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July 05
July 28, 2005
We discovered this black widow (about the size of a 50 cent piece) in our back yard a couple days ago. It caught a couple of unsuspecting wasps in its web, quickly came out and zapped em plenty good. But then a third wasp came along and started some shit. What ensued is what’s on the video below: amateur nature porn at its best set to “Animal Virtue” by Constellations.
Watch Black Widow vs. Wasp
Posted by: darksandal in Uncategorized | Permalink 8 Comments
July 28, 2005
Sorry for the downage. We have no idea what happened.
In any case, the JULY ISSUE is now up at the website. Should you like to receive your content in the print version of the paper a full 2 weeks before it goes up on the web (and to support our efforts in general), please SUBSCRIBE HERE
Posted by: darksandal in Uncategorized | Permalink Comments
July 26, 2005
Shuffling home on Friday evening, I stopped and stared at the poster stuck front of the Underground turnstiles.
The poster, nearly life size, showed four men in the midst of trying to detonate bombs in the center of London and appeared shortly after Thursday’s failed bombing. Each in mid-action (one running, one looking over his shoulder, one waiting impatiently for the train, the last looking at the camera – all while carrying large backpacks) – I might’ve guessed it was some sort of raw, subversive ad for the next season of Big Brother. You know, multi-cultural Big Brother, and instead of coked-up Chelsea tramps and a few stroppy chavs from Birmingham, it could be a diplomatic season, where they give heed to all races and religions, and Big Brother gives them large philosophical conundrums to ponder …
Sadly, even Big Brother is taking this thing seriously.
The photos, themselves, were badly focused and highly pixelised, making the identities even more muddled and the breadth of people that fit their descriptions huge.
What struck me, as I stood in the quiet of the post-rush-hour station, however, is that the men in the photos were nothing like I had pictured. I’m not sure why, but somehow I imagined middle-aged men in sandals, long dress and perhaps a skull-cap. If nothing else, I expected a well-managed beard, if not a bit too long.
These men, however, were Western-dressed. These men were…well, they were stylish. They were young, without beards. They wore nice jeans and smart boots. One of them even wore a well-fitting sweatshirt with ‘New York’ emblazoned on the front – if that wasn’t barfingly ironic enough for everyone. More than anything, however, is that they were trim and well-groomed.
These are men who tried very hard to look the way they did, and it is a trait that is difficult not to notice.
After the first bombing, when traumatized Londoners got back on the bus and tube, everyone did their quiet bit of sizing each other up. If a traditionally dressed Arab-looking man got in the carriage, everyone took a collective but noticeable step back. This sometimes happened for women in headscarves and men wearing turbans. If he or she sat down in a seat, people silently decided to stand, or at least move their paper in between. While I tried my best to shrug off the racial profiling, I found it impossible not to wonder: is this person shoved in between the door-frame and my elbow carrying a bomb? And subsequently: if it goes off, how likely am I to be blown to bits?
The poster’s display of the undeniable style of these men (who are now all in police custody, I will note), made me realize that we have been going about our daily journey in the wrong way.
If religious extremists who want to blow people up also care about matching their TopMan jeans with non-scuffed Carhart boots; if they shave their beards into chin-straps and curve their baseball caps just so, then instead of staring wide-eyed at the Indian man carrying his groceries home, maybe we should give the bombers over to the torment of the Vogue editorial staff and a couple reality make-over television shows.
Sneering at a badly-paired sweater and trouser combo, reminding them that hooded sweat-shirts are, uh, so over, and launching into a heavy coughing fit because of their cologne would provide both a torture device for the police and a screening mechanism for tube passengers. I say: shame style, and you’ll defeat the repressed fashionista.
Sure, we might offend a few metrosexuals with low self-esteem - we might even find it difficult to poke holes in their fashion argument - but considering how hard these men obviously worked to look the way they did when they tried to blow themselves up, I think it’s London’s best hope at the war on terror.
So tomorrow’s tube journey provides me with a new way to evaluate my safety, and you can bet that I won’t be sitting next to a clean pair of Carharts.
Posted by: Aaron Retka in Uncategorized | Permalink Comments
July 22, 2005
For those of you who don’t know Brian Nemeth, it may be difficult for you to understand how momentous the following interview (in 4 parts in Quicktime Video) was. It is Brian’s greatest dream to be a newscaster, and Jon Karroll is one of the many heroes that inspired Brian to follow his dreams. Jon Karroll, the news anchor at KRDO Channel 13 in Colorado Springs, was kind enough to grant Brian this interview and we’ve got the exclusive footage (low budge as it may be) for you here. Congratulations Brian! (probably best to watch these only if you’ve got cable or DSL).
Posted by: darksandal in Uncategorized | Permalink 2 Comments
July 22, 2005
Savage Love
by Dan Savage
I have a question I don’t think you’ve ever addressed in your column. I’m a 32-year-old heterosexual female who was stricken with near-terminal cancer eight years ago. I’ve gone through every sort of treatment known to mankind (and had the gross misfortune of going through menopause at 27 years old). I was sort of a late bloomer when the disease took hold, and I had only had sex with one man, when I was 23 years old. That relationship lasted about six months.
For a long time, I suspected that I would not live, and therefore I didn’t think too much about having a sex life. But about two years ago, I finished a final round of treatment, and now I’m cancer-free. I’ve reestablished myself professionally, and for the first time I feel like I may have a future. My problem is that I have no confidence in sex. It’s been nine years since I’ve had sex-and I don’t have an advanced skill set that one might expect of a 32-year-old woman. But I also know that a successful sex life is something I want and need and deserve, and I’m not willing to go without it much longer.
I took it upon myself to have some cosmetic surgery to restore my looks (I had some bloating that stretched my skin, and some really bad scars), and men are starting to notice me. I would very much like to have a sex life-and I very much want to rock the world of the next person I’m with. Do you have any suggestions as to where I might find a heterosexual man who would be willing to “educate” me? Would it be foolish to explain my predicament to people seeking casual sex on various websites? I am at this time more comfortable without the nervousness of an emotional entanglement-so please don’t tell me to just find a nice guy.
Former Sicko Seeking Sex
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July 20, 2005
More completely unsolicited, entirely wholesome and genuinely quixotic Church Kicking over at the The Church Kicker Blog.
Posted by: darksandal in Uncategorized | Permalink Comments
July 20, 2005
One way – If one’s favorite book is the bible:
1) We all have to follow the rules by Jesus.
Posted by: darksandal in Uncategorized | Permalink Comments
July 18, 2005
The following is an account of the London bombings by my sister, an ex-pat who’ll hopefully be sending us more stuff to blog as things unfold over there. Are our weak-chinned linguistic brethren bound for a cross-the-pond equivalent of post-9/11 jingoism? Stay tuned, Ringo.
"It’s time again. Tear up the violets and plant something more difficult to grow." - James Schuyler
I turned off the news at three in the afternoon, yesterday, crawled into bed, and tried to sleep amongst a sickening chorus of sirens. After I woke up, I cleaned the entire flat. Scrubbed toilets, vacuumed the couch, and thwacked the rug against the patio. But it didn’t make me feel better. London had just faced the truth of five intensive years of terrorism-emergency-protocol, in the shape of Thursday morning rush hour. I was as involved as most of my overseas friends and family: a late night wine tasting gave me the morning off, and I crawled out of bed just before the bombing, taking a swift stride towards the tube station when I realized (20 minutes later) that the buses were rather behind.
Posted by: Aaron Retka in Uncategorized | Permalink Comments
July 15, 2005
Savage Love
by Dan Savage
I have recently been exploring my bi side and experimenting with other men. I’ve come to a point of being perfectly comfortable with my sexuality: I’m attracted to both women and men, but I’m predominantly attracted to women. I hate the idea of having to hide this. I’ve read Dossie Easton’s book The Ethical Slut, and have come to the firm conclusion that I don’t want to lie about my sexuality.
So wouldn’t it be nice if I could come out as bi? But my problem is this: Are out bi men gay by default? If I come out as bi will 99.9 percent of women be skeezed out, leaving me with only bi or gay men as my sexual partners? That is NOT what I want! As I said, I’m predominantly heterosexual! So do I have to choose between being a closeted bi or de facto gay? Some choice!
So what do you think? Is there any hope for being male, out, and bisexual-not-gay? How can I meet women who aren’t bi-phobic?
Seeking To Unburden Deception
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July 15, 2005
If you put your ear up to a micro-conch, you can hear a glass of water
Posted by: darksandal in Uncategorized | Permalink 1 Comment
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