My batteries are charged, where are yours?

So I finally broke down, and like a good little hippie, bought some rechargeable batteries. Now I can hurriedly and happily not have to worry about the huge expenditure of money that I've been wasting on double-A batteries for the Wii and a variety of other crap that I run on a daily basis.

But oh, wait.

Rechargeable batteries still lose their charge when not in use. I'm sorry, but this is garbage. The year is 2009 and I have yet to get my jetpack or robot servant. The least I can ask for is a bloody rechargeable batterie that stays charged if I'm not using it at the moment. Ridiculous. I just want my wii-motes to be charge when I'm ready for some Resident Evil, yeah?

So, other things of note. I did manage to make it down to the Detroit Electronic Music Festival again this year. Yes, I know it's not called that anymore, but for whatever reason, the only thing I can think of when I say the official name (Movement) is pooping. Call me silly or immature if you want, but really? Movement?

Anyway, this year was pretty fantastic. We arrived around 3:30 after doing some pre-partying at a friends house for another friend's birthday (don't worry, no drinking and driving was involved) and then did a bit more pregaming before we actually got into the festival. I should say here, that while it may seem like I'm hurting my own integrity here, drinking and music festivals really do go together (unless you're underage, kids. Parents, see what I did there? Thank me.). After standing in an absurdly long line while we could clearly hear the bass from the festival, we got our tickets and went inside.

I have a confession to make at this point. For as long as I've been going to the festival (2000, I think being my first year) I've never danced while there. That might seem absurd, but I'm just not entirely secure in my rhythmic abilities. Now whatever it might have been this year, alcohol or just not giving a damn, I actually did dance, and it made everything infinitely better.

The line up this time around was fairly impressive as well. I personally got to see both Francois K and Carl Cox perform, the latter doing a blistering late night set that resulted in a fair amount of insanity amongst my friends and I. Also there were Detroit Techno Godfather Carl Craig, RJD2 and Kevin Saunderson. There were a ton of people over the course of the three day festival that I would have loved to see but for only being there the one day, I felt that I accomplished an awful lot.

Not feeling too well tonight so before I log off, a quick mini-record review.

MSTRKRFT - Fist of God
Strong techno roots combined with a variety of guest stars make this one of the best straight-up techno albums in recent memory, falling off only in moments where the sheer speed and beats of MSTRKRFT overpower their guest stars' impressive vocalizations.

3/5

So there you have it. An evening of joyous reading from me to you. Night.

The time has come to talk of many things, but cabbage mainly. Forget kings.

I haven't been around for a while due to some personal trauma involving a friend and unfortunate circumstances that can happen in life. However, I'm distanced enough now that I think I can start writing on here again and hopefully update a bit more often. I love writing but as I'm trying to turn this into my more 'professional' outlet I have trouble deciding what to post sometimes.

For starters, I now have had two articles published over on Suicidegirls. For those of you who don't know, it's a softcore porn site occasionally masquerading as an arts and culture depot. Kind of an interesting combination, but one that hipsters and folks such as myself eat up. Here are the links to the articles, obviously both not safe for work:
Ida
Playing for Change

Today was weird. I got up relatively early and set off on my usual day-off-four-mile-run. But today, for whatever reason, the trail was CROWDED. And this is not a good day to be exercising outside. Not only was it approximately 80 degrees, it was unfortunately humid for this time of year. So I was constantly dodging awkwardly overweight weirdos who would sneak up behind me on their bikes and then act as if it was my fault I was still in their way. The joys of living in a city. Besides them, there were also the men and women in business wear walking around on their lunch or coffee or smoke breaks. Why would you go out on a trail during your break? There really aren't any office buildings significantly close to this trail, so these people had to walk a fair distance. Maybe I'm letting small things get to me. Probably.

This past weekend though, I did have the joy of meeting a pair of my favorite authors in person. Our store is apparently blessed this summer by the gods of bookselling and we have a number of pretty big events lined up. On Sunday, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, authors of the bestselling Pendergast novels and others besides, came by the store. Actually, came by the store is not a strong enough descriptor. These guys arrived. When I got to work, we had about six spaces blocked off in the parking lot. At five to five, when the event was scheduled for, Emily, our events coordinator, sent me outside to help move barrels. I stepped out the door and there was a massive tour bus, completely wrapped in advertisements for their newest book Cemetery Dance with a picture and their names on the side. Tupping brilliant. I sadly don't have photos, but I should be able to get some from Emily at some point. The signing went off without a hitch and I was able to get my books signed, enjoying the novelty of meeting another Lincoln.

I have been to the movies recently, having seen both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Star Trek. I'll start with Wolverine and what I have to say is this: it is not as bad as everyone is making it out to be. Yes, it was packed with cliches, and yes, what they did to Deadpool was pretty damn unconscionable, but what do you want out of your summer blockbusters? You've got action, fight scenes and one-liners. That's what you asked for and what you received. Of course, then there is Star Trek and I'm going to break a self imposed rule here:

It was fucking brilliant.

I don't like JJ Abrams. Granted, I haven't been acquainted with any of his shows beyond Lost so I'm not familiar with what he does when he isn't building idiotic smoke-screens of BS. But my admiration for him has increased ten-fold after seeing this movie. For me, Star Trek has never been the great action packed thrill ride that the Star Wars movies were. But this time around, Abrams not only keeps the intelligence and spirit of exploration that made the series so wonderful, he throws in some damn good action-y bits as well.

Warning: Minor spoilers await.

Starting off with a space battle and the birth of our beloved James T. Kirk, we're then given a brief illustration of him growing up and joining Star Fleet, and the parallel circumstances of his friend to be, Spock. From there, the movie spirals into a brilliant ride of space battles, planetary explosions and tips of the hat to long time fans. And they do come fast and furious. Be it a scene where Kirk chomps an apple, or the first time McCoy utters that phrase that so wonderfully begins "Dammit, Man..." fans of the show will be pleased with what is presented on the big screen. And Abrams, in what I have to admit is pretty damn brilliant, is able to acknowledge original continuity and justify his new world in an extremely clever and believable (for Star Trek) way.

Basically, you'll just have to go see it.

I'll leave you with a haiku I wrote for a friend of mine a while ago.

Yellow on her lips,
sunflowers curl from her waist,
live, still, at solstice.