StumbleUpon | A-minus's blog posts

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/33144479/

Wed, 27 May 2009 16:44:48 -0700

An old man in a tan hat, tan raincoat and tan
pants stands in the student union park blocks,
quietly reading from a tiny bible to nobody in
particular. From time to time he looks up, and
his watery blue eyes dart around to survey his
environs, but nobody seems to be listening, or
even to see him. His quiet, passionless recital
continues sentence by sentence, with occasional
awkward pauses in between.

Leashed to the man is the most dejected-looking
yellow labrador, whimpering, her head sunk into
the grass in the very recognizable pose of dog
boredom. Her eyes also scan the park blocks,
and perhaps like the man's, they are searching
for some kind of attention. Unlike the man's eyes,
there is emotion there, sadness. There is nothing
in the old man's gaze, except perhaps fear.

Suddenly the dog gets up excitedly - some students
have sat down close to its limited range - but the
old man steps warily back, all the while wrapping
the leash around his hand several times. His Words
continue. The dog, for her part, paces around
nervously for a moment, then sits back down.

"WE PRAY YOU: Be ye reconciled to God,"
says one side of a sign the man clutches.

"The Truth will set you Free,"
reads the other.

Neither of these seems to apply to Dog.

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/32816010/

Thu, 14 May 2009 13:09:46 -0700

which I think means "half-absence."

I miss all three R's... reading, writing and reviewing. I've just been busy.

The good sort of busy, mostly.

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/32402358/

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:30:45 -0700

And on that note, I highly recommend watching this talk.

Crows, intelligence, and vending machines.

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/32402090/

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:17:29 -0700

I was almost home when I noticed a crow in the street, and
slowed down to avoid it.

The crow hopped over to the curb and turned to watch my
progress, and I realized just then it had left something
shiny in the street.

It had rolled an entire can of food out.

I laughed, more out of surprise than anything else, and said,
"Good luck with that, crow."

As I turned onto my street, I thought about tire pressure, and
the dynamics of rolling over a full tin can. The crow, for all
I can guess, probably pushed the can into a better spot.

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/32365435/

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:44:06 -0700

in which the author explores his sexuality in the Age of Information (via Skype)

[1:49:32 PM] candice870 says: what a girl wants

[2:04:55 PM] Alex says: what a girl needs!

[2:05:00 PM] candice870 says: what are you doing?

[2:05:23 PM] Alex says: talking to a computer?

[2:05:26 PM] candice870 says: Why don't you come on spamromance.com it is really cool and have more girl than ever

[2:05:29 PM] Alex says: no thanks

[2:05:32 PM] candice870 says: I have an idea why don't you come on spamromance.com like that i can seen you!!!

[2:05:46 PM] Alex says: not my can of computer viruses, thanks

*photoshop, photoshop -->*

[2:36:57 PM] Alex says: wait I've changed my mind

! Message "wait I've changed my mind" not delivered yet

[2:38:08 PM] Alex says: Damn

[2:38:13 PM] Alex says: I wanted more girl than ever

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/32035439/

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:36:49 -0700

Dang it.

My host is not cooperating, so no sharing of silly images will there be tonight. Well, not here anyway.

Here instead is a track (one track) I really like.

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/31827232/

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:37:52 -0700

It's that time of year again. I've stopped shaving.

In case this has absolutely no relevance to you, dear reader,
I bring you the following image:

As seen from space.

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/31766368/

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:27:50 -0700

I know what Super Mario Bros is. I have for about 21 years, starting from when my older brother's friend first got his Nintendo. Sometimes he'd let my brother in but lock me out, and I'd have to stand on my tip toes on the stone edging the garden bed, just so I could watch through the window. According to a friend of mine, that's how I got this tall.

Anyway, The Internet. I loved that game then. I still love it now. Along with millions of other people of all different ages, I have genuine reasons to feel nostalgia for Super Mario Bros, and for an endless list of other solid games.

All the same, the nostalgia bit has been done to death eight times over, and it has long since begun to ring hollow. I like video game humor, and obtuse references to video game lore. But when everybody gets the "the princess is another castle" reference, the joke might be getting a little dry.

The Internet. Your attempt to repackage gaming nostalgia and sell it as commercial content was clever at first, but that too is quickly becoming played out. It's time to think of something new.

I've spent half my childhood to date playing video games, and I still could think of a hundred other things I could transform into tired memes. Wandering through your interwebs, though, it sometimes seem like you remember nothing else. That's a little scary, The Internet.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my show "Remember Remembering the 80's" is on.
Addictedly yours,
Alex

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/31589593/

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:42:17 -0700

On the bus home, the only people talking were
two girls on phones.

At least half of the remaining passengers were
staring intently into their own devices as well,
concentrating faces illuminated by various colors
of screens as they thumbed messages to others.

It was a depressing sight, to say the least.

Then I imagined everybody on the bus talking,
except they could only speak by tapping each
other's faces with their thumbs.

At this point: amused, heavily creeping myself out.

When I got off at my stop, I looked almost
immediately up at the moon, eager I think to
take in something of my environment, anything.

As I type, my face is illuminated by the color
of this blog (I can't remember the hex value
right now), and, as if to punctuate this whole
thing, my roommate's girlfriend's cell just
went off upstairs; it was vibrating loud enough
to make me think it was right next to me.

http://A-minus.stumbleupon.com/review/31491437/

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:50:50 -0700

Sixty-four.