Ozomatli - Austin Winter Nights

Someone once said, when you turn the world upside down and shake it, everything that doesn't settle somewhere finds its home in Los Angeles. This is certainly the case for the boys from Ozomatli, who's tunes capture the east LA sound and then some.

Funky groves, MC's, crazy DJ's, a horn section, classical guitar, crazy dancing vatos, and various percussions make the band one of the best of the genre, if you can actually define it.

My AMF counterpart Brittani was kind enough to let me watch the entire show, as she 'womaned' our non-profit booth through the course of the show. Much better than our co-non-profit Sims group, who shot the event a ghost for representation and a 'tip jar' for lack of a better word.

No congo line this time, apparently the congo line done by Ozo at the end of shows, as they go out in the crowd and play amongst the people, is quite controversial and every authoritative figure hates it! haha

Early Morning Swim Lesson

I'm convinced the the gods are against me learning to swim. Woke up, got out of bed, (no comb arcoss my head), at 6 to discover it drizzling.

Venting more, my square headed girlfriend (aka, my laptop) is coughing up blood (making crazy noises), and I think she's about to die. She's been used more than a 40 year old coke whore / herion addict, and her performance reflects. I'm looking at getting a stinkpad, I wish that money tree in the backyard would take off and start growing already.

Sing Along with the Common People

I intended for this posting to be about how the poor protect the wealthy, and how growing up in a small town has influenced my life, just as I started to get going with it, Rachel, my english friend zipped me a message.

Having met on hotornot.com in 2002, we've collaborated about our two different countries, politics of our nations, health care, and general in's and out's of life. A fun Person to talk to, always smiling and always staying positive.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting her a few years ago visiting Big Neil in bloody England. After a killer day at Wimbledon, I took the tube out to Harrow, hung out with her and her buds Adam and Sinead, ate, stole a stella pint glass, and actually went to Safeway to buy tea and crumpets! I was happy to have finally tried a crumpet, although once I've ate one, they are not good at all.

She is the English version of a crazy driver, similar to myself as she whips her little Ford around these roundabouts at blazing speeds, as I constantly grab for the 'O SHIT' handles. Well there's Mr Baldy and Rachel in her humble abode in Harrow.

Years later, Rachel got to visit Austin, and a Texas tour was in order, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Shiner and Dallas in a very short amount of time. The live music scene in Austin was explored, saw Groupo at Emo's and she was introduced to the 'huge f*ckoff buildings' as she referred to capitalist America.

The Alamo and the Riverwalk, and no sign of Ozzy with his wang out about to piss on anything.

We went to see Waylon Jennings in Billy Bob's, Ft. Worth, the largest honkey tonk in Texas. A healthy dose of country dancing in order for the evening!

Putting all these pictures out there of my sexy ass (haha, yea, ummm, right), may as well put one more, Manuelabor and I near the place JFK got shot, saw the angle, etc. Highly recommend the museum to anyone.

The world is a small place, it's getting 'flatter' too, I'll tell you more about it when I'm done reading 'The World is Flat,' so far an excellent read. Having international friends helps keep me in touch with what's going on in the world, a first person perspective for a dude that isn't necessarily up on current events.

One of these days we may be able to pull a Star Trek and I can warp over to see lovely people like Rachel, until then, the dreaded toast to Absent Friends.

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"I'm meeting people, nice people too, I'm meeting people, nice people like you." --Gordon of The Violent Femmes

Well the Race is On and Here Comes Pride in the Backstretch, Heartache's goin' to the Inside

Cruel and unusual torture, that's what it is. Going out to the pool where everyone has a swimmers body, hey nice back, hey nice legs, hey nice this and that. What can you say about me, ummm, nice belly sucka! Why hang your pride out there? Shit I guess its all about personal growth, turning your weaknesses into strengths and all that jazz.

Robert doesn't know how to swim, Queen Bee doesn't know how to swim, so Ashley and Sara are going to attempt to teach us how to be like a fish. Big Stacy, Austin's heated outdoor pool situated near Oltorf is the place for the magic to happen, we get there, there's all these professional lanes and such, yea, I'm going to get in this Olympic looking swimming pool and bounce around in the water playing with my rubber ducky, pfft! So, we get stage fright and not go near the water.

Instead we do what I do best, which is eat. H@i Ky is the place, east Oltorf is the location, great place, all things good. We've decided to kick up the gourmet eating club, inviting anyone who wants to come out once a week to eat at a different restaurant until we don't have one left uncovered in the entire city. H@i Ky gets two thumbs way up from me for quality of food, service and a badass selection and a quaint environment.

Our new plan of attack for getting our swimming lessons on is to go at 7 am in the morning, when the polite lifeguard said there aren't nearly as many people. Wish me luck, I still gag at the thought of swallowing some of that chlorine filled water. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses --

A Thousand Thundering Thrills Await Me, Facing Insurmontable Odds Gratefully

Holy shit, tonight I take a page out of Gumps book as he runs thru the desert, you know the part where he talks about the beautiful sunset.

Bob and I en-route to Saengerhalle spot a brilliant sunset, overlooking the fields of corn in New Braunfels surprisingly growing near I35. A picture simply doesn't do it justice.

As for the Bike ride, I rode a small chick bike, Bob had the regular bike. Bob did great (round of applause), no huffing and puffing and intense sweat dripping from his brow, nor the pit stop at a random bench on the drag this time around.

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"I had an epiphany a few years ago where I was out at a celebrity party and it suddenly dawned on me that I had yet to meet a celebrity who is as smart and interesting as any of my friends."
- Moby

It Takes a Worried Man, You Know, to Sing a Worried Song

Once upon a time there lived an OX, a beast, a butterfly, a queen bee and a dog. While Queen Bee works, the OX and the beast attend to the overhead of life. We make not just a target run, but a Greatland Target run.

Here, the list of items to pick up at target, one on the list being 'Target Girls.' Has anyone ever noticed there is about 5 million good looking female in target at once?

Later Jenny K, the Beast and I head to Town Lake for the long walk. There's the city behind us, as we are close to mopac and the park.

The Beast calls me an OX, and I'm going to take the opportunity to call him a skinny bitch. Put some meat on them bones boy! Yea the beanpole is standing on Lamar's walking bridge. Mr Beanpole, might I suggest a peck workout, now on hot or not dot com, come on give him a 10.

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"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties."
- Sir Francis Bacon

"There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening." - Marshall McLuhan

Google Quotes on a custom homepage are the shizzle!

Come the Rainy Season, Surrender to Our Treasons, Can We Even Find Our Tears

A lovely sunny Saturday with the family in Shiner. We watched a bit of a Talking Heads DVD, I had to explain to my family what speed was, and what I believe to be the effects on the human body, well just check out David Byrn in the DVD. After that, The Eagles live in Australia was good family fun, especially 'Ordinary Average Guy' by Joe Walsh. Also the new Rolling Stones album is pretty decent, my brother Gery spun the new Tesla for me, not as good as their 80's efforts, VERY cheesy lyrics, but nevertheless excellent guitar work. Someone please kill the brotha who made and R and B version of 'More Than Words' too.

The floor is beautiful, the paint is wonderful, and the acoustics in this room are fantastic. It's great a great 'study room.' Studying, its stupid.

Main Bar, Moulton Texas, I saw this contraption, asked the barkeep what it was. He said it's a candle that doesn't burn, b/c the film from candles sticks to the top of your ceiling. Meanwhile, little attention was paid to the 20 or so smokers in the building and their cigs that were more than likely sticking to the ceiling.

My wonderful mother gave me 100 bucks for Christmas, and next post you'll see from Shiner is with my OX ass in a hammock.

Strangers Passing in the Street by Chance Two Separate Glances Meet

Damn, hard night's geekin. I consolidated my 'buckleyrules' ISP with my 'divineguitar' ISP tonight and found a killer 'temp' folder with some goodies in there, decided since I live a boring life, time to dig into the archives. First is an avi of the beast singing wicked game circa 1998. Check out the close-up on his face. In no particular order, the pics from the dead, finding a new home on the blog.

Robert and the Beast and others near skinny dippin' in Green Dickson Park circa 1998. I was bald back then, and yes I'm white as the dickens. Big time farmers tan. Not like we were swimmin' or in my case bottom jumping since I can't swim next to big ass nutria(which are big ass rats for people who don't follow the link) or anything.

The beast doing his grassroots thing on a vicious ATX, HTX, ATX, night full of instant tea. 104 in the Oldsmobile, no AC.

My friend Walker and I. Computer guru, a big man and a big heart. He even went canepole jumping with me once. We both liked the rentals song, 'the systems fail, all the circuits blown, and the message lost in this machine,' it was us, back in the day that had to find the message.

Dustin grazing amongst the cows. Yes that's his head sticking thru barbed wire, and yes that is hay in his mouth, and yes those are REAL cows behind him. It's wonderful to have friends that are up for a laugh like that.

The beast challanging D-Dog from Moulton to a game of one on one. Garaputo beat the beast that day, but the beast would come back another day for a rematch. One day that dude nearly killed me for tickling him.

The beast doing his best imitation of roadkill. It was actually effective enough for buzzards to start hovering over us. I think one of those buzzardheads even pecked the beast on the ass that day.

This is a tongue, a long tongue, one that can rival Gene Simmons of Kiss. This tongue belongs to the Poosman, or Papasan Pustka, my roomate and great friend my senior year at Bobcatland. Sorry ladies he's married

Jorge, Rolando, and I, Advanced systems 2000, stuck on a project, some hard shit, at least seemed hard for our tender college brains. Stressed out one night, working on presentation, 4 of us in the group decided to shave our heads. They couldn't wait till their shit grew back, and as friends who know me now, I'm still bald. Fuck I hate being compared to 'Bruce Willis' though.

Manuelabor and I on some big mountain in Italy, out of breath, walking around randomly, recall Macy Gray's 'I Try' playing up there for all the hikers. Can't get the picture of the nun singing 'Climb Every Mountain' out of my head when I see these sorts of pictures.

The Beast and I in the London Eye lookin' mighty fly.

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"My family is really boring. They have a coffee
table book called 'Pictures We Took Just to Use Up
the Rest of the Film.'"
- Penelope Lombard

Highway to the Danger Zone

Pick a random road on the east side, and you're sure to peddle the bike fast. Why is it that East Sides of cities are always the raunchy side? You'd be surprised at the amount of fast food places you'd see, especially chicken places.

Dan and Fran, Dan and Fran were once married, held the hamburger cartel under Dan's, when they divorced, half went to Dan, half went to Fran. Same badass burgers, just different names.

Austin's version of spaghetti junction, not as healty of a plate of roads as Houston, but probably as vast as the original in Birmingham, England. The 290 / I35 interchange is the highest in Austin by 3 feet, just edging the 183 / I35 interchange.

Finally, the 'news' place. If you haven't been in one of these which seem to be all around the country, they have a few Newsweek's out, and the 'special' large backroom has the rest of the goodies. Come on, what a cover, we know it's not about the news!?

I am getting some utility out of the city I live in by bike riding. Going on a 6 mile jaunt tonight, I had sidewalks all the way. Tax payer dollars hard at work, savin my ass from ganstaville and traffic.

Real gangsta-ass n*ggas don't run for shit -- Cuz real gangsta-ass n*ggas can't run Fast

Taking a page out of the office space book and doing some research on laws, Three revelant ones. Don't be sad, cause three out of three ain't bad.

Imhoff's Law - The organization of any bureaucracy is very much like a septic tank -- the REALLY big chunks always rise to the top.

Peter Principle - Employees within a hierarchical organization advance to their highest level of competence, are then promoted to a level where they are incompetent, and then stay in that position. (*sometimes they are promoted above the peter principle, how deeply sad)

Seagull Manager - A manager that comes down, makes a lot of noise, shits on everything, then leaves.

And If the World Does Turn, And If London Burns

True Love is Priceless, For True Love we Pay a Price

Before Sunset, watched it two years after it came out, even though I loved Before Sunrise. The movie enforces ideas of hope and mystery, as it applies to an American dude and a French girl. Watch the movie, it's short, but it's good. Below is what I believe to be some truth's as they apply to love, stirred from the excellent dialogue in the movie.

Dracula says, "The luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds true love." It is certainly cliche when even hopeless romantics speak of true love and to power that arises out of the unity, but is it all just a bunch of horseshit? There are a handful of people I know that have found true love, and I don't have to tell them to hold on to and cherish what they have. Everyone seems to have to work at it, some cases a hell of a lot harder than others.

Did practicality, impatience, and lack of exposure take over the modern day relationship, leading to a 'need' love rather than a 'want' love? Is it true that the feminist approach (and believe me I'm in touch with my feminine side, so I'm not knocking it) is taking over culture, taking feeling over fact in quarrels among couples? Is it the norm to be sedate as a couple; passe to be a happy couple these days? Does this lead to Bunko parties and Monday night football for tolerance and escape? Can this allow you to see the sublime and the beautiful, like Celine and Jessie in the movie? Is this type of love necessary for security? Is it OK to love someone and not be in love with someone, and does this love inevitably lead to infidelity?

I once heard that a woman married her husband based on a series of calculations, 8 months later she was divorced. A quote says people forget what other people have said and done, but you don't forget how someone makes you feel. This type of love is a want love, you have the strength and stability to stand on your own, and you do what you want to do (selfless and selfish all at once), allowing you to work within a larger construct. It's a love of less compromise, on yourself and the relationship, because you are there because you want to be, and strong people can bail if the thrill is gone, as long as partners are honest about their intentions.

Need love is like nuclear fission, going on everywhere, producing energy, making babies, producing light, predictable, convenient, comfortable, and certainly nothing wrong with it. Want love is like nuclear fusion, much more powerful and sustaining, but it surely is harder to contain the energy produced (except in the stars, coincidence?, yea I'm corny, I know), and it doesn't come around often, if ever. Similarly, need love / fission (the puppy / 'society') takes a lot of stuff to make happen, whereas want / fusion takes a single glass of water to power a city for days. Expanding on the idea, I've seen both, and the spurt of want loves that I've had, although few and far between, have been exponentially more enlightening and inspiring than to grind it out.

Where am I going with this? True love, in whichever capacity you take to reach it, isn't necessarily easy, it's what lingers, and the movie conveys that well. As for myself, there's a chance I may die a warped frustrated old man because I'm a very picky mofo, but I'll hold out for the want love, because I just can't seem to get one of the Gucci Bag Girlfriends to look Good on me.

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PS -- In the movie, Celion sings Jessie a song, a beauty

A Waltz for A Night

Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my thoughts
Let me sing you a waltz
About this one night stand

You were for me that night
Everything I always dreamt of in life
But now you're gone You are far gone
All the way to your island of rain

It was for you just a one night thing
But you were much more to me Just so you know
I hear rumors about you
About all the bad things you do
But when we were together alone
You didn't seem like a player at all

I don't care what they say
I know what you meant for me that day
I just wanted another try
I just wanted another night

Even if it doesn't seem quite right
You meant for me much more
Than anyone I've met before

One single night with you little
Jesse Is worth a thousand with anybody
I have no bitterness, my sweet
I'll never forget this one night thing

Even tomorrow, another arms
My heart will stay yours until I die

Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my blues
Let me sing you a waltz
About this lovely one night stand

Ride Alone, Ride With Bin Laden - Bill Maher

The Pickle reviewed this beast before me, and I'll probably not be as cynical. We both appreciate the book, its interesting, funny, and full of common sense. Bullets, Bullets, Bullets, the best way I can highlight the points I remember.

For my right wing nutjob friends, yea Bill is quite cynical, but a role of a good critique is important in society, but he makes some really good points. I promise to listen to what Blowhard Limbaugh has to say too.

• We are a pain averse society! Anything that brings us comfort in time of pain takes top priority.
• Muslims need their own version of Chris Rock to point up fucked up things in their traditions without the fear of them getting their head chopped off.
• You should be more weary and fear decent people with the capacity to do shitty things more than shitty people doing shitty things
• Being aware of things, doing your homework, travelling, comparing, understanding that God Blesses the world, not just America, makes you a stronger patriot in this country than the uninformed / blind 'patriots' that slap magnets on their vehicles.
• Ignorance is the enemy, and not knowing why people hate the United States is exactly the reason why people hate the United States
• Drugs don't support terrorists, oil does, and the next time you drive your tank or hummer to the PTO meeting, you are supporting terrorists. Terrorists get money from the same place we get money, our families.
• What's the big deal about cultural hegemony? Pokemon is Japanese, Harry Potter is English, Soccer is boring. Just don't eat the fucking shitty fast food at Burger King, McDonald's, or Pizza Hut right across the street from Segrada Familia?!
• USA has carried the lightest stick of any superpower that's ever been.
• And when you don't carpool to work, the invisible figure of Bin Laden is riding with you. And yes, us Americans are in love with our automobiles.

"We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people." - Arthur Schopenhauer

The Millionaire Mind -- Book Report

Yea, so I'm a fan of self help books, and it's great to have 6+ hours in a car to catch up. The trip back from Houston featured 'The Millionaire Mind' by Thomas Stanley, also author of 'The Millionaire Next Door.'

Short and sweet, lots of common sense, Below I'll bullet point what I got out of the 2 cd set.

• Location Location Location - Buying a house in the right location means a lot. I suppose all houses appreciate in value, but its good to find the good neighborhoods, and your return on investment will be significant. I suppose that means I'll be a Hyde Park boy if I find a sugar mamma.
• Marry the Right Person - Find someone that's supportive, rational, and has the same drive and motivation. Common interests speaks volumes too.
• Drive and old crusty Mercedes or BMW and keep it till the wheels fall off, buy antique furniture and refinish, not your typical IKEA stuff, don't get caught up in trends
• Avoid credit, especially when starting a business. If you start a business without any money, you'll learn how to get by, if you have money you'll become sloppy
• Honesty, Discipline, People Skills and hard work should get you there
• Be wary of liars, don't tell even 1 lie, b/c one lie has to be covered with 15 lies, so on and so on
• Be generous, invite friends and family over for a good time, don't spend all your money on booze and bands. These are the people who you should be cultivating relationships with, and they are easily accessible
• Courage goes as far as brains, and 'the smartest in the dumb group' is often the people who accumulate wealth
• Be a finisher in a world of starters

Well that was it in a nutshell, or at least all I can think of off the top of my head.

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Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice. - George Jackson

Family Fitness / Lifetime Fitness

It's fun getting your workout on when you have someone to go with. My sister Debra and I have made it a tradition to go to Lifetime Fitness every time I'm in town. For those of you who have never seen one of these places, its got 1 million machines, a few indoor pools, all kinds of excessive stuff, if you can't get in shape here, you're fucked.

First of all gotta kick Gavin's purple tubby bear out of the way.

We entitled this shot, "Two Walrus's" as we go to pump iron and run on the dreaded elliptical machine and catch up on Top 40 tunes that help you push yourself. I even saw Chad Kroger's ugly lookin' lion faced ass on the big screen as my intense cardio session came to an end.

Houston Holocaust Museum - It's Killing Me Everyday, It's Healing Me Everyday

A pretty damn depressing afternoon visiting the Houston Holocaust Museum. I've heard its a moving experience, I suppose I left there with a feeling of amazement at the capacity of evil on such a grand level.

Vile pictures line the halls along with a detailed history of how the Holocaust effected a small town in Poland. The museum reinforced the idea in my mind that the Jewish people have always been mistreated throughout history, man even Switzerland got a few hits in there back in the day.

What can you say about it? Nazi Germany gives extreme power to the chancellor and shit hits the fan. The senate in Star Wars gives the chancellor extreme power, and shit hits the fan. Congress, the left and the right both vote to play "America, Fuck Yea" and kick the shit out of Iraq **(assuming intelligence wasn't faulty, if faulty, that's another story), to save political careers and engage in 'group think.' Whole point is, what has changed, seems the world has got a bit more civil, but the mentality remains the same. Whoever is carrying the big stick as the global power is going to smack in around for causes they see just, and time sorts it all out.

Houston, 5th biggest city in North America, now has a Metro Train! Whew, way to go Houston! The Red Line, extending thru the museum district and on to downtown. Does this mean the beginning of an end to the 8 Lane highways, the end of shopping for food with forklifts, soccer moms and patriots slapping stickers on their suv's.....well, hmmmm, ummmm, good job for the red line!

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"Though I have no faith in God, I wish for nothing more." --The Veils

She Was a Thin Girl but she had Substance

Blogging, just brilliant, thanks friends for reading these sentiments, it makes me feel special. I sat down for a beer with this college roommate, who never gets out, the other who still parties like its 99, literally, and my nephew and other compadres.

Little did I know I was fodder for conversation at Boehm Ford, between my college roommate and nephew who work together. They have a pot going, one says that Jenny and I are going to hook up one day. Hmmm, I can speak a little to this as I find it humorous. (She's only like this after a few stiff homeade cocktails)

Well, it's all about passion, it's what drives the world. There's nothing the chick can do that upsets me, most part being she's very rational, but there's simply no passion. I suppose if I live with her it could be common law marriage, in that case I need to put the VW in someone else's name in case she decides to bring a shit storm. Naw, she'd never do that, because there is a lot of mutual respect there (and my god that was hard to earn), and there's never been contempt in the 8 years I've known her. Jenny is great, the best thing about her is that she doesn't take any shit, a female other females look up to for strength, and I admire that about her.

Basically what I'm saying, Jenny is great, but its more of she's my sister great. Hence the thought of hooking up with her makes me feel incestuous.

But Marty / Timmy, keep that pot going, and I really enjoyed conversations. And Ryan, I'll see you next year when your wife cools down. Just tell her that one beer was a Strongbow and it was hard to choke down.

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Last night I dreamed I ate a ten-pound marshmallow, and when I woke up the pillow was gone. - Tommy Cooper

Heroes

If I follow stereotypes, I should be at home with all the other southerners celebrating Confederate Heroes Day drinking Sclitz and eating BBQ chicken.

Hero, a brilliant word, a term used to describe extraordinary individuals, or as google define says, "a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength."

I think about Hero, and I have to think of the Mariah Carey song, Hero, and I think about this duface kid I went to high school (a dude I hung out with a lot, b/c I was one too) with bouncing around in slow motion in our senior memories video. First inclination is bad song, and what kinda hero is that?

Putting all cynicism aside and taking a more truthful approach, there is a hero that lies inside all of us. Each and every one of us silly human beings have to overcome personal strife in reaching for the stars.

Let's cake on the cheese now! It takes courage to persevere. So a toast, not to Confederate Heroes, but to all heroes, everyone and everywhere who's fighting their good fight. As I listen to the song, Mariah wrote, or whoever her songwriter is wrote, it puts a smile on my face and gives me a smidgen of inspiration. It's comforting to think that we're all in this together.

Cheese Part 2, The lyrics to Hero, Mariah Carey, Dorky but Powerful (and no, I'm not on drugs right now!)

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There's a hero If you look inside your heart You don't have to be afraid Of what you are There's an answer If you reach into your soul And the sorrow that you know Will melt away

And then a hero comes along With the strength to carry on And you cast your fears aside And you know you can survive So when you feel like hope is gone Look inside you and be strong And you'll finally see the truth That a hero lies in you

It's a long road When you face the world alone No one reaches out a hand For you to hold You can find love If you search within yourself And the emptiness you felt Will disappear

And then a hero comes along With the strength to carry on And you cast your fears aside And you know you can survive So when you feel like hope is gone Look inside you and be strong And you'll finally see the truth That a hero lies in you

Lord knows Dreams are hard to follow But don't let anyone Tear them away Hold on There will be tomorrow In time You'll find the way

And then a hero comes along With the strength to carry on And you cast your fears aside And you know you can survive So when you feel like hope is gone Look inside you and be strong And you'll finally see the truth That a hero lies in you

Take a Bow, The Night is Over - Bullfight, Madrid Spain

Madonna glamorized the bullfight, or deglamorized it, not really sure, sorta like my feelings for her, a love hate relationship. When leading a boring life, I resort to digging up bones, and posting about the past. This post is sure to raise a brow on the beastmaster, who loves all animals and hates to see them hurt, much less tourtered.

The site is Madrid, Spain, Plaza De Toros, 3 summers back. The fighters fighting that night are meant to be quite famous bullfighters.

The plaza is half empty (Madonna was right in the song) and it stayed half empty. You buy tickets based on the amount of sun / shade / half sun, half shade. So we could see a little of both, we purchased the half sun half shade tickets.

Here comes the madness. They let the bull out in the ring, and immediately it spies the 'stabber dude' on the blinded / padded horse.

The bull charges the horse and the stabber dude stabs the bull as it rams the horse. This is done to wear the bull down, to make it an 'even' match, because obviously the matador is no match for the bull. As the blood rushes out of the bull's back, this is when the touristy families, who had no idea of the blatant violence, leave the plaza.

OK, then the 'sheet dudes' come out and basically run the shit out of the bull tiring it further, about 4 to 5 of them toy with the beast.

If this isn't bad enough, the second set of stabber dudes come out and stab the bull in the back with these spears. When it's all said and done its about 6 to 8, depending on the aggressiveness and tenacity of the bull.

Then the 'mighty' matador comes out, after the bull has been stabbed, ran to death, and speared, with his dreaded red cape. He does some trademark bullfighters tactics and techniques that makes the crowd OOOHOHH! and AHHHH!

Then its time for the final face-off. Face to face with the bull, the bullfighter takes the sword and rams it down the bulls back. If it is a seasoned bullfighter and he hits the heart right away, the bull is killed instantly.

'Lucky' for us, there were some rookies there on the evening, and they didn't get the 'kill shot' the first time, so one of the matador's cronies comes out with a little bowie knife and pokes the bull in the brain.

If all this isn't inhumane enough, a caravan of horses come to drag the dead bull out of the plaza, while trumpets triumphantly sound.

The bullfight culminates with touristy Texans taking a picture while the ground crew cleans the 'field,' very much similar to that of a baseball game.

My sentiments on bullfighting, damn it's primitive, and to think the republic of rome during the roman empire did this to humans, as other humans cheered this debauchery. My how the times have changed.

74 Bands in the Picture -- Can you Spot them?

Click to Enlarge.