Tuesday

That's Showbiz, Folks! [long story]



Reference [here, no disrespect to Murray]

The Legend of Yatin




News Video

You Asked For It - In Photographs

5-year photographic retrospective:

2001-2005

Copyright and shit.

Press "Slideshow" and sit back with a box of wine.

Now stop bothering me; I'm crabby.

Monday

Private Garden




The tiny blossoms
Japanese Beautyberry
Minute perfection

Reminds me of love
All that you put into it
Results in flowers

Small but powerful
Love is always all around
The tiniest buds

Beginning of the Summer Kingdom




























Sunday

Portrait of the Happy Couple



F.I.L.
B.F.F.

Helmet on a Stick

Good Guys Win!

[bad guys die]

Driving back from Lowes like the loser suburbanite I am. I heard this heinous sound coming from somebody's car. That high pitch squeal of fanbelt or brakes. The sound of somebody's bucket driving around MY neighborhood. And, boy was I pissed because that means some lowlife, poor, minority has somehow penetrated the bubble that is my suburban oasis. I'm all looking around indignant. Sneering.

Then I noticed.

Hey, that sound was coming from MY car. WTF?! No. Way.

Passenger side. Front. The brakes couldn't be bad...how could a Honda have blown a bearing before 30k miles? Did the spouse run a curb? Oh, and it's the middle of the Memorial Day weekend. I'm not thinking it's going to get repaired any time soon.

Maybe I'll take a look - manly man I am. Where to start? Turn the wheel, drive back and forth a bit. Roll stop; roll stop. Or, roll screet; roll screet. Terrible sound. LOUD sound. Embarrassing sound. I like to stay anonymous and stealthy when I'm rolling the hood (of the Land of Kent). Here's an idea: I'll take the wheel off.

So, I jack up the car, remove the lug nuts, and take the wheel off. Now what? Maybe the braking mechanism has broken, perhaps it's the universal joint. Maybe I'll make it worse (like from a $200 repair to a $1,500 repair - I've done that before - timing belt on an old Nissan circa 1991). But, I'm curious.

I start the car (it starts). Check the brake fluid (good). Turn the wheel some more (it turns)... Shit!

As I prepare to put the wheel back on I bump the hub again (or whatever the hell that thing's called). I hear the sound again. Maybe.... I put the wheel down again and look behind the back of the disc (or whatever the hell that thing's called) and lo and behold (perhaps?), I see a glistening. It's a pebble-size piece of glass - windshield safety glass. It's wedged between the disc and the dust shield (or whatever the hell that thing's called). I move the hub = squeak. I fish the glass out. I move the hub again = no squeak.

I put the car back together again and viola!

GOOD GUYS WIN, BAD GUYS DIE!

I am such a man today. Somebody get me a beer, a fishin' pole, and some ass!

Now, had I taken it for repair, do you suspect that the mechanic would have said, "son, you are one lucky somebitch...just a pebble making a lot of racket." Ya' think?

Saturday

A Test

i dont' acee about spelling

i do'tn care about spelling

idont'et acfe aobuer spelling

idont'care about spelling

i don't care about spelling

i dont' aare about spelling

i don't aare about spelling

i odnt'a coare amaelpell

i dont' asare about aleja

fuckk.

Ask Ty...May 27

Q: Is this shit for real?

http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/

"DARPA's IPTO will create a new generation of computational and information systems that possess capabilities far beyond those of current systems. These cognitive systems - systems that know what they're doing..."

Just what we need...

http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/solicitations/closed/05-28_PIP.htm

"Engines must be able to process naturally-occurring speech and text of all the following types:

Broadcast news (radio, television)
Talk shows (studio, call-in)
Newswire
Newsgroups
Weblogs
Telephone conversations"

- DB, Florida

Ty: DB, good question and an even better observation. Ah, DARPA. The brightest and the craftiest. The people who brought us the InterWebNets, GPS, unmanned drones, and killer satellites. Yeah, they’re up to some sneaky shit and this is the least of it. The answer to your question, DB, is: yep, it’s real.

Gotta love the fact that the future of warfare is in DARPA’s hands, in fact, that future will look amazingly different given that 1) a big chunk of the effort is geared toward unmanned fighting. That is, remote controlled, Nintendo Xbox joystick fighting. Dudes in the cubicle next to yours will clock their eight-hour workday fighting HUMANS on the other side of the e planet with remote controlled “fighting vehicles.” Flying drones and automated soldiers dropped in via parachute (and the best part is that they will ‘stage’ wars by shooting the equipment into orbit and when the time is right, drop it all where it’s needed]. Genius and terrifying.

So, yeah, from the hardware to the software and the heavy equipment to the delicate stuff: DARPA’s our team! At least as much as we know…I’d say about 90% of their work is classified.

Just a guess. - Ty
Dunno, really.

Sounds & Sights

in sounds in order this weekend:

sick like jesus set
the notorious KOL set
slow blues set

in sights in order this weekend:

the boy with the biggest balls
ukulele sue

if this means nothing to you, blame bush

Friday

Props

There is a deal. And, here is that deal. I've been friends with and collaborating with the Otter Prince, Richard Powell, for nearly 10 years. While his gifts and his talents have always been appreciated, I have yet to publicly acknowledge something that we've all always knew: he's a bad motherfucker. He's an artist. He is an NBA All-Star. He's a gangster.

While working on the Kingdom of Leisure 10-year retrospective project, I've gone back through years of archive rehearsal and performance recordings and have re-discovered a hugeness. From Monkeyboy through The Great Escape, brilliance shines through. It's not that I forgot, but that I really had no idea what we held in our hands. Grenades!

Anyone hearing "The Floods of Lexington Pacheco" for the first time - anyone who knows shit from chocolate - knows what they are hearing. That's all set. But, it's fascinating for me to hear, again, the notes leading to today -- the honing of improvisation skills, the discovery of musical communication skills, and the development of unabashed confidence.

In July 1996, he told me that he had recorded some songs into the telephone answering machine, "But I could never play the songs for anyone." Oh, and there were some drums in his basement left from a departed group house member. Oh, indeed.

In April 2006, he told me to fly out to play a gig, "Let's back up Dan for the hell of it." Oh, and there are some drums at the venue. Oh, indeed.

As a songwriter, singer, guitarist, and producer, much respect and acknowledgement from me. Here's to the Reverend DJ Ritchie-Scratchy: keep following the calling. Stay retarded.

ZYXs

Wednesday

Ask Ty...May 24

Q: I find as I get older that I have to wash my ass a lot more frequently. Like, my ass-morphology has changed such that my buttcrack is now generating additional funk. Or I'm in the shower after a long day and some 12-hour old micro-turd drops out from between my cheeks.

What's that about and do I need to re-learn how to wipe? – RP, California

Ty: RP, good question and an even better observation. Tell me about it! Just the other day, I had to dig out the gnarliest…. Never mind. Yes, as we age, we expand and, sadly, as we age, we become more, say, hirsute.

Feces are generally sticky, it sticks to our fat, hairy asses in ways we, as kids, couldn’t even begin to comprehend. We eat fairly large portions of American foods and given our American metabolism, we don’t absorb as much as we could (especially since most of what we eat is crap anyhow <- get it?). We poop more and toilet paper competes with our fat, hairy asses for adhesion. Do you have to learn to wipe again? Probably not since you’ve obviously given it some thought. But, I’ve discovered that I’m now at a socio-economic status where I can afford the premium TP. That is, the good shit! From Cottonelle (Kimberly-Clark) alone there is Ripples, Ultra, and Aloe and Vitamin E.

On might argue that the future of ass wiping is looking backwards. That is, the corporations have discovered that if they sell flushable wipes to adults, the adults will use ‘em; just like baby wipes. Nothing beats the moist wipe. Nothing except the bidet. No shit!

The
Biffy is the shit! For the fraction of the cost of installing a bidet or getting a bidet top for you toilet, you can get the Biffy attachment. Ass as clean as a summer day is long!

Just a guess. - Ty

Tuesday

A Tie

Wore a tie to work today.

I don’t normally wear a tie. In fact, I seldom wear one. In fact, I'm kind of a slob. So what happens when I wear a tie to work? On a Tuesday. For no apparent reason? Questions. "So, er, why the tie?" "Hey, look who’s wearing a tie." "Hey, it’s Ty in a tie." Well, that’s not a question, but you get the point. "Job interview?" "Big meeting?"

It's all pretty silly.

They stop. They stare. They point. I could work with a sneaky pal and pick all their pockets, I could. I could run for office. I could whip it off and strangle ‘em all. If I wanted. Funny thing, a tie.

I don’t really have a good answer. Maybe I just put it one without reason. Maybe I am needy of attention. Perhaps it’s a clever distraction from other inadequacies I have.

Dunno, really.

Thinking

now you got me thinking
all about art
and how it works
and how it fits

and nothing gets me
inside my own head
like thinking
about art

or about love

i mean shit
i am just reminded
of how much there is still
to do

on both accounts

Monday

Over

Monday


"Backslash" in Usage

backslash

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English; 2006
back·slash / bak-slaSH/
• n. Comput. a backward-sloping diagonal line (\), used to separate file and folder names in a path statement.

© The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006.

THE KINGDOM OF LEISURE "One Fine Ride" ... The Washington Post; July 9, 1999; Mark JenkinsTHE KINGDOM OF LEISURE "One Fine Ride" Powder Monkey Byline: Mark Jenkins Edition: FINAL Section: Weekend "Double-u, backslash, space, smartbomb," chant Ty Hardaway and Rick Walkling in "I Like Smartbomb," one of 13 distinctively outlandish shuffles ...