J & Z

Wal-Muck

I have an ax to grind with Wal-Mart. Admittedly, I don’t shop at Wal-Mart. This is due because I live in a progressive town that keeps the retail giant outside the city limits.  Most of my impressions from Wal-Mart has been what I’ve read: the low wage employees, the dismantling of small businesses and the crimes committed in the parking lots.

Also, the Walton family-despite having the biggest corporation in the world– is not the most generous. In the recent Business Week, they are ranked #6 on the top 50 American Philanthropists list.  However, if you read closely, their lifetime giving percentage of their net worth is only 2%. Warren Buffet has given 82% and Bill Gates has given 48%.

The recent death of the Wal-Mart employee in New York has increased my disdain for the store.

Granted, the greed that was originating from the crowd is mostly culpable for this unnecessary tragedy. Yet, it is Wal-Mart’s responsibility to control the crowd at its stores. Numbers or passes should have been handed out before the store opened. An orderly line should have been made. Best Buy handed out tickets an hour before opening its doors, why can’t the world’s leading retailer do the same thing?

If there was ever an evil corporation, Wal-mart is it.

Let Barack Be Barack

Now that President-Elect Obama is a couple of months from taking office, the media is deep into speculation mode. I’ve read comparisons to Reagan, F.D.R. and even Lincoln. I know that President-Elect Obama has changed the political landscape and that we live in a world where hyperbole is the norm, but to make such comparisons is simply unfair. I hope that our next President is unaware of these comparisons, or takes little regard. Barack Obama was simply himself during the Presidential campaign and was successful, let’s hope he can run the country in the same fashion.

Excuses for my Absense

Like a lot of blogs these days, this one has been neglected. Usually, if I don’t blog it will be a couple of weeks, but I’ve been engaged in other activities that I’ve put the writing part of my life on hiatus. So like all good excuse makers, I’m going to spend this particular blog giving a brief synopsis of what I found interesting in the past couple of months.

PROJECT:I’m finished with my calendar. This project took longer than I anticipated but it’s pretty much done.

POLITICS: I volunteered for the Democratic Party. This does not mean I’ll be a life-long Democrat; I still hold true to many Conservative beliefs. In the end though, I decided to volunteer because I couldn’t wait idly until election day. The Democrats have lost 7 out of the last 10 Presidential elections, so now is the time for change.

BOOKS: I read Alan Moore’s acclaimed graphic novel Watchmen and it was a mind-blowing experience. The content and the themes are so rich that I felt like I was reading a piece of literature.

GAMES: I got my Burnout License in Burnout Paridise; now working on my Elite License. I did some of the Halloween stuff with my Warlock in WOW and leveled my Paladin to level 25.

So there you have it. Hopefully my next post won’t take so long.

Books: Candy Girl by Diablo Cody

Books have become one of those luxuries that I have little time for these days. With a full time job, freelancing obligations and other choices of entertainment, reading has become less and less of a priority. However, I am making an effort to continue to read even if it isn’t as much as before; back in 2004, I think I read over thirty books.

My reading tastes have changed also. Fiction just doesn’t have that same spice that it used to have for me. This is probably because I was so displeased with the last Harry Potter book that I now have grown a distrust with most fiction writers.

With that being said, the latest book I’ve finished is Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody. She is the Oscar winning writer of one of my favorite films last year, Juno. And yes, she strutted naked down the cat walk before gracing the red carpets of Hollywood. How far she has come.

The strip clubs that Cody danced at were not high class places where the security was tight and clientele were big shot executives. No, no. She took her clothes off in places that harbored misfits, scum and perverts–far from glitz of California. As she wrote in the opening of her book: “Nobody comes to Minnesota to take their clothes off, at least as far as I know.”

The memoir is not a tale about survival or means to an end. Cody was employed at an ad agency before deciding to take her clothes off. Her decision was completely her own, much like her character Juno. For anybody who watched Juno and enjoyed Cody’s witty writing is in for the same treat with this book.

2009 Calendar Project

All apologies for my lack of posting. I’ve been busy working on a calendar. The image here is the under sketch for February. So far I have five months sketched out. I’ll keep you guys posted on further developments.

Level 70! For the Horde!

I apologize for not writing. Lately, my time has been devoted to WOW. Happily though, my Undead Warlock has hit that magic number of 70. Yes, I am a big boy now in the land of MMORPG’s. I look forward to ganking some Alliance ass on the field of battle. For the horde!

Dream Ticket and the Fantasy Ticket

Three months ago, I would have said that an Obama-Clinton or a Clinton-Obama ticket would be a dream ticket. Now, it would be a nightmare. I have to agree with Jimmy Carter that having Hillary Clinton on the Democratic ticket would be a mistake.

Obama would appear weak if he were to cave under the pressure and put Hillary Clinton on as his running mate. The Obama camp has made it clear that they have no interest in working with the Clintons. This is a test for Obama. His leadership will be questioned if he simply appeased his party rather than doing what he’d like.

The Republicans will rally to stop Hillary. Right now, the die-hard Conservatives are in a state of indifference when it comes to John McCain. Add Hillary to the equation and you add more votes for McCain.

Hillary Clinton is eliminated as a running mate. Besides, she hasn’t even conceded yet as of this time. Why does it take her DAYS to admit defeat. The New England Patriots went back to the locker room after the Superbowl, why can’t she?

Thinking outside the box (and maybe outside reality), I suggest that Al Gore be Barack Obama’s running mate. Yes, Al Gore; the man who lost the Presidency because of the system that we have in place, the man who won the popular vote against George Bush and the man who is revered among all Liberals. What I’m proposing of course is fantasy league but the two of them together would be devastating to the opposing party.

If it were an Obama-Gore ticket, Chris Matthews from MSNBC would ejaculate in his pants. And then the Clintons would immediately switch parties.

Illustration Friday: Worry

I made this for Illustration Friday. I wanted an eviction notice on the wall next to the “Dear John” letter, but I only thought of it after I finished inking. I’m not planning on participating in this week’s IF (unless it’s a really good topic); I’ve got other drawings to finish. So far, out of the three illustrations that I’ve done for IF, this is my favorite.

Illustration Friday: Wide