Paul DeRohn
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Paul DeRohn" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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06:14 pm
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Yet more Olympic Class bullshit
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/16/olympic.wrestler/index.html
Yeah. That'll teach people who think they have a right to point out that the IOC is a joke and a pathetic mockery of the Olympics. And yeah, for those playing along at home, these are indeed the same assholes citing fairness and integrity while ignoring the sixth-grader on the gymnastics team. You want to talk about an insult to the other athletes? How about the fact that apparently giving them a fair playing field is less important that sucking China's third-world-country-with-delusions-of-grandeur dick? Does that count?
Fucking idiots.
Current Mood:  pissed off
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04:26 pm
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Headline: Faith in Olympics Confirmed Dead After Being Buried in Chinese Bullshit
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/oly.china.gymnastics1/content.1.html
If that girl in the middle is 16, then I'm ready for retirement, and my Dad's fuckin' Methuselah. Multiple news agencies have easily dug up news reports from before the Olympics stating that about half of the "women"'s gymnastics team is below the IOC's mandatory age of 16. The IOC is refusing to look into it, though, because they don't want to offend the host country.
Yeah, thank you, spineless glad-handing jackasses. Not offending the host country over something insignificant like blatant cheating is MUCH more important than the integrity of the Olympics. And apparently it's more important than expecting the host country to actually stick to the stipulations they agreed to in order to get the Games in the first place, since the IOC has also failed to do a single thing about China openly violating the stipulation set by the IOC that international media personnel be allowed uncensored access to the internet during the games.
Maybe this rant is over the top, or me blowing things out of proportion, but right now I feel like myself and the whole world is being stabbed in the back by the IOC, and having something that used to be about competition and camaraderie taken from us.
When I think of the Olympics, I want to think of things like this year's marksmanship women's pistol event, where a Russian and a Georgian found themselves next to each other on the medal podium, and hugged. What mattered to them wasn't that they were Georgian or Russian, what mattered was that they were fellow Olympic athletes, and that they were both facing their country at war while they were thousands of miles away. But instead I get to hear how the International Olympic Commission is too tied up with political garbage to be bothered with their host country defiling the spirit of the Games by cheating.
And, yes, this is a personal issue for me, because while I follow football, scholastic wrestling, and more recently baseball, one of my most cherished sports memories is of a gymnast. Kerri Strug nailing her vault on a sprained ankle still makes me tear up when I see it twelve years later. She didn't do it because she wanted to be on a Wheaties box, or for any of the political crap that's been dominating the Beijing Game. She did it because her team needed her to. As soon as she hurt herself and her coach came over, she didn't ask how badly she was hurt. She asked if they needed another vault from her, and when she found out they did, she gave it to them.
Those things are what the Olympics are supposed to be about. A couple of weeks where we get to watch people from around the world, most of whom can't even communicate with each other without a translator but who are still united by the fact that they love their sport. It's supposed to be about the things that make the people of the world one people, not the politics that make use different.
Current Mood: pissed off
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02:26 pm
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I want this shirt
For all the Robot Chicken fans: http://www.snorgtees.com/aluminumfalcon-p-482.html
Current Mood:  amused
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02:55 pm
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I say GODDAMN!
http://cbs2chicago.com/watercooler/Drexel.University.games.2.762715.html
Cliff notes amount to the beginning of actual interface between human brains and computers. This is cool. Lots of bad potential, but still lots of cool potential.
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02:03 pm
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In Memoriam
Rusty
1993-2008
A truer friend could never be found.
Current Mood: heartbroken
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09:56 pm
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*Blink*
For those of you who may not have heard courtesy of Joe and Kiko's journal, we got the house. To be exact, we got the house on Walnut Street in Philadelphia, and as Kiko said, you can see One Liberty Plaza(the building they show on all the KYW news shots) from our front porch.
I think it took me longer than Kiko and Drew to post about it, though, because for me, this is HUGE. I grew up seventy miles away in Bucks county, and all my life, when I thought of "the big city" I never thought of New York or Los Angeles. I thought of the huge building they showed on KYW's news commercials, and Independence Hall. To be completely honest, I never even dreamed that I might get to live in downtown Philly, so when Kiko told me we got the house yesterday, my jaw hit the floor, and the other people in the room started to worry about me, because I was completely unable to speak for almost a full minute. Tomorrow afternoon we get the keys and sign the lease, though, at which point the Exodus from Chester begins, and I get to live in the City of Brotherly Freaking Love.
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12:48 am
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I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray
It's almost one o'clock on Friday morning. In eight hours I need to be up and going so I can run errands before going into what is always our biggest day of the week at work. By all accounts I should be asleep, but I can't.
I miss Harris. I miss getting up with him in the morning, having breakfast together while we watch PBS kids. I miss the at-least-once-a-week occurrence of waking up to find that at some point in the night a four year-old has moved me two feet over to make room for him, and the "I got away with it again" grin he always wakes up with on those occasions. I miss reading to him, and helping him spell new words and count higher. I want my son back, and every morning that I have to get up and go to work without my hug and kiss hurts.
Current Mood: heartbroken
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10:58 am
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Major Whoa
Talk about your silver linings. I just got off the phone with the latest company who would like to collect on my school loans, and while the lady was telling me that I can set up a payment plan for a one-time payment of 75 dollars and then 23 dollars a month, she off-handedly noted that roughly forty-five days after this plan goes into effect, I will again be eligible for student loans. My default status will also be removed from my credit record.
Now see, boys and girls? This is what happens when you're nice to the people you want money from. You get the damned money, as opposed to when you call with threats and bullying attempts, which customarily gets you hung up on.
Current Mood:  giddy
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01:51 pm
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Out of Curiousity
Is there anyone else out there who will click on an advertising link if they like the page it's on, even if they're only moderately interested in what the link leads to, or is that just me?
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02:11 am
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For those that don't know, I'm an apocalypse junkie
It's one of my favorite movie genres, probably tied with the slasher films of the 80s like the Elm Street and Friday the 13th series. Be it nuclear, ala The Day After, machines gone wild like in Terminator, or even zombies, I love end of the world movies. My only problem is with the fact that most of them only deal with small groups of people, and/or only deal with the immediate aftermath of the end of the world, which is why I've always wanted to see a longer-term story. The BBC made me regret wishing for this, with a movie called Threads, and I feel it only fair to warn others. The makers of this movie should be given every award for which they qualify, from MTV Movie Awards to an Emmy and an Oscar. Then they should be locked in a small padded room, doped up on Thorazine, and never allowed near a camera on pain of death.
As I told Joe after watching it, I judge works of art, regardless of their media or genre, on their ability to make me feel to convey the artist's emotion, and the ability of the artist to take what is in their head and make me see it with my eyes. This movie did that better than any movie I've ever seen, and from appearances did so on a budget that could only loosely be called a shoestring budget. The problem comes in the fact that they very capably conveyed the horror and soul-crushing despair of a nuclear holocaust, and the hopelessness that the artist saw as following in the coming days, months, and years.
I think the fact that as I prepare to head to bed I'm worried about having my first movie-induced nightmare in fifteen years is also a tribute to the amazing works the writers and directors did, which is why if I ever get to meet them, I only intend to smack them, rather than throttle them. :)
Current Mood: creeped out
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03:43 pm
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Posted using TxtLJ
The only thing funnier than reading Stephen King around my Christian co-workers is having my phone ring and them realize Joe's tone is Sympathy For The Devil.
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02:11 am
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The Ultimate in Movie Trivia
Say whatever else you will about the Friday the 13th movie series, but it still holds the distinction of being the first, and I have no doubt the only, movie series to ever film a doobie in 3D.
Current Mood: amused
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02:14 am
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Can someone please explain to me why this ISN'T all over every news site
CNN lied openly, blatantly, and intentionally, and no one seems to think that this is noteworthy.
They did a special report called "Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling," during which they interviewed John Cena, a WWE superstar. At one point in the interview the interviewer asks Cena if he's ever used steroids, at which point what actually happened and what CNN showed take two wildly different paths. In CNN's version, Cena says that it's a difficult question to answer, and then says "I can't tell you that I haven't, but you'll never prove that I have."
Then there's the unedited footage, shot from the side of the set, most likely by WWE's camera crew, where Cena's statement that it's a difficult question to answer comes after his actual, direct response to the question, which is "Absolutely not." There's also the lead-in voice-over that begins the segment, where the announcer says "John Cena is a WWE superstar, now recovering from an injury in the ring. And he doesn't like being asked if he's ever used performance enhancing drugs." And as for the quote "I can't tell you that I haven't, but you'll never prove that I have," that actually came after a long monologue that they completely cut, where he was saying that the situation professional athletes find themselves in is one where they can never actually prove their innocence, and that they're presumed guilty unless they can prove otherwise.
Now I'm sure some people would point out that a special report on professional wrestling is kind of a niche thing and it's not like they were caught fabricating world news or something like that, but honestly it doesn't matter to me *what* they lied about. The fact is that the largest and most watched news channel in the world blatantly, and with some effort put into it, LIED, and somehow this is failing to set off anyone else's warning bells.
Current Mood: pissed off
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12:30 pm
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High School Musical
Okay, I love High School Musical, but there are some really messed up unintentional incest overtones in the movie. Then there's the added bonus track on the soundtrack, which has Ryan and Sharpee(in character, mind you) singing a song called "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." That's just not right.
Current Mood: slightly disturbed
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10:59 am
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I'm not sure which I hate more...
... the more moronic members of my species, or the money-grubbing corporate assholes who justify them. http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/10/05/airlines.dress.debate.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch
So, Captain Asshole here decides to board a plane wearing a shirt that anyone over the age of twelve should realize is inappropriate, and is told he has to change his shirt, turn it inside out, or get off the plane. So far so good. The problem? THE FUCKING AIRLINE IS APOLOGIZING! I'd love to see that letter-
"Dear Sir,
On behalf of Southwest Airlines, I would like to apologize for infringing upon your right to be an ignorant moron. Please understand that we at Southwest value your right to indulge your juvenile sense of humor much more than our other passengers' right to simply enjoy their flight, and in the future every effort will be made to ensure that our staff is more sensitive to those whose sense of humor is stuck in the seventh grade and whose understanding of propriety is outweighed by the need to amuse themselves.
Sincerely,
Ass-Kiss Airlines"
Current Mood:  aggravated
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09:13 am
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From CNN.com
After being convicted on Federal charges of dogfighting and being indicted on state charges this week...
"Vick's attorneys say they are fighting the state charges on the grounds that he can't be convicted twice of the same crime."
WOW. I want to know what law school his attorneys went to, since apparently they'll give a law degree to any idiot that can spell their own name. Federal criminal laws and state criminal laws are separate laws, geniuses. He's not going to be convicted of the same crime twice, he's going to be convicted of two separate crimes. And then he's going to sit in a jail cell for a good long time, at which point maybe he'll gain the ability to work his way through difficult concepts like "No, I really shouldn't torture and kill animals for amusement."
Current Mood: irritated
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09:39 am
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Every once in a while Sesame Street throws out something funny for parents.
For those that don't know, Cookie Monster always introduces the number of the day written on a cookie, says he's not going to eat the number of the day, and he always winds up eating it anyway. Today, though, was slightly different.
"Today's number is the number 9. Now you are expecting me to say 'Me no eat number.' But let's face facts. Me am going to eat number. You know me am going to eat number, me know me am going to eat number, even number know me am going to eat number."
Current Mood: amused
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08:50 am
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Okay, normally I wouldn't get into shit like the supposed "Jena 6" crap...
...but when CNN editorialists are advocating stupidity like this, I think it's time I need to speak up and point a few things out.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/20/roland.martin.jena6/index.html
First of all, I'm game to do his little exercise.
If you heard that six teens had beaten up another teen leaving him unconscious, would you think that those accused deserved to be tried as adults and face upwards of 80 years in jail?
First of all, six on one counts as attempted murder, because the numerical superiority counts as lethal force. And second of all, let's clarify something. They did not "beat up" another student, they kicked and punched him into unconsciousness, and then kept going until they were made to stop. The severity of the charges has nothing to do with race, it has to do with the fact that the perpetrators exercised eminently lethal force in an attack on another person. It qualifies as attempted murder whether the people involved are black, white, of a pale shade of chartreuse.
And as far as race goes, there is one thing I'd like to point out. If the racial tags had been reversed, in that six white teens beat a black teen into an ambulance, the motivation for the beating could have been as racially-unrelated as the one kid having keyed another kids car, and the six white teens would have been charged with a hate crime. And if they weren't, you can be sure there would be an outcry from the African-American community.
If a group of teens hung a noose on a tree, and the principal recommended to expel them, and then the school board overruled them, what would you say about that?
I'd say that a suspension is, generally speaking, the normal response to an immensely stupid and irresponsible prank that nonetheless does not warrant expulsion.
On another note, however, I question what this has to do with the group that people insist on calling the Jena 6. None of the teens involved in the beating of Barker have been mentioned as the target of the nooses, nor has there been any mention of Barker being involved in hanging the nooses. While the hanging of the nooses was obviously a stupid and ignorant move, it has nothing to do with the fact that these six individuals, who the African-American community wants to pretend are victims, attacked and beat another student unconscious. The simple fact is, if the leader of the group that beat Justin Barker had gotten a baseball bat from the Physical Education department and begun hitting Barker in the head with it even after he was unconscious, he would have been charged with the same crime, and no one would have said a word. The fact that he chose a dozen feet and fists as his weapon of choice does not change the fact that he intentionally employed deadly force against another person without legal justification.
Prior to Justin Barker being beaten, another teen (who was black) was beaten, and no charges were filed against the (white) students in that case, would you question the district attorney's action in Barker's case?
Questioning the district attorney's action in that case would require many more facts than those that were presented here. As I said, what made the DA pursue the "Jena 6" case so hard was the fact that there were six students beating on a student who by the end of it was lying on the ground unconscious, and had to be taken to the hospital. No one involved here seems to want to hear this, but when you're kicking a kid who's already unconscious, guess what? You're intentionally endangering his life with your actions, which is pretty much the clinical definition of attempted murder. That may have been the distinction which caused the DA to pursue the present case and not the former one, or there could have a dozen different factors. Also, while this is an interesting point which may warrant more investigation, just like the question about the nooses, it's completely unrelated.
I think what angers me the most about all of this is the fact that everyone on the side of the attackers wants to pretend that they're innocent victims of an overzealous prosecutor. Guess what? THEY'RE NOT. What they are are six young men who took it upon themselves to put another young man in the hospital. And please save me the garbage about how Barker was released the same day. When he came out of the hospital has beyond nothing to do with anything. The fact remains that he was taken to the hospital unconscious, and that these "poor innocent kids" are the reason he was taken to the hospital unconscious, because they took it upon themselves to beat and kick him unconscious.
Current Mood: pissed off
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08:17 pm
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I hate living in the ghetto
My neighbors across the street decided to share the gift of music with the neighborhood today. Whether they wanted it or not. And due to the beautiful weather recently, my window was open, which meant I got the full "experience."
Eventually I decided to leave the room until they got it out of their system, mostly because the other option meant giving in to the urge to lean out the window and yell "Turn down the music, asshole, because I have tons of country music, and access to four-foot tall speakers!"
Current Mood: irritated
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06:06 pm
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Poor Disney
After decades spent building their family friendly image, they went and made a Herbie movie with Lindsey Lohan, aka 'Voted lest likely to succeed by her last three court-ordered rebab classes.' They finally clean that mess up, and release 'High School Musical,' which becomes a huge hit, at which point they breathe a sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank God. We have a movie with Vanessa Hudgens, who's good, and wholesome, and- WTF do you mean there are nude pics of her on the net?!"
Having seen the pictures, btw, I'm firmly convinced it's a secret ad campaign by the Dannon water people. And you know what? I'd buy water from her.
This has been your daily dose of scandal and lechery. Carry on.
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