On Greeting a Stranger on the Street...

I don't know how to feel

So Lender's Bagels has come out with it's line of "NOW! Improved Taste" bagels. My initial reaction was, of course, that this was a terrible, terrible idea. You see, I've always been a fan of Lender's Bagels. Of course, they don't compare to a good bakery bagel, or even some of the "high class" bagels that many people are used to, but I think that when it comes to packaged, pre-sliced bagels, Lender's is the leader.

The other week, my mom bought me some Sara Lee bagels. Now for my money, Sara Lee has, in the past, consistantly put out good-tasting products. Now this was mostly their frozen-goods and their desserts, but it's what I thought of when i saw the bagels in my refrigerator. I don't know what prompted my mom to get them, but she did. Perhaps they were all out of the Lender's Plain variety (the only good type of packaged, pre-sliced bagels, in my opinion), or perhaps she thought it was time to break tradition, but whatever the reason, there they sat in my refrigerator in not one, but two forms. Normal bagels, and mini-bagels.

Now, before I get to the actual taste part, I'm going to talk about the novelty of a mini-bagel. Now when I first saw these, I thought, "That's going to be impossible to toast!" as it would never fit in a normal toaster. But walking over to the toaster, I realized we have a toaster oven. Before actually putting the bagel in the toaster oven, I gave the bag a precautionary sniff to see what they smelled like. It did not bode well for these new bagels. But regardless, the bagels would be able to be toasted in the toaster oven. Problem solved there. As I was cooking the initial one, I thought how similar in size these bagels were to 'Bagel Bites®' bagels. This seemed like a good thing to me, as - how awesome would it be to make your own mini-bagel pizzas? But alas, the novelty wore off far too soon.

I had previously had a sack of Brugger's Bagels (available in Iowa City and are the finest bagels I've tasted in my admittedly short bagel-eating career).Now I like my Brugger's Bagels with Brugger's brand cream cheese. I told my mom to pick me up some at the same time she got her bagels, but she must have misinterpreted this as me asking for any old run-of-the-mill spreading topping. When she arrived home with the bagels, I saw to my dismay that the cream cheese she had gotten was Philadelphia® Regular Cream Cheese Spread (with 25% less saturated fat than butter, the tub so prominently states). By a striking coincidence, this Philadelphia topping is made by Kraft, the company who also makes the tasty Bagel Bites snacks mentioned earlier. These Brugger's Bagels tasted fine with the Philidelphia spread, but not as good as it could have been with Brugger's brand.

Brugger's bagels, as I have come to understand, are moderately expensive compared to the packaged, pre-sliced bagels available in either your local grocer's bread section, or their refrigerated case. Because of this fact, I had recieved a moderate number of Brugger's bagels. Because of this fact, I had much Philadelphia Regular Cream Cheese Spread left over from my Brugger's experience. This, I decided, would go on my newly acquired Sara Lee bagel (mind you, the mini-version.) Before I spread it, I took a quick bite of the mini-bagel to test for taste. And let me tell you...

Disappointing.

But I thought perhaps the topping spread, or spreading topping, or top spread, or, to put it simply, the Philidelphia brand Regular Cream Cheese Spread, could improve the rather disappointing original taste. It did not. This held true with both small and large varieties of Sara Lee bagels.

So think of my delight when I was able to request Lender's bagels when I was being shopped for earlier today. I thought that finally, I would have my good old Lender's brand Plain bagels back. Opening up the refrigerator, you could not have imagined the sinking feeling in my stomach when I not only saw the new packaging style, but also the aforementioned "NOW! Improved Taste" on the side of the bagels. I was wary of this new bagel. My previous experiences with "improved" snack foods have not been good in the past. The "WOW!" version of Lay's Potato Chips prove a good example, as does "New Coke" for those old enough to remember it.

I opened up the bag and took another precautionary sniff. It seemed quite different from my loved and cherished Lender's bagels of the past, yet... strangely familiar. It had a vague sense of still being Lender's Bagels, but.. with a new twist.

I decided that, once again, trying a new type of bagel would require it to be toasted first. I also decided, once again, to use the Philadelphia Regular Cream Cheese Spread. I toasted the bagel, and, as with the original Sara Lee bagel, took a bite before spreading.

I was at a loss.

I was supposed to hate these new, "NOW! Improved Taste" bagels, but... I didn't. In fact, I liked them. I liked them a lot. Comparable to the original? I don't know. I really don't. But an acceptable substitute, I must say. I think I can certainly live with these new "NOW! Improved Taste" bagels, and may, in time, grow to love them as I did their original.

Lender's Plain "NOW! Improved Taste" Bagels:
**1/2 out of 4

Say Yes

Goodness sometimes things get bad
But I swear
I'm doing all I can
So try all you want to
I'm gonna try too

If I get one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand
Maybe we can be happy again
I'll try for one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand
Maybe we can be happy and then...

Things don't go as I planned
But I swear I'm doing all I can
So try all you want to
I'm gonna try too

If I get one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand
Maybe we can be happy again
I'll try for one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand
And I hope if this isn't the end
Maybe we can be happy again

If I get one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand
Maybe we can be happy again
I'll try for one ray of sunlight to hold in my hand


And I hope that this isn't the end
Maybe we can be happy again

'no... art is not art'

Wow. A rant. Haven't had one of these in ages. Haven't felt the need for one.

Okay, so I go to this amusing little whiteboard/chat thing. I found it the other day and went through all the trouble of getting a password for it. I do a couple amusing doodles with some people a few nights ago, and then check out the gallery. I see that they have some fucking great artists at this site. I of course think "why the fuck would somebody waste this sort of talent on a whiteboard?" But I am impressed.

So I go there tonight, and there are a ton of people in there. I see that one guy has been working on a fucking amazing anime figure for quite a while, and it's very impressive. I see that another guy is also doing one, so I do the typical "HAY GUYS! I'm using the internet!" thing I do when i go to places like this, and I start drawing something amusing. Break up the monotony, right? It's a dinosaur yelling at a stick figure about wanting a divorce, and the stick figure crying.

So then some guy in the chat tells me to stop. He says I shouldn't waste pixels when someone like [insert badass-artist name here] is drawing stuff like he is. So I just go off on him. Yeah, I was kind of being a dick. I really didn't give a fuck, and I was just screwing around on his whiteboard for fun. But the guy tells me to stop wasting pixels? I mean, even though I knew i was capable of much more than my crappy little dinosaur, where does he get off saying that? Say the dinosaur was the pinnacle of my artistic ability? How much of an asshole is he then?

So then I just go off on him. I start talking about how all art has artistic merit, no matter how much time is spent on it. I tell him that he's discriminating against people without wacom tablets, he tries to counter with "well, [other artist] can do amazing things with just a mouse!" and i tell him that that's amazing, but I can't. And i say, "art is art, no matter how much time is spent on it." He counters by saying that that's rediculous, "no... art is not art." Wow, fucktard. You win. He goes on to say that art is a technical skill.

So of course I bitch him out about how art is beauty and imagination, and some guy randomly spouts up and tells me to stop with the textbook talk. I felt like telling him to fuck off right then. I bitch at the guy asking him what right he has to judge what is art and what isn't, if he's the final say on whether something is art or not, and he's like "i'm done with this conversation," but seconds later chimes in with "wait, one last thing.. you were PWNED!" or something equally moronic.

I mean, honestly. I was a bit over the top with my "beauty and imagination" bullshit, but the intent is still there. Something doesn't need to be art in the traditional sense to have value or merit. This fucking asshole thinks that art is something you can lear. Well you know what buddy? While you're drawing generic anime characters, I'm creating something original and imaginative, be it impressive or not. It's more creative than anything you'll put out.

So really what I'm trying to say here is... FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE.

Come with me, and we'll be, in a world of pure imagination

If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.
Anything you want to, do it.
Want to change the world? There's nothing to it.
There is no life I know, to compare with pure imagination...

It's such an amazing song. Gene Wilder is god.. unfortunately, the movie sucked. Here's hoping for Burton to translate it beautifully.

Did you know?

The leading cause of death in whales in 2002 was autoerotic asphyxiation.

I want to love you madly, I want to love you, love you, love you madly

I don't know what the hell to write, because I don't feel like externalizing it quite yet, but I'm writing something anyway.

Life is good right now, or at least better than it's been in ages. Theres some things I want to change, but for the most part I can either shut them out or worry about them constantly. Fucking constantly.

I'm tired. Tired of not being able to write, draw, talk, feel, express myself in any concievable way. I don't know what it is about myself, but I don't seem to be able to grasp anything that's inside of me, let alone get it outside. I have no motivation, and the easiest most simple things make me feel like I want to give up.. just on everything. But I have just enough willpower and sense of mind not to.

I need some way of getting myself out there, and I simply can't find one. And it's not hard, but somehow.. it's nearly impossible.

William Shatner presents..

I remember
the night we met
that night we sat
entwined
under summer skies
I looked into your eyes
and you looked into mine

you said, "you're not like the rest"
and I nodded
"no one understands me,"
you said
and I nodded once again,
as if to agree that all men
are indeed the same
"somehow," you said,
I was different

Floating hand in hand we
whisper in the moonlight
and say that I'm
the things you want to see

for months on end
I maintained
a veneer of sincere interest
as if I were listening
as you relived every page
of self-help and new age
that you had read

and I went in for the kill
I'd read the same books
I learned to ape the motions
of a "sensitive" human being
and we were "oh-so-happy",
but you found things too fixed
and I knew it was time
to move on

so now you have me
completely figured out
you feel sorry for me
I can't express my feelings,
I can't tell the truth
we are all alike

at puberty I was sworn to secrecy
by the international brotherhood
of lying fickle males
I can't tell you anything
and I can't commit!

you're right!
I can't commit...
to you!

I will always treasure
our time together
I don't feel enough of anything
to harbor the kind of disdain
that you'll maintain
you painted me into what you
wanted to see,
and that's fine,
but you will never know me



...I never thought that I would ever be capable of listening to William Shatner and consider it beautiful, but.. I've been proven wrong. Though, it does of course help that it was written by Ben Folds.

So summer's been pretty groovy so far. Hope it stays this way. Hopefully Collin and I will really get this movie in motion soon.

The more you talk, the more I want to know...

Let's go down to the east river and throw something in
Something we can't live without, and then let's, let's start again...

Ani is just such an amazing singer/songwriter.. makes for an amazing mood. anyway.

I'm going to have to see Kill Bill Vol. 2 sometime soon..

Collin and I finished the script for the movie the other day, hopefully we'll get preproduction really moving after this weekend. Or if he has the camera tomorrow, then sunday. Hopefully.

Man, I wish I had more wheat thins..


My dad has this goddamn gigantic flag hanging in front of the house. I've asked him to take it down, in a sort-of joking manner.. It bothers me. I know it shouldn't. I know it doesn't reflect on me, it makes no political message from my standpoint, but.. I don't want someone to see that and think that I'm supporting america right now. In fact, I'd go and take it down and put it in my dad's room if I didn't know that it was his father's flag laid across the casket at his military funeral. So I don't want to do any disrespectful action..

...fuck.

well, congratulations to the two of you.