You gots to be fix that shit, b.



So I tore the purple Sears Tote-Cycle down today. I'm scrubbing all the rust off the rims and cranks. I need to buy bearing grease for the back hub. Pics of the finished product will commence once I'm finished.

Also, I tried to watch Mo' Money today. It's much, much worse than I remember. Also, I find the Wayans Brother's attitude toward homosexuality abhorrent.
- posted by Mason @ 8:19 AM (1) comments

The Rolls Royce of Bicycles



The Pashley Roadster Sovereign. You can't fuck with perfection. They've been making bikes since the 20's, and they're damn good at it. Looking at handmade english touring bikes makes me feel like unwashed trash. My cheap Columbia is the Ford Pinto to this bikes RR Silver Shadow. May I please have $1,300 so I can buy one? No? Well, shit.

Also, check out a new blog about bikes that I like.
- posted by Mason @ 10:14 AM (0) comments

Workbike=Total Earth Destruction.



Well, if I'd never been in love before, I would be now. The Yuba Mondo Utility Bicycle is soooo much cooler than an extra cycle. People can ride on the back of this bad ass. You could build a camper on the back of this monster and live in it if you wanted to. There will soon be a 5-speed internal hub option! Internal Hub. Ooohhhh... I want to haul all sorts of things on this bike.
- posted by Mason @ 8:37 PM (0) comments

I know this is old, but...



I think this is endlessly hilarious. Somehow I missed this when it happened. Methuselah (aka Senator John McCain) is fucking falling asleep during W's State of the Union. I find it totally not-at-all shocking that this old bastard can't stay awake for longer than ten minutes at a time. In all fairness, it's possible that it was very warm in the room, and he'd most likely just eaten an entire plate of meat and potatoes from the Furr's Early Bird menu.

What I'm saying here is that he's too old to be president, get it?
- posted by Mason @ 8:50 PM (0) comments

seriously, thank you for coming to the potluck.


(l to r: me, aubrey, nicole, mike) the other team (not pictured, obviously) was jeff, greg, james and megan.

so, potluck wrap-up part 2: our new friends jeff and nicole brought kubb, a scandinavian lawn game. megan caught this shot of me in mid-throw. i should point out that i'm not very good. no, let me rephrase, i'm very not good. our team won, but only because mike (who came all the way from ft. worth and was really cool) and aubrey (who saw the posting online and came by himself and was also really cool) both had really good aim. this game is super-fucking fun. it's throwing sticks across a field at blocks. read the wiki about it and then come play it in the park with us.

also, thanks so much to everyone who came out the potluck. we had a wonderful time and hope you did too! let's do it again in july, ok?
- posted by Mason @ 9:53 PM (0) comments

It was fucking awesome!



Well thanks to everybody for coming to our Vegan Potluck! We had a great turnout. We estimate about 65 people in total. The food was delicious, we met some awesome new friends, and had a wonderful time. I'm exhausted and I'm going to sleep, so I'll post the blow by blow tomorrow and Meg will post all the pictures.
- posted by Mason @ 10:49 PM (0) comments

Are You Coming?



OK, don't forget. Tomorrow. May 26th, 2008. Memorial Day. 6pm. Vegan Potluck. Be there. Bring an extra table, ice chest, lawn chair, etc. My friend Mark the DJ will be playing some tunes. Not DJ like "two turntables and a microphone". He's a party/wedding/bhatmitzvah DJ. Get it? Please don't bring your demo and try to get it played. That's just sad.

Seriously though, we have no idea how many people are going to show up. It could be 20, it could be 100. I made orange herbal iced tea and we'll have water. Someone should bring some soda probably. Preferably not something made with high-fructose corn syrup. See you tomorrow!
- posted by Mason @ 10:40 PM (0) comments

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)



Wow. I LOVED this film. I wanted to see it when it came out, but I never got around to it. HDnet showed it today, so I dvr'd it. Tommy Lee Jones' directing is stellar. Guillermo Arriaga's (21 Grams, Babel, Amorres Perros) script is fucking awesome. I loved everything about it, and I thought it was flawless. Please, please see this movie. I don't even want to describe it to you, because I want you to watch it without any preconceptions. Fucking rent this. Now.

----------------------------------------
The Moon Mission Death Squad loves Tommy Lee Jones.
- posted by Mason @ 10:19 PM (1) comments

"At this time I would like to open the floor for discussion..."



*Sigh*. I've decided that I can no longer hold out having comments enabled. I get too many emails from people about posts so now [Will] you can just post a comment instead. I know this is going back on things I've said in the past, but I'm entitled to change my mind, aren't I? Now Daniel and Robert will stop bitching about it. Also, it means I can post more polls and have people actually respond. As a caveat, I reserve the right to turn them back off at any time.

I also reserve the right to think you're an asshole.
- posted by Mason @ 11:16 PM (4) comments

the end of civilization as we know it



Target sells Hummer brand cologne now. If I didn't already hate my fellow man, this would tip me over the edge.
- posted by Mason @ 10:37 PM (0) comments

Vegan Potluck - Dallas Style!



So we're having a potluck, you assholes! It's on Monday May 26th at 6:00pm and it's at Tietze Park (at the corner of Skillman and Vanderbilt) in East Dallas. Meg started a blog for it, so you can look at directions and stuff. It's going to be fucking awesome, and if you don't come, you're a bad person.

Megan says:

The potluck is free, just bring a completely vegan dish to share. If you don't cook, you can always bring something premade (chips, drinks, etc)--as long as it's vegan. We can't have any alcohol because it's a public park, but there will be tea, water and maybe some punch or iced coffee. There will only be enough table room to set up the food, so you might want to bring a lawn chair or a blanket. And it's going to be BYO-UPC (bring your own utensils, plates and cups) so that we don't create a ton of unnecessary trash. The park has tennis and basketball courts, plus a lot of free space, so bring tennis racquets, basketballs, soccerballs, frisbees or whatever else you like. So, bring your friends and come eat with us. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can email me at veganpotlucksociety AT gmail DOT com.

- posted by Mason @ 9:13 PM (0) comments

I decide whether or not you're innocent.



My judgments are, of course, based solely on lost science of phrenology. You see, criminals' heads are a particular shape, and when I feel the shape of the accuseds' heads, I know if you're guilty or innocent. It's sort of like palm reading, but much more scientific. I even have a degree from the University of Edinburgh. Often criminals have a very pronounced organ of carnivorous instinct, giving them a bloodlust that can't be satisfied. The power of phrenology is, of course, that you can feel someone's skull, take measurements and do a few calculations to know if they might commit a crime someday. That way they can be imprisoned preemptively.
- posted by Mason @ 9:24 PM (0) comments

OK, so I saw that Iron Man movie.



Very rarely, and I mean very rarely do we ever go see movies in the theatre. They're expensive... I hate people... it's really expensive... However, today was an exception. We rode our bikes up to Northpark Mall (7.5 miles from our place) so while we were there we went to see this movie. I figured if you're going to waste your money on going to the movies, it had better be a huge summer blockbuster... and it was!

Besides totally ignoring physics and human physiology, I thought this movie was really quite good. There weren't too many glaring plot holes, and Jeff Bridges is an awesome bad guy. I recommend seeing this movie if you're interested vegging out for two hours.

I also enjoyed that the film explicitly paints international arms dealing as patently immoral.

Seriously though, I don't care what the fuck your suit is made of, or how well it's pressurized. When you hit Mach 1 for the first time, with no flight training or conditioning, you're going to throw up all the fuck over the inside of your superhero helmet.
- posted by Mason @ 9:24 PM (0) comments

Oh, it's so fucking long!



I got this awesome new basket for the byke. It's 50% longer than my previous crate, and can carry two full size paper grocery bags. Can you claim more storage? (xtra cycles don't count)
- posted by Mason @ 8:26 PM (0) comments

Candleshoe (1978)



Ugh. I'm in the process of watching Candleshoe, a terrible late 70's Disney live-action piece of garbage staring Jodie Foster as a teenage street-wise delinquent wrapped up in a scheme to pose as the long-lost granddaughter of an aging marquess (like a marquis' wife, ya herd?) in order to steal a centuries old spanish treasure. Whew. That was a mouth-full. It's not very good. Also, there's a group of quick-witted orphans. I hate this movie, but I can't stop watching it.



- posted by Mason @ 8:40 PM (0) comments

Meet Ted: He's Walking Across America



I met this guy named Ted today. He came in the store wearing a giant pack with signs saying that he's walking across America. We had a long chat about his reasons, and they seem noble, if somewhat esoteric and complex. You can read why he's doing it here. He said he'd be in Dallas for a few days, so I'm hoping to have a longer conversation with him about the whole thing. If he can pitch his tent on your lawn here in Dallas, he would appreciate it.

He's the second person I've met who has walked/is walking across the country. (Remember Steve Vaught from thefatmanwalking.com?) I think that's pretty cool. If anyone else who's walking across America is in Dallas, look me up! That would be a strange thing to collect, no? Or to be a groupie of?
- posted by Mason @ 8:44 PM (0) comments

I'm the motherfucking bikefixer




I had to fix Meg's back wheel because it got all fucked up. That's the curse of riding cheap old bikes. The gift, of course, being that it's both bad-ass and terribly cost effective. Also, that backwards hat lets you know that I'm handy with a wrench.
- posted by Mason @ 8:44 PM (0) comments

Any ah ya'll motherfuckers got a bottle opener?



I think this is a really, really funny picture of me.

Also, have you seen this Honda ad where a chocolate chip cookie turns into a CR-V? I don't get it. (I tried to find an embeddable version, but to no avail.) I'm not sure why making me think of fresh baked cookies would encite me to purchase a small SUV. Maybe someone from Advertising Age would like to explain? It's a cookie. I get that part. But then it morphs into a car? Then the car drives away on the cookie sheet? Baffled. Fucking baffled.
- posted by Mason @ 9:51 PM (0) comments

Well, it smelled like coffee...



We went back to Whole Earth (which I didn't realize was a Texas-only chain - you should shop there) so I could buy a phone pouch for my bag. We were caught unexpectedly in a heavy downpour, so we took refuge in $tarbuxxx Coughee (yeah, haha Micro$oft or whatever, very original). After twenty or so minutes of waiting for it to stop raining, my curiosity about their new "slightly less burnt" Pike Place Roast. I walked up to the counter to order.

Me: Can I get a small (note: I said small on purpose because I hate their "tall" bullshit) Decaf Pike Place Roast?

Pimple Face Teenager: We don't have a decaf Pike's.

Me: Ok, I'll have a small decaf americano.

[he takes two cups off the stack and starts marking them]

Me: I don't need two cups. One cup is fine.

[he looks at me like I asked if he could add extra cotton candy]

Me: I don't want two cups. You don't need to double cup it.

PFT: (matter of factly, because I'm the idiot here) Are you sure? It's two hundred degrees, it's pretty hot. Most people want two cups.

Me: Well, it's not over 170... 180 at the most, but that doesn't matter. I'm sure that I just want one cup. And I don't want a lid or sleeve either. Just a cup with coffee in it.

PFT: (giving up - not because he thought I was right, but because he didn't care) Ok, whatever. That'll be two fourteen. I don't want you to burn yourself (chuckles).

Me: (handing him my credit card) I'll be fine, thanks.

Of course when I got the coffee it had a lid and sleeve.

It smelled like coffee. It looked like coffee... sort of.

A thing you should know: normally coffee is 98% water. This was 99.98% water. Unquestionably one of the weakest cups of brew I've ever tasted. I'm pretty sure that it tasted burnt as fuck, but I'm can't be positive because it was just coffee flavored water. I'm not being hyperbolic here, it honestly tasted like a cup of hot water that someone put a teaspoon of coffee flavoring in. I can't believe that they sell that garbage to people. I've had cold dregs from the bottom of the airpot that I enjoyed more.

The rain let up and we left. I accidentally left my cup on retaining wall after we lifted our bikes over it. I realized I'd lost it a half block later. I felt bad that I'd littered, but not bad enough to turn around. I suppose that makes me a hypocrite, but how much fossil fuel did you use today? I didn't use any, fucker.
- posted by Mason @ 7:17 PM (0) comments

The Last Real Journalist on Television



I love me some Dan Rather. I checked this book out from the library and I'm excited to start it. You know me and you know I'm going to become obsessed by it for a month, and will talk about it constantly, then drop it completely when I'm done.

What can I say, I'm a creature of habit.
- posted by Mason @ 7:24 PM (0) comments

Oh, I fucked up!



I was trying to make chocolate chip cookies. I accidentally added a cup of soymilk. I don't know what I was thinking. I fucked them up so royally, it's not even funny. It turned into a batter so I poured it into a cake pan and baked it. It's weird, but it tastes good.
- posted by Mason @ 7:17 PM (0) comments

Do you like Warren Beatty?



I do. I think he's a really good actor. I like the Beatty/Robert Towne movies. Like Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait. But I'm also a big fan of $ and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. I've never seen The Parallax View, but it looks really good.

I guess what I'm saying is that I really like 70's Warren Beatty, plus Bonnie and Clyde. Oh, I've never seen Reds either. I guess I should.
- posted by Mason @ 7:20 PM (0) comments

New Bag, New Outlook on Life.




My backpack is simply no longer adequate. To counteract this, Meg bought us both TIMBUK2 bags off ebay. They're normally about $100, but this one was about $21.50 including shipping. She got the Metro - a much smaller bag - to double as purse and messenger bag. Now that I have it, I don't know how I ever lived without it. It's so amazingly comfortable, even riding with it on doesn't bother me.

And there are so many lovely timbuk2 accessories! If you love me you'll buy me a cell phone holder. In black, obviously. Also, I need some reflectors.

We've got some ZPG patches coming to us, so I'll be applying that across the front as soon as they come in the mail.
- posted by Mason @ 7:19 PM (0) comments

OBAMA SPOKE CARDS!


mason's bike


megan's bike

A promoter and Obama supporter (a35mmlife) associated with Obamaspoke.com sent me a flickr message asking if we wanted some of these bad ass Barack spoke cards for our bike. Of course we wanted them! They're super awesome. I hope Hillary will see them and drop out of the race because of it. That would make me happy. Buy some Obama spoke cards, even if you're not going to put them on yer bike - even if you don't have a bike. Show your support for America's only hope at a decent future.
- posted by Mason @ 11:09 PM (0) comments

I'm a fucking failure.


(forced to flash - it was 6:30am and still dark outside - we hate the flash)

Kay, so this didn't work. Well, it worked, I just didn't like it. More than ten pounds in the basket made it hit my front wheel. The idea of using hose clamps to secure a basket to my handle bars is fully workable, just not this crate. It's too big. If it measured three inches shorter, it would be perfect. I'm thinking either a lightweight wire basket or maybe a shallow plastic produce crate or bakery crate. Maybe I can find something in the trash to use, hmmm...
- posted by Mason @ 8:43 PM (0) comments

Woke Up Early, Rode a Bike.




It's my day off, so we got up at 7 instead of 6. It poured like a bitch until about nine, so we saddled up and headed out to run errands.

See this raincoat I'm wearing? I love it. My dad gave it to me about a year and a half ago, and I can't believe that I tried to refuse it. I wear it everyday when I ride to work, because it's the perfect windbreaker. It has tons of pockets, and a full hood with a velcro face closure that lets me secure it to the loop on my backpack when I'm walking around in a store. The white details are reflective and make me more visible to motorists. In short, this jacket is excellent, so thanks dad!

Also, I bought hose clamps because I'm planning on adding an extra front crate to my bike. I'll post pictures when I'm done.
- posted by Mason @ 3:35 PM (0) comments

Cino de Mayo, Conchetumares!





pictures by megan!

The Mexican army defeated the French more than a century and a half ago, so we're going to eat some guac. Like Vanilla Ice, I'm all about co-opting minority cultures, so we bought Topo Chico and Mexican Coke to go along with our tasty vegan Cinco meal. Also pictured: Elotes (mind-blowingly tasty), my guacamole, and tortilla soup.
- posted by Mason @ 3:35 PM (0) comments

A 10" Laserdisc????






Wow. A laserdisc karaoke video single? My laserdisc player has a separate inset for 10"s, but I'd never actually seen one. I like that because of digital camera technology, I don't have to buy things like this, I can just have Megan take pictures of them.
- posted by Mason @ 3:24 PM (0) comments

Estate Sale Saturday











We went to some estate sales with my parents. These are pictures from them... obviously. Like, duh.
- posted by Mason @ 10:00 PM (0) comments

"The Medium is the Message"



My dad gave me this amazing Marshall McLuhan book called "The Mechanical Bride" from 1951. McLuhan basically created discourse and critique of media and our lives as consumers of media, culture and communication. I just started it, so I'll make another post when I'm finished.


- posted by Mason @ 10:04 PM (0) comments

I bought a book... again.



Well, well, well. I can't stop shopping. Straight outta half price books, I bought this James Thurber collection for a buck. Thugish, I know.

Also, I bought three Genesis albums that I didn't already have, because I'm getting into 80's Genesis now. Wind and Wuthering (1977), Abacab (1981), Genesis (1983). I've found that my previous stance on "only Gabriel era Genesis" was heavy handed and pretentious. Obviously, I still think that it's better than their later work, but they're just different. Post 1980 (that's Duke if you're keeping score [and you should be]) they're a pop band, and a pretty good pop band at that. If you'd like to discuss the band Genesis at greater length, you should come by the coffee bar and we'll chat.
- posted by Mason @ 9:50 PM (0) comments