I just heard a a rather loud “Fuck you!” followed by three loud, successive impacts on the ceiling. There was another scream from the same voice as before, some hurried steps, and the sound of a door slamming. I’m kind of curious what was thrown around. Considering my apartment is actually pretty damn good with the sound proofing, it had to be three fairly substantial things.

Now all is quiet.

I have a memory, and in that memory lies an angel. It’s been a while, and more memories have come since then. So it is I’m stuck with a memory, and I am left to wonder if what I remember is the truth or just the vision of the mind’s eye. Worse still, I don’t know which one is worse.

If it’s truth then the angel did come and did unto me speak. Thus everything that has come since then has been defined by the presence and the absence of the angel. Not because it was any kind of unnatural, or even supernatural, event, but rather because the angel lives on in the memory. It is template, and the current reality falls short of it.

If it’s the vision of the mind’s eye then we wonder what is the truth. What happened that stole the memories in my head and replaced them with the angel.

There’s a CD I no longer play, because the memories lie within. But memories lie elsewhere, too, and music has a striking chord regardless of the source. And so the angel lives on, inside, ever the vision in my mind’s eye, ever the template of the reality.

Oh my fucking God.

I didn’t think it could ever get this ridiculous. But, in fact, it has.

You ‘muricans think your leader is bad. Well, yes, he may well be a lying scumbag with the collective foresight of a retarded dingbat. But at least he’s not childish about it.

Contrast to the governor of Puerto Rico, who has as of today signed an executive order to shut down the government (yeah – the whole of government: public education, legislature, executive, judicial, police,) because the senate – who, by the by, is led by the opposing New Progressive Party (largely known for their pro-Statehood political stance) – won’t approve his budget. Well, sure, you might say, budget disputes aren’t exactly a new thing.

Except, well, this one’s a bit special.

See, the budget he did get? He’s already spent it. For the whole goddamn year. So now he’s asking for more money. The senate, of course, is telling him to piss off, because he was given his budget and he wasted it. (There are rumors of lavish new luxury vases and china sets and furniture in the governor’s mansion. I can not substantiate whether the rumors are true. But I definitely wouldn’t put it past him.) So, of course, his responce is to strongarm the senate into giving him his budget by shutting down everything but “the most vital” areas of government.

I’ve not managed to dig up any information on what exactly these vital areas of government are, but I can tell you people are fucking pissed. That’s a lot of government workers being laid off – and we all know how well off government workers are in the fiduciary sense of the word. And of course, the folks who look bad are the senators for not approving the budget. It’s an asinine, childish temper tantrum.

I hate it when people try to pull this type of shit over on me. If you want to piss me off, start acting like an asshole and then saying it’s my fault for not acceding to your demands. I’m a stubborn bastard when I’ve a mind to be, too, so it’ll never actually work. But it pisses me off to have to take the stand and halt whatever progress I was making.

And I think the senate should take the stand and tell that idiot to go beg on the streets. That’s where the money’s coming from anyhow. Maybe he could pawn a few of his allegedly acquired new china sets.

I don’t know. I’m just very disappointed that things have devolved to this state.

Man, finals went and snuck up on me! I mean, I knew they were getting close. Some part of my brain acknowledged that they were sometime soon, within the horizon, as it were.

But not two weeks away!

Two weeks! In three I’ll be done with Law School, Year One! I’ll be one of the fabled Two Els.

But don’t worry. The humor doesn’t start seriously hemorraghing until you become a Three El.

I wish I had been 14 years old today.

Back when I was 14 the world was still a place of dreams and fantasy. When I was 14 I wanted to make movies. I wanted to write, I wanted to direct, I wanted to produce film. This fantasy went on until I was about 18 years old. In truth, it’s never really gone away. It’s why I watch DVDs as religiously as I do – two or three times each, at least, and at least one run through with the commentary. I love the technical details, I love the esoteric aspects, I love the storytelling.

But my love of storytelling is another entry altogether.

Today’s is about technology.

There is no doubt whatsoever that we live in the Information Age. Everyone is wired. If you aren’t wired, you’re a fossil. I’m not going to go so far as to proclaim that “the Only Reality is Virtual!”, but it must be admitted by all that the Virtual is a part of our reality. It used to be that you could go weeks or months or even years without communicating with someone and still say you had a good relationship with them. That was just the way things were. Communications were slower. Nowadays if you’re not IMing, emailing, phone calling regularly, it’s almost as if you don’t care.

But that, too, is another entry.

Radio is going to die. This is not another entry – this is a related point. Satellite radio might survive. “Hi def” radio, let’s call it. But the radio as we know it, as my generation and the generations before me knew it, is not going to survive the next fifty years. Let’s face it – it’s had a pretty good run, near enough a hundred years. But podcasting is the future. And why not? The future lies online. If we can digitize radio and bring it online, you heighten the quality. You get the programming you want, full control of what you listen to, and it’s largely advertisement free.

(Advertising, too, is endangered. But the bastards are intelligent, and they are nothing if not adaptable. So advertisements will, sadly, not die.)

But I’ve talked about podcasting. Since then I’ve subscribed to a few more podcasts. I have eight that I listen to regularly. (On a somewhat unrelated note, I’m really saddened by the fact that the Penny-Arcade podcast made it to number 4 on iTunes. I mean, my God. Gabe and Tycho could shit in a bucket and sell it on eBay and it would go for a few thousand dollars. I’ve heard the podcast. It’s not bad. It’s just not great. But that, too, is another entry.)

What I want to speak of today is video podcasts. With the advent of the iPod video store have come a surge of video podcasts. There were a few internet video shows before that came out. But I think with an increase in the technologies that support the format, the format itself grows. I think I said that incorrectly, but I hope you get my drift.

I think this is a great thing! You’ve probably heard that ABC will be offering a few shows for “free download.” That’s good. I think more networks should offer their shows for download – not necessarily free, mind, but it would do the fan community no disservice. (Figure this – the shit’s already available for free, if not through legal channels. Would it really hurt anyone to offer it easily?)

I think internet-based video series could be a big thing. And I mean a big thing along the same lines as webcomics are a big thing. Maybe not everyone is hip to the idea. But a good deal many people are. Hell I can’t remember the last time I bothered reading the funnies in a newspaper, and yet there are at least nine webcomics that I anxiously await.

I’ve watched two video series so far – Patrick Norton’s dl.tv and X-Play’s daily video reviews. (Anyone picking up the Tech TV vibe? What can I say, I was a real fan. Plus, Morgan Webb’s hot. But we knew this. Also, it really surprised me X-Play gave Galactic Civilizations II a 5 out of 5. It’s a good game, mind, but personally I wouldn’t have gone higher than 4. But, again, I digress.) Both of these are professionally created and put out. They look just like television shows – which, I guess, they are. DL.TV even has ads (one rather funny ad had a Metal Gear: Solid send up with a Snake-like figure sneaking through a corporate office attempting to get the “latest news in gaming.” Kitschy, and humorous.) They need the ads – it’s how they afford it.

But it reminds me of the old radio serials. The type of shit brought to you by Blackiron Coal, Co. or whatever. Someone gets themselves an audience, some corporate sponsorship, and a good idea… I think some entertaining things could be done. I don’t know.

But I certainly would have liked to have the free time to play around with the idea.