, slightly swampy, and the about 200' later the highway.

So last night, something dragged my locked garbage can (the one with two bags of fairly heavy garbage in it) about 75' until the top popped open and went to town on the two bags. Now, I am unsure what could have done this. As far as I know there are no bears anywhere near where I live . . .

You are listening too . . .

Glass Onion, off The White Album. A interesting Lennon composition, said by Lennon as a response to those who dug for meaning in his lyrics. He basically did this song to fool around with those kind of people. The song references other lines from other Beatles songs. It references I Am the Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever, There's a Place, I'm Looking Through You, Within You Without You, Lady Madonna, The Fool on the Hill, and Fixing a Hole.

The line "The Walrus was Paul" became a huge lynchpin for the later "Paul is Dead" conspiracy that developed in 1969. According to Lennon, "Glass Onion was a throwaway song, much like I Am the Walrus. "I threw the line in—'the Walrus was Paul'—just to confuse everybody a bit more. It could have been 'The fox terrier is Paul.' I mean, it's just a bit of poetry. I was having a laugh because there'd been so much gobbledegook about Pepper—play it backwards and you stand on your head and all that."

Musically the song has a killer Ringo drum rift, and is one of the more experimental songs off The White Album in terms of studios wizardy, and sampling. This song in turn has been sampled numerous times by the hip hop community. It also features strange little song samples from each of the songs it references. I like it alot.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.

After a long rain delay, Dice-K only pitching 5 cause of a stomach bug, they still won last night. Yanks have lost 2 in a row, and Cashman in now on the hot seat. Of of this moment they are 11 up, and they are up right now 6 - 4 in the top of 6. The Mood: I hate to say this, but the Division in over.

Oh Dana Plato.

OK, what's the over under before Lindsay Hoehan appear in Playboy?

Hehehehe.

Hey, you guys could always try hanging light up signs around Boston.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day.

I'm not going to deny the fact that I've tried pot. I hated it. But I've never tried cocaine. I've seen my father, I've seen how it messes with families, and, you know, it fucks your life up. If I hadn't experienced that, I may have gone a different route. I don't know. But I've seen how it literally tore my parents apart. - Lindsay "Dana Plato" Hoehan

I am Malach and my groin feels much better thank you.

Ok, Fixed the Feed

But first as always, plugs.
Sunshine number 39 is up, and as usual, totally true, but there are even worse situations.

Hey, guess who got the number one comment on Schilling's blog.

Ok, my RSS Feed.
So here is the problem. I use Ice Rocket RSS Feed Builder to build the feed, love their feed builder. Here's the problem, I use Feed Burner to promote the feed, they are awesome also. Basically Ice Rocket sends this to Feed Burner, and you end up with something translated, plus Feed Burner has all sort of cool feature thy provide with, one of the big ones being this.

So here is the problem. I have been using a feed since 2003. That feed got so huge, Feed Burner no longer supported it. To top it off, Ice Rocket has no way to archive or easily edit your feeds so it won't get bigger than the 512K that Feed Burner accepts.

So this left me with a quandry. I love both Ice Rocket and Feed Burner, but I need Feed Burner more than I do Ice Rocket. So I came up with and idea. Why not just use the .xml that come with this blog? So I did. Blogger feeds are easy to regulate so this won't happen again. Also I am not totally convinced someone registering for my feed nowadays wants to read through 2000 old feed updated dating back to 2003.

So, my new feed will look a lot different than the old one. It will contain these blog posts, so the 40 or so of you that subscribe, don't be shocked. Also if you just subscribed for site updates, I do put those in a section right at the beginning of every blog called "Plugs", so you won't miss an update, you will just get them once a day all at once. And to top it off, the feed address did not change and it also contains categories, and I don't have to manually update the feed. We will see how this works.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Day off yesterday, now a rain delay in Texas, and from what I understand it is only about 65 there. It was 95 here all day and still in the 80's right now. Mood: Hot.

Ok, when I was in high school.
Someone left a carton of milk inside one of those old huge steam radiators and it took them about 2 week to find the nasty smell.

Can the little man fight Big Oil?
Suprisingly this could work, most small gas station make a silver of profit per gallon of gas, my father used to own one. Of course just wait until Wal*Mart start selling gas.

Damn the Man!
It is the 1960's all over again brother! I can just picture Just Me out there protesting!

Advice for those of Death Row.
If you are going by Lethal Injection, get really fat.

Well.
It looks like Malach might starting playing around with his Facebook account.

Now this!
Would make a really good webcomic.

Malach Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach and you just took a ride on one of my favorite roller coasters.

Rocky Raccoon . . .

Plugs.
Just a new 8 1/2 By Eleven. Strip 537 in which Leyla reveals she is a bit of a swinger. Also some of you may have noticed I am having a issue with Feedburner, and my feed, I am in process of trying to correct it.\

Also if you ever wanted to be a part of Malach's softball team, or are a just a fan, the new uniform is up and available to purchase, along with other stuff, including Stool Sample Webcomics stuff (some of the stuff is rated PG13 and R, so you will need to register to see it. Speaking of the softball team you may notice were are in second place, one game behind the first place teams, and now 3 games ahead of the next competition (we beat the Outlaws this evening).

You Are Listening Too . . .
A Malach family favorite, Rocky Raccoon by The Beatles off The White Album. One of Dad's faves, my fave, and the kids, The Beatles always throw these kooky fun songs in their albums, especially later in the career. The song was written primarily by McCartney and was written in India. McCartney kind of ad-libbed the song while playing guitar for Lennon and Donovan. They thought is a funny, and developed a whole song about it.

There are claims the song is a parody of a Bob Dylan song, just as Back in the USSR is a parody of a Beach Boys song (never admitted by any of the Beatles). But it is easy to see. They not only slighty mock his singing style, but also his particular arrangements and compositions of the time, included the harmonica. For the Beatles, this is a tribute to the man Dylan. The song is quite simple, about a man named Rocky Raccoon, who goes to shoot a man who stole his woman, but instead gets gunned down. The Old West style honky tonk piano is played by George Martin.

The life of an internet star.
So, I get this phone call today, from a obviously foreign dude (Indian/Pakastani) accent, "Mr. Malach, you are a very famous internet celebrity, and we read your website and notice you are a bit of a alternative fuel guy". "Have you ever heard of Ethanol?'

"Why Yes", says Malach.

"Ahh, I represent a company that has developed a way to produce ethanol from organic garbage, not corn like it usually is"

"Really", I say as I feign interest.

"So, we notice your fame and ask if you would be interested in investing, do you invest?"

"Well yeah, a bit," I say trying to stifle a laugh.

"So can I send you some informaton on our company?" Sure I say, and I give them Dr. Murk's Address and Phone number. HAHAHAH he's dead!

Ahh a life of debauchery and sin.
You got be kidding me.

AAAUUUGGGGHHH!
SNAKES ON A PLANE!

Wha'ya sayin' mang?
So, uh, Dubya, we building a fence to keep the alien dolphins out?

Celtics Fans.
Man does this Bill Simmons put it all in perspective.

Whip crack!
MINIMUM WAGE!

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach and I don't have no problem with fruit.

In Honor of Lady Madonna

First the Plug that leads to this rant/debate, and the only plug today.
Just Me posted and interesting article about the supposed Jesus come to Earth preacher Jose Luis DeJesus Miranda. It has become and interesting debate that Malach wants to expand upon here.

Got another plug or two also. I updated Andy Randall's Gallery. And I got a new Zazzle Store, more stuff coming soon.

Let's talk religion.
Ok, many of you assume Malach is atheistic or a non believer. That is not trues. Malach was born and raised Catholic, though, even though he works for a Catholic Charities based non profit, he no longer considers himself that. What turned me off to Catholicism was the importance placed on dogma, rites, sacraments, and following certain teachings of less than infallable popes. I am also pretty much diametrically opposed to the Church stances on a number of things: abortion, birth control, lack of women in the hierarchy, their stance on homosexuality, and force man into a celibate lifstyle if he becomes a priest. I am also kind of turned off of the whole church history: the creation of the myth of Christ, the building of the New Testament to support that, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the muffling of thought and science, the whole Christianization of Europe, Central America, The Secret Societies, etc. I do have to give the Catholic Church some credit, with Vatican I and II, a lot of the old dogma, and ideas changed quite a bit. I also find the Catholic Church does do a lot of charitable work in the way of Social Justice, which I like.

As for the rest of Christianity? I find it pretty all pretty stupid; that 1000's of Christian Religions all basically believe the same thing, but they each think the other is wrong and going to Hell if you don't accept their particular thought and way of doing things.

Now Jesus; it is not that I don't believe he was the Son of God, I just don't particularly care. Don't get me wrong, Jesus was a really cool dude. A philosopher, a revolutionary, if all these Christians actually followed the teachings of Jesus, they would not be condeming the world to Hell. Jesus as a philosopher and moral teacher is arguably one of the greatest of all time. As for historical Jesus, I have some opinions of who the man was, but that another blog.

The other thing that gets me is the whole Revelations, Rapture, Second Coming stuff. To Many Christians, that book is the end all be all of their thought. OK, have you ever read Revelations? The dude that wrote it (whether it was John of Patmos or not) wrote this very symbolic, enigmatic, dreamlike, perhaps drug induced story. This book was not only not included in the first collected Gospels by the early church, because early Christians thought it would be too confusing and too easy to apply multiple readings too, it was strangely added around 400AD even with dramatic opposition. Revelation also became a part of not only a reason for the Great Schism 600 years later, also the Protestant Reformation, 1200 years later, as clergy still argued about the book. In a away it is kind of basing your belief systems on reading the symbolism involved in Alice in Wonderland.

What I also find interesting is the people who use Revelation and Bible Coding to predict the future. If you did not realize it, symbolic coded writing makes very interesting prophecy . . . Eventually you can apply a past event to something, it worked for Nostrodamus (I am going to try this someday). This brings me to my first debate. If obviously, one cannot see if prophecy is correct until the events have happened, sometime centuries later, how do you know if the event is currently happening? Example, the Second Coming. How do we not know Jesus has already come back? Suppose he is this Joes Luis DeJesus Miranda? Suppose he was David Koresh? Suppose he was Jim Jones and we all missed the boat? Sound crazy? Suppose there was a street preacher claiming to be Christ, would not think he was a nuts? Now, think of Jesus. Many of the establishment of his day chose not to acknowledge him as the Messiah, many thought him a kook, and many more thought him dangerous. How much different is he say from Koresh? I also made the joke, John Lennon could have been the Second Coming, but would that have made him bigger than himself?

So, I have looked into just about every religion, and read most every holy text. I really have not found anything that has particularly clicked with me. If I was forced to align myself with some religion it would be a Universalist/Buddhism/Humanism mix. I guess the basic problem I have found with organized religions and religious thought is, that they all make claims to be tight with God. So either they are all right, or most are wrong. So if they are all right, then what purpose to they all serve, and if most are wrong, how do you figure out who is right? I also look, and they all teach the same thing just with differnt characters. So to me, the basic thought from earliest religions of Zoroastrianism, and Hunduism to the more modern religions of today is as follows:

1. Love your fellow man
2. Respect the Earth, and live in harmony with it, it is the greatest gift.
3. Know that there is something greater than your life and this world.

So, if we are all learning the same philosophy, why can't any of us get along? If the world followed these three rules, wouldn't it be a wonderful place? Christianity, Judiasm, Islam, Hinduims, Buddhism, Wiccan, etc, all teach this.

Do I believe in God? Yes. To me though, God is a entity that cannot really be understood by man completely. I find God in a number of places. When I am with nature, up in the mountains, playing with my kids, when I paint alot of times I find God. I can imagine climbing to the top of Mt. Everest is like communing with God.

I also find it strange that with a lot of people, science and God don't fit. There is not a lot of difference between a theorectical astro physicists and a devout Christian. And I have always said it is just as bad to be blinded by science as it is to be blinded by religion.

Ahh, I have ranted in a while . .

With that being said.
BIBLE FIGHT! Gotta love [adult swim] games.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
First Loss in about a week, to of things the lowly Orioles. S'allright, Schill will right the ship tomorrow. Mood: Whatever.

ATHF in Boston.
So they copped a plea, but what Malach really wants to know is, what did they do for community service?

Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me?
MOUSTAFA MOUSE! Ahh, this goes back to my rant and people twisting religion to use it for bad.

Stamps go ups Monday.
But they are Forvever Stamps.

The return of McCarthyism?
We will see. Speaking of health care, looks like Moore been spending extra time at the buffet.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day:
Monotheism is the primitive religion which centers human consciousness on Hive Authority. There is One God and His Name is ------- (substitute Hive-Label). If there is only One God then there is no choice, no option, no selection of reality. There is only Submission or Heresy. The word Islam means 'submission'. The basic posture of Christianity is kneeling. Thy will be done. - Timothy Leary

I am Malach and perhaps I am the Second Coming . . .?

Learn how to play the game.

We got plugs for you today.
1. Twisted Darkness has a new piece up called Scraps of Poetry. I find this one very interesting as it reminds me of my paintings.
2. Sunshine 36 in now loaded and this one is scary.
3. There is a new Fetus-X, and once again Millikin thinks he is dying.
4. There is a new 8 1/2 by Eleven, strip 529, and for once Nillian's in a good mood.
5. And for those of you who haven't been with this blog since it's inception, I reposted an old blog post on the WoW.

Ouch.
I got this painful hangnail right on my right thumb, right in the place I type.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Well tonight is 3 in row, and we are click on all cylinders right now. Also Schilling apologized to Barry Bonds today. Malach left him a message linking him to his thoughts on the steroid issue.

AWESOME.
JUST FRIGGIN AWESOME! Gonna have to have Malach's Universe Pic of the Day.

HEY STUPID!
Hurricane Seasons Doesn't begin for another three weeks.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day:
Guess who's back!

I am Malach and the Bitch is Back.

UGH!

Plugs.
There is a new 8 1/2 by Eleven up, and I must say, there is not enough Theramin comedy in the world . . . most of you might not know what a Theramin is, unless you are a fan of the Beach Boys. Listen for the strange whistling sound.

Also, there a couple on funny posts up at the wow. This one, I am a Marvel . . and I'm a DC is hilarious. Malach also put up some new undercover video of Otis Serungis, and a Top Ten Terms for Defecation list.

UGH!
The Kombucha Mushroom People lost thier first game today. The site is updated mostly. We never play well under the lights, and that is what happened today. And Papelbon just blew his first save . . see it is all interrelated.

Bush Veto.
So Dubya, evidently did not get the message from the last election and vetoed the Iraq Bill. This is going to be a VERY interesting showdown, especially since 70% of the American People want out. If we are going to stay into Iraq, there needs to be some major changes, included the possibility of conscription. Remember how long Japan and Europe were occupied after WWII? What, yeah they still have a US military presence.

Immigration.
There is a huge push to possibly legalize all illegal Americans who have been in this country for 5 years. This is getting closer to reality. Malach works for an organization that does extensive work with illegals and undocumenteds. Here what you need to do to be prepared. Get everything you can find to prove you have been here for 5 years, employment record, land lord letters, etc, and wait. While waiting protest.

The ethics of Deep Space travel . . .
I like the anti-gravity sex part . . that's hot!

Tom Poston.
RIP to Tom Poston, who made bit parts in a number of popular TV shows, cool.

Kent State.
Interesting, you think Lee Harvey Oswald was somehow involved in this too?

"I just wasn't in the right frame of mind that night,"
Wow, lady, that's understatment.

Tom Brady.
Ultimate Team Player.

MMMMMMM
TACOS!

HUGO CHAVEZ!
YOU LIED TO MALACH!

Let me get this straight . . .
Phil Spector's Lawyer is also John Gotti's?

WARNING NUDITY!
You got to love MSNBC headlines . . .. Waterfowl wage genital warfare . . and of course the sub headline . . . . 'Arms race' has resulted in longer phalluses, more elaborate vaginas. Seriously though, is this science, can one go to graduate school and study duck genitalia?

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day
The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. - The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam

I am Malach and I have found Muad'Dib

Will YOU still need me, when I'm 64?

Plugs.
A new 8 1/2 By Eleven is up. Strip 524.

Check out Community Autism Resources first podcast! Malach is the producer and consultant for this podcast. Yeah it's fun getting paid for stuff like this.

Also, if you want to keep track of Malach's softball team, go the the Sandlot Softball League website, Malach's team is the Kombucha Mushroom People or KMP. As of this writing, they are having a MySQL database issue, but Tim, who runs the site should have that cleared up ASAP.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Wow, do the Yankees look bad. They have a killer offense, but their pitching is atrocious. And Dice-K. This guy is going to be amazing. Look at it this way . . he went from the Japanese league to the American League East. The Japanese is a step above AAA, and he has moved into the toughest division is baseball. As he adjust, he is going to be amazing. The Mood: On Top of the World.

NFL Draft.
Now that's some quality Saturday Morning viewing. Nice to fold laundry too.

I wonder.
Was he that incognito in life too? Also reminded me of a conversation had with Ma and Dad after Uncle Franks funeral about when they die, and cremation and such, and me telling Dad, hey, remember Weekend at Bernies? Yeah, I'll post pictures someday when that happens.

So, I like to scan Wikipedia.
Even though I hate the Wikinazis. A lot of time, I like to start with an article and then link over to a new article. I don't remember what I was looking for, but I ended up on snuff films. That lead me to an entry for the film Snuff. That in turn led me to the Video Nasties. So looking over the list, I have seen: Evil Dead, Faces of Death, I Spit on Your Grave, Last House on the Left, Shogun Assassin, and Xtro. I know have a list of must see movies. And now you know just how cultured Malach is. I have even seen Redneck Zombies. Also surprisingly I have never seen any of the Guinea Pig films . .

Phillip K. Dick?
Yeah, wait until they try and adapt some of his drug addled schizophrenic pieces.

Malach's Quote Video of the Day.

I am Malach and WHERE'S MY MONEY?

"Manny Just Being Manny"

First the plugs.

Only one, Sunshine number 32 is up, and I must say, Kingy Mingy is my new hero. Also my finger is feeling much better and I should be able to start up finishing off the next Wraith comic. Some people were worried about the finger.

You Are Listening Too . .

Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, of The Beatles magnum opus, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song is a Lennon/McCartney collaboration, with more of Lennon than McCartney. The entire song is based upon a promotional poster for a circus Lennon purchased at an Antiques shop (Poster is at left). It is perhaps, beyond a Day in the Life, the most musically complex song on the album. In Lennon attempt for the song to have a surreal carnival atmosphere, multiple recording sessions featuring organ noise, harmonica, and overdubbed guitar were used. Lennon told George Martin, he wanted "to smell the sawdust on the floor" in the middle eight bars of the song. In an attempt to do that Martin and sound engineer Geoff Emerick spliced in calliope and circus music, Lennon was not happy. In a sort of frustrated inspiration, Martin and Emerick chopped up the slice into random pieces with scissors, and re-assembled it at random. Lennon was fairly critical of the song, but in 1980 did state the song was "pure, like a painting". This song was one of three songs banned from the BBC for it supposed drug references. "Henry the Horse" at the time was known slang for heroin, but Lennon always denied this.

Musically, there is a ton of mixing, a excellent drum session from Ringo. Some very trippy organ arrangments and mixes . . . cool stuff.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.

Lost yesterday, and getting destroyed by the Blue Jays right now . . mood, bring back the Yankees.

In a related story. Malach talks a bit about Manny Ramirez. Manny is a bit of a flake, quite an enigma, and perhaps and idiot savant. Manny rarely talks to the Boston media, which pisses them off to no end. Of course they all love Bill Bellichick, but he can talk for 2 hours and give you less that what Manny does by not talking, but that is another blog.

Well, Ben McGrath of The New Yorker magazine has a 7 page article in this month's issues called Waiting for Manny. A MUST READ for any Red Sox fan, or any sports fan. You can read it's entirety here. Now you will have some idea when I write it's "Just Manny Being Manny".

We missed this yesterday . .

But that walking bottle of vodka Boris Yeltsin died.

The Russia-Alaska Tunnel.

This could make world travel very interesting. Could be quite a train tour built up from something like this.

Fat Bug would enjoy this.

You see Virginia, there is Kryptonite.

MMMMMM

Elusive two-horned Borneo rhino.

Did you miss?

Heroes last night? Shame on you if you did. Jack Bauer sucks.

So let me get this straight.

If you wanted to get an abortion, and lived in Mexico, you would have to come to the US to do it? That seems a bit backward to me, no? Now that Miss Alanis Morrisette is IRONIC!

Ohh Willie.

I tell my clients this all the time, if you want to smoke pot, do it at home.

Malach's Quote/Video of the Day

I am Malach and when I'm called off, I got a sawed off, squeeze the trigger, and bodies are hauled off.

And that is dying.

RIP Uncle Frank.
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and startsf
or the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone

"Gone where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she let my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voicesready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...

-Henry Van Dyke

My Uncle Frank's funeral was today, and it was a beautiful ceremony. It is nice to reconnect with people and relatives you haven't seen in a long time. I might have more to say on this at a later date. It makes one reflect on what one has, missed opportunities, and cherished memories.

Some memories, if not for Uncle Frank having very intelligent children like my cousin Franco, Malach never becomes a Dungeons and Dragons fanatic. Summers at their beach house in Mattapoisett. Long drive to Concord, that was always fun playing with my cousins.

Plug.
Sunshine number 31 is up. Yes, it is an intentional spelling, I think.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
What did I say, at least 2 out of 3. The pitching is awesome. The mood, getting cocky.

UFC tonight on SPIKE.
Free PPV on Spike tonight at 9PM, US only. If you have not seen any MMA, watch it, you will enjoy it. CroCop has some nasty kicks, Arlovski's pretty good too if his head is on staight.

Malach's Quote of the Day.

I am Malach and time to watch some beatings

RIP Uncle Frank

Plugs?

There is a new 8 1/2 by Eleven. Also the WoW is getting crazy again and so is the DOMT.

RIP Uncle Frank.

My Uncle Frank passed away Tuesday night after a long battle with cancer. While we were never super close, and over the years, grew slightly apart, he was still loved, and will be missed. I very much got along with my three cousins for a number of years when we were young, but as life goes on, they moved away, and grew apart. Rest in Peace Uncle Frank.

You are listening too . . .

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds off of the Beatles most famous album Sgt. Pepper . . . Lucy, lots of rumors about this song the most obvious being the abbreviation of the song, LSD, which I assume we all know what LSD is. The Beatles at the time were very heavily into LSD and other drugs. First look at the image at left. This is a image done by Lennon son Julian when he was nursery school and three years old. Julian described the picture as "Lucy - in the sky with diamonds". Lennon claimed that is where he got the title from, and did not make the connotation with LSD until it was pointed out to him.

Even with the trippy nature of the song, and the surreal, very surreal lyrics, the Beatles have always maintianed the song was not about drugs and the whole LSD things was a coincidence. The image also inspired Lennon to look back on a childhood favorite of his, Lewis Carroll's, Through the Looking Glass (talk about an acid trip).

The Beatles have also always been pretty honest about their drug use, and song inspired by drug use, and have never really come out and said this song is about and acid trip.

The song itself, musically is not only dreamy and beautiful, it is a very complex arrangment, mostly done by Lennon. The song not only goes through some metre shift, by key shifts, sung by a very distorted Lennon voice, and a complicated underlying arrangment. It fearture sitar, altered organ. One of my faves by the boys from Liverpool.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.

I told the Angryman they would take 2 of three from the Yanks. You see how good their pitching is, saved Schilling. Our mood, party time. Oh and the green unis before anyone asks, Sox tribute to Red Aeurbach.

New Blogger.

This blog had finally switched, you will like the new features, especially ability to look up posts by catagories. No, I am not going back and adjust the 800 or so other posts.

What the Hell is in the Water at NASA?

First nutty astronauts, and now crazy engineers?

Ghost Ship.

Why does this shock anyone? Jesus came down for the Rapture, and these were the only people who qualified, you sinners.

Malach's Quote of the Day.

I am Malach, and Lucy rocks.

Ismail Ax

First Plugs.
8 1/2 by Eleven has updated with strip 519 after a bit of a hiatus.

VA Tech.
OK, I haven't really commented on this, and have listened to everything from right wing nut jobs, to sympathetic mental health technicians, to people who want to blame video games and the ease of gun ownership, to the kid's parents. Some are even blaming Islam. I will try and tackle some of these issues, as well as give you some of my opinion.

It is plainly obvious from seeing the videos, reading some of the writing, and hearing some of the descriptions of this kid, he had some mental health issues (anyone who does something like this has obvious mental health issus). He his whole delusions of matyrdom, his affect . .

It bothers me that someone who was a "imminent danger" to himself and others, was released into out patient services, but it is not surprising in a over worked, under funded, mental health system in this country. As someone who is a director of similar services, I can just show you by my programs budget and my salary, a salary and budget that is 1/3 of what it would be in a different field.

Cho Seung-Hui's parents, what responsibility do they have? That is hard to know. They are "hospitalized" right now. Had they tried to help him? Possibly, but if he was severely mentally ill, there isn't a real lot they could have done to change his behavior beyond meds and couseling. And at this point he's 23 years old, living at college, what real control did they have over him now? There were some pretty obvious signs prior to the shooting in his behavior, but it was either written off, or when reported basically ignored.

But here's the problem . . how many thousands of kids are there in world like this one? Depressed, emotionally broken, anti-social? I bet there is at least one in about every school. I knew quite a few over my years of schooling (no not the Angry Piper). How easy is it for some like this to do that same thing? I can walk out side my office right now, walk into the ghetto this office is in, and buy a gun within a half hour, any gun I wanted too; you don't have to do it legally, though I could also easily do it that way. I will give MA credit, they have some very strict gun laws, and you can see, that MA ranks lowest in murders per 100,000 in the US, including the District of Columbia. But millions of people own guns in this country and they don't go on shooting rampages, and if someone has no record, and passes a background check, they too can own a gun. Look at Canada, you have the freedom to own firearms there, and things like this rarely happen there.

Violent video games? I love and have played Doom, Quake, GTA and such. Yeah they are violent, and yes, it is a release to drive a bus down the street of Liberty City and wipe out 40 people, but is just entertainment, and BILLIONS of people play these games. My 5 and 3 year old understand the difference between real and unreal, right and wrong in terms of TV and video games, why can't a 23 year old?

Unfortunately this will not last one, the next one will probably be worse to try and out do it. Look at Columbine, if it were not for the propane they had set up in the cafeteria not going off, they would have killed a ton more kids, closer to the Bath School House bombings of 1927. This guy used two hadguns . . . imagine if he used something like a H&K MP5, which are nasty weapons are rather easy to comeby. And NBC airing this footage would not make any difference. Don't blame them, any news outlet would have done the same thing, or it would have showed up on YouTube.

As for Ismail Ax? Don't know, but it is a power embueing psuedonym, like Malach the Merciless.
And as Chris Rock said about Columbine: "Who gives a fuck what they was watching? Whatever happened to crazy?"

Why I have been recently busy.
Malach has been chosen as the keynote speaker for the local Catholic Charities Appeal (yeah don't laugh). Not only that, I will be appearing in their local and national advertising. So most every night this week, I have been our late giving speeches and shmozzing with the higher ups in the Catholic Church. Yeah, and I haven't even been struck by lightning.

I might reprint the speech at the WoW, we'll see.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
This is truly going to be a awesome year . . Yanks this weekend. Excited.

Ohh Goody.
More religious nutballs. Look at David Koresh, his message and compare it to Cho.

Look at New Hampshire Go.
Yeah, this will pass . . .LIVE FREE OR DIE!

Malach's Quote of the Day


I am Malach and the women fight for my delight.

Somewhat back on track

First, plugs.
The only one today is a new Fetus-X in which Millikin explores the race war.

The Finger.
Feeling a bit better, still uncomfortable typing, so blog will still be a little worse than usual. I did, work a bit on The Wraith today with the fake holiday and all. I will get him finished by the end of the week.

The Beatles.
Again, involves a bit of research and typing, especially since I will be starting Sgt. Pepper, so we are still holding off on that right now.

The Holiday?
Yeah, today is Patriot's Day in MA. We had our massive Nor'Easter, tree toppled across the street, but no power outage. The Boston Marathon was today in about the crappiest weather ever for the event, though I do believe it snowed one year.

USA #1
So we broke two records today, deadliest mass shooting ever in the US, as well as the deadliest school shooting. USA #1.

Seriously, this whole thing is a messed and really bungled by local law enforcement. They are still not completly sure if it was one or two shooters. Should of locked the school down after the first incident.

Wow.
Another reason not to fly NorthWest.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
This pitching staff is going to be something special. Mood: Estatic.

OK.
Are there really still people who own bidets? And yeah, I would be pretty pissed if it caught fire.

Malach's Quote of the Day.

I am Malach and I am the lizard baron.

OWCH!

Plugs.
Sunshine number 21 was loaded, and Hex basically did a portrait of Dr. Murk with this one. Hex also got me another 20 or so cartoons.

Also, Friday Night RPG Cartoons number 1.9 is also loaded.

My finger.
At the request of several fans, including one who claims to be a doctor, here is a pretty good picture of the gash on my index finger.

Now, it hurts much less, than it did, and I can somewhat type today. What you don't see is the gash continues around the finger (right side) to the finger nail. I sealed up pretty nicely if I do say so myslef. I also stabbed the middle finger next to it, but that ones looking good today and no where near as devestating. I have full feeling in the finger tip (as I can attest while I type), which is a bonus. It probably needed several stitches, but I wasn't about to wait around the St. Luke's emergency room for 4 - 6 hours for 4 - 6 stiches.

So, what happened? I was cleaning our very expensive razor sharp Cuisinart knives. Those of you that own Cuisinart know how strong and sharp they are. I was scrubbing some crud off a blade (they are not dishwasher compatible) and my fingers got in the way . . . whoops. I am lucky it was only a steak knife and not the the Santoku Knife (yeah that would have been a bit of a mess. I was also pretty lucky I did not do this with my Multi-Tool which has a knife designed to cut bone. Kudos to Cuisinart by the way for making such high quality knives.

So, that leave us with perhaps a smaller blog for the next few days, as typing is not nessecarily painful, it just takes three times as long to type this stuff.

As for a Beatles update, we will see tomorrow. I am starting Sgt. Pepper with the next update, and want to do it right.

The Mood of Red Sox Nation.
Add Lester to this pitching staff, and they are going to be frightening. Mood: Happy.

Rain Rain.
Go away. No Sox game today, and they have messed around with the schedule for the Boston Marathon tomorrow.

Hey, doofuses.
They don't call 'em Sea Lions for nuthin'.

A little shout out.
To Mr. Jackie Robertson.

RIP Do Ho.
RIP my Big Kahuna.

Malach Quote of the Day

I am Malach and thanks to C.Rag for the vid heads up.

No Blog

Injury alert.
Malach just about sliced off the top of his right index finger today. Finding it very hard to type. We will see tomorrow.

I am Malach and I didn't even do the hospital.