syntax

keith olbermann - rick rolled

when i grow up

too much reality isn't good for a soul, esp for me since i unfortunately have a particularly limited tolerance for it. i experience more than i can physically cope with, just from reading the paper on the train, checking teh webz, dealing with people for most of the day, watching the news, and being subjected on a daily basis to tales of an acquaintance's heinous j-date misadventures. b/c of my darkening mood, i think it's time i wean myself from this once i'm home, and spend my evenings reading, playing video games, watching movies, etc. basically being unproductive. escapism may not accomplish much, but at least it keeps me sane.

some asked how DC is. so far so good. people are pretty chill. i haven't encountered as many crazies as i usually do in NY, but they're pretty much located in certain areas that everyone with a brain just avoids. it amazes me that NYC, a much larger city, was able to conquer its once-legendary crime problem, but people here still break into cars to steal burned CDs or smash your window and not take anything just to make a point. i talked to one guy who just leaves his car unlocked b/c there's nothing to take and it's better, he says, than having someone destroy his car trying to break in. but then i talked to someone else who had her crappy jeep cherokee stolen off her block twice in one month (she lives at cleveland park which is a decent area too). so i'm glad my car is hidden in a garage with other cars that cost 20x its worth. it's a POS compared to the two carrera 4s and the sweet M5 i've been drooling over. and, since i've had to drive a lot more, my car has been flashing me the check engine light and so i will probably spend a small fortune this weekend at the saab mechanic who apparently is not unlike jerry seinfeld's angry saab mechanic, for better or for worse.

i like my apt building. it's a high-rise. it looks like a hilton. there's a gym i've been feeling guilty about not using, and a pool, and the building has events for tenants with DJs and food, which i suspect are targeted for the singles, since everyone in my building is an unmarried lawyer / lobbyist in their 20s or 30s, which is an accurate representation of DC since i swear the city is entirely made up of such ivy league lawyer / lobbyist types, and people with vague backgrounds who work in think-tanks. and they should all STFU. haha no just kidding, they have been nice so far. but a very different scene than NY. i don't see any artists, or musicians, or those who do other financially-challenging things.

everyone i've met has been impassioned with one view or another. not like they're talking about it from some blogs they've read, but b/c they know it since they work in that particular area. so sometimes i feel like people are more genuinely versed and excited about certain subjects than people i've met in NY. and overall i've also been struck by how professionally-motivated DC folk are, but, although they're definitely an educated and (at least those i've met so far) a pleasant people, sometimes they come across as a bit bland.

they all like the redskins here. the baseball team of choice is not the nationals, but the baltimore orioles. like in NY, i've been hearing a lot of philly bashing. but everyone i've met has seriously lived in philly at one point in their lives, NY in another, boston, chicago, occasionally somewhere in california, and someplace overseas for a few years. i feel parochial in comparison. no one is from DC and i doubt they will stay here longer than 5 years.

but i'm enjoying it. i needed a change of pace and i got it.

hail to the sheep

i usually am amused by the antics of jon stewart and stephen colbert, but today for the first time, i found myself utterly infuriated at their moronic attitudes. listening to them mock the downfall of the bailout plan, i wanted to hurl my tv out the window.

now i had written a rant against idiots and the smug morons who deem themselves intellectuals, and a complaint about the endless blabber i've been hearing from fools who know nothing about the markets pretending that they do, but i'd rather not have such a rancorous piece on my blog. i'll just leave you with this - i want nothing but the best for this country and this is an example of who we have running the show:

“This is a huge cow patty with a piece of marshmallow stuck in the middle of it and I am not going to eat that cow patty,” said Representative Paul Broun, Republican of Georgia [about the bailout plan].

WTF?!

funkyzeit mit L

interesting article: ask the obituary writer for the NYTimes.

i've been listening to this album a lot lately: above & beyond - anjunabeats 100. it's a great trancy comp. my favorite so far is track 1: "black is the colour (coco & green mix)" by cara dillon vs. 2devine. has a fun, playful bassline. also good is "volume one (anjuna deep mix)".

another song i've been enjoying is "choke" by hybrid. it was the song in "the spirit" trailer. sounds industrial though the group specializes in progressive breakbeat. some of their more popular stuff sounds like a mix of orchestra with synths + drum machine. honestly i find it cheesy but everyone else seems to like it. "choke" is pretty good though.

i've also been reading up on bobobo-bo bo-bobo. kind people in taiwan have been adding new scanlations recently.

my friend the witchdoctor

OMG congress needs to approve this bailout plan NOW. i swear that if this deal doesn't go through, the US is screwed. it'll be over. i am not entirely exaggerating when i say that streets will be slick with blood, babies will be devoured, and i will be forced to sleep with a machete under my pillow.

this isn't something that should be delayed. i know people are pissed at wall st. (and at all the regulators b/c it's fair to blame the police for the actions of the criminals, right? note that the regulators didn't cook up this fannie mae debacle), but we're beyond the point of no return. there's nothing good in store for us, but we can limit the damage by acting quickly. the markets overreact and lunge irrationally even based on minor news. with the dire fate of the US looming over us, delay = drop in confidence. we can't afford to let the markets plummet more than before. our economy will tank so no one will lend to us since we can't pay them back, all the liquidity that is the lifeblood of our banks will dry up, interest rates will go through the roof, the value of the dollar will be utterly destroyed, and we're going to have to take a long hard look at our lifestyles and do some reevaluating of our finances. it's not just people on wall st. who will be affected. any american who has to work to get by will suffer.

no more filibustering blabber. congress can bitch about this some other time. right now this has to go through. and right now i need to hide out on a deserted island with a cooler of beer and a PS3 and pretend none of this ever happened.

i leave you with an interesting article from NYT, 1999:

September 30, 1999

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
By STEVEN A. HOLMES

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market." ...

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

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ok instead i will leave you with lighter news: http://dlisted.com/node/28465.

OH YEAH

in other news, johnny depp is playing the mad hatter in tim burton's version of alice in wonderland. one of my favorite actors playing my favorite character in one of my most favorite books... there is some good in this world somewhere.

NOOOOOOOOOO

american psycho: the musical.