like throwing rocks at a funeral.

Last night's smoke-out at Stub and Herb's was excellent. My eyes are still watering. Wore my smoking jacket and touted the ol' tobacco cannon (pipe) for most of the night. MacKinney took pictures, but the goon didn't manage to get me and my debonair in any of them. It was a worthy last stakeout, though. No more Minneapolis bars for me.

Work has been interesting. Good chance that an interesting change may be up for me in the near bit. I will dump it here when I know.

Been tossing the lasso out to a few different Yahoo Group lists on what I hope will be a convening of Minnesota 3rd parties (LP, CP, GP, IP) against draconian, discriminative ballot access laws and the current 'winner-take-all' electoral casting in MN. Let me know who is interested in helping, 3rd party or not.

Thursday is better than nothing.
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

Too angry for words...

I can't even talk about it.

I hope all, if not most of you are signed up for the 2005 LPMN State Convention--Saturday, 04/09/05. Do do do do.

Reg borrowed me Deadwood, Season 1. Definitely a good find--entertainment abundant.

Nate, Dan, Corey, and Ryan are moving to a new practice space this coming Saturday, and poker night is bound to be a bonanza. Aside from tomorrow night's smoke out, this week couldn't crawl any slower.

smoking about smoking,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

You should have been there.

Good turnout last night, but not quite as rowdy as earlier apartment complex parties. I picked up a twelve pack of Newcastle and a .750 of Chivas--Kari and I got to ground zero around 9:45, and in a slow-motion moment which will haunt me for months, the Chivas box slipped and pivoted in her hand, the integrity of the bottle not surviving the pavement. Well, there goes a few months of 'one for my homies'. From arrival to 3 a.m., Clint & Will, of course, Nate, Dan, MacKinney, Ryan, Andy & Angie, Reg (Vegas Pelowski--he'd been MIA for months), Bonnie, and probably about 20 or 25 more who I can't recall...good audience, really. Pictures pending--left the camera at Will's--but I only think I took a small handful of shots early in the night, all before the crowd punctured.

Started reading Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver today. This one is going to take a while.

Watching movies with the dame tonight, and tomorrow we're celebrating the resurrection of the jeebus with a few afternoon drinks somewhere Irish--Kari, Nate, myself, and whoever else bids.

the resurrection of Brenn,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

It's like this...see?

Not much passed this week, but the atom bomb is coming. Will/Clint Apartment Complex Party tomorrow--Friday. Make sure to cast me a note if you're interested.

Wednesday, 03/30/05, being the last day to smoke in a bar in Hennepin County, there is a smoke-out party to give a big STFU to fascism. It is also a tribute to bar-owner Sue Jeffers, who has been integral in the crusade against bigoted smoking bans. Stub & Herb's, daddy--make sure to make a presence.

Smith has been tearin' it up, as always. This post is probably one of my favorites.

AND--lucky me, that it is barely outside of the frame of X-Fest (if X-Fest is happening this year), Porcupine Tree is doing a show at The Fineline on Sunday, 05/29/05. I am shaking with it.

it is Thursday and I am here,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

Shovel into the murk.

Sporting a new links list on the right. Check it, and see.

Weekend was a spike. As you had heard about Saint Pat's Day in my previous, I lounged and read all day Friday. Saturday, though, after a brief meeting with the LPMN Convention Committee, poker night went into full swing, with Luke, MacKinney (with a *new* blog!), Bonk (Chopsy), and our new friend, "Drunk Andy", who has one of the most subtle, admirable senses of humor we've had around. The Poker Council has issued an edict for his return. Don't ask my questions about the pictures unless you have to. Good times were had by all, except for an early-withdraw on behalf of Chopsy, who we redubbed Schnappsy for the evening.

And Sunday, I read, in conjunction with overhearing a loud "domestic" through the cement of my ceiling, before the arrival of the Kari. Too euphoric for Armored Fire.

I had fierce cravings for Refused's "The Shape of Punk to Come" this weekend--I had lost the CD two X-Fests ago--but could only find "Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent". Still an excellent album, but more hardcore than prog, and you all should know how I feel about prog.

Thank heavens for the apparent backing-down of the Federal judge hearing the stupid Schiavo case. Where doesn't Congress think it can stick its nose?

On a rant: Kari mentioned on Sunday that she'd had a Sixpence None the Richer song stuck in her head...
"Something like 'don't sleep it's over'?"
"...I haven't heard that band since the last bad cover they made hit off of...'Don't Dream It's Over' was a hit in the 80's." (I later found Crowded House on the AMG, but could play the song in my head at whim.)
It makes me boil, steam, and evaporate that bands without a foothold of reputation, musicianship, talent, or skill, while maybe "inadvertently", score hits off of other people's songs when they can't shit themselves a tolerable turd. Now we've got all of these Dawson's Creek-watching droolers who giggled and ran rampant over this song, not even knowing that the song was a hit twenty damned years ago (if you've heard them both, they sound relatively the same--aside from the original being sung by a British guy and the latter a warbling harpy). I'd elaborate more, but you probably don't want to hear it.

put up 'dem dukes,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

lurch

Kari's back in town, and Dan, Will, and myself went out last night--to the AQ and to the Great Waters Brewery. I didn't think we were going to close anything out, but of course, we did. Politcitcal theory discussion was rampant. In the meantime, I haven't done a damned thing today.

Poker night on Saturday, Armored Fire on Sunday. No more nihil, here.

The pick is sunk deeper and deeper into The Fountainhead. I would have plugged it before, but I plug it even more. Put it on your list!

For some strange reason, Congress thinks it has something to do with MLB. Being an American pastime, maybe Congress should just socialize and nationalize it, eh? Good news is always few and far between. What kind of a crash does it take for people to realize that 'problems' are not 'solved' by legislation?

let the weekend begin,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

uhnstappable?

Dug my talons deep into The Fountainhead, today. I am embarrassed that I hadn't started reading it until now. On the topic of books, which I seem to be frequently on, if you're one of those suckers who was ever weaseled into reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code--another "Blink-182 of literature"--do yourself a favor and redeem yourself with Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. It was ten times better the first time it was written.

Kari is finally coming back to town tomorrow. Maybe I won't be so pissed off, and I will actually have something to do. Regretfully, though, I may have to leave her here for a bit, as Dan and I have an engagement for drinks. Haven't decided where, yet, but chance has it that we will avoid Irish bars for the night.

A blast from the past. "I hate you, Milkman Dan."

knock before you open,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

ya hear me?!

A nihil weekend. Seemed like a blaze on the junk, but junk-lite.

Sunday, though--Sunday. Met up with Dan (and Chris, his little brother) in the early afternoon. Made a round to Armored Fire and shot worse than I did two weeks ago. Loaded up on coffee and hydro and pizza at J's. Classic. Dan and I later met up with Nate and Ryan at the practice space, and I came back to the apartment to clean guns and not get any sleep.

It sounds a great deal less interesting than it was. Either way, I have to kill time until Thursday when Kari gets back. Luck has it, though, that I have work, the LP, and Luke. ::looks at watch:: hrm.

meet you at the bottom,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

are we there yet?

Been trying to find someone to come to Armored Fire with me since I've been out of bed. Kari is working until ten, tonight. May put it off until tomorrow, but I've got a ton of LP stuff going on tomorrow afternoon or evening.

"LP stuff." Convention prep has been madness. Especially Corey's new direct mailing rush.

You may surprised that I am up and about as early as three p.m. on a Saturday, but I did sleep through the vast majority of Friday. Without exaggeration. I'll find something to burn the day away.

sing it for me,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

REPENT

Not an exciting week, but a fairly quick one. I am commemorating the passing of the weekdays by taking Friday off.

When and if I have a son, and he eats during class in grade school, and is asked by the teacher "Did you bring enough for everybody, little Ragnar?" he will be conditioned to reply, "There is a vending machine in the cafeteria, you dirty socialist."

Ever since Cha'Perkins' significant other, Anna, finished Atlas Shrugged, he reports that she has been more of a cocky bearcat, and he is fixed to read it before he is predisposed to hating it (salute to Anna. The book was one of my rites of passages). The book will do that to you. Start reading it now if you haven't yet.

I am hammered into Burroughs' Junkie.

Read and watch t3h Hannah.

gazing far into the voyage of tonight,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

please excuse me

The weekend is good and flatlined, and all-too-much got done. The skirt and I went by Villa Roma pizza on West 7th on Friday. Their pizza is sub-par, but their calzones are probably the best I have had. Open 'til three, too...make sure to make it a stop if you're ever barhopping on that side of town.

Picked up a couple hundred rounds of target ammo at Fleet Farm ($9/box of 50...good sale) on Saturday afternoon before going LP flyering with MacKinney, Corey, and Bonk--after a transportation debacle, we finally congregated at my apartment for a good-sized party/poker tournament/regular poker night which, once again, went well into the morning. Always a heck of a time. I need to be reminded to take pictures of more of this business.

On Sunday I was a smear of a man. Didn't make it to Armored Fire, and Kari and I slept after she got back from work.

Finished The Black Arrow today. I am sorry to say that my review may be a bit scathing, but most of you should know me as a puckered sphincter when it comes to literature by now. The characters are harder to empathize with when it comes to emotions and reactions than in Rand's Atlas Shrugged, though luckily Suprynowicz doesn't hide the fact that his book could be considered "comic-booky". The characters don't manage to have a whole lot of personality depth, despite sufficient character sketches when it comes to appearance and background. When it comes to trying to consider this book a quality piece of literature, I can't. What the book is, though, is action-packed, and on an entertainment level I could not set it down. It is easy to picture the US in the 2030 state the book is set in, under the current rate our government is expanding in, but it isn't as timeless as Orwell's 1984. If any of you are looking for an entertaining, angry, Libertarian revolutionary (the time for talking is over, the time for shooting has begun), then I'd suggest it. Who else could justify a brutal neck-breaking of a poor little TSA peon in a couple paragraphs?

back to the monotony of the workweek,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus

Doomed from day one.

So we're throwing an LPMN fundraiser this coming Saturday--a 50/50 7-card stud tournament. All who may be interested between now and then, make sure you wave a flag at me. Room will be extremely limited.

"Act now! Act now! And receive our gift, our gift to you..."

Nothing new. Nothing of any newsness at all.

Watch Sockbaby, damnit.

sip after sip before the forfeit,
-Brenn
hadesraze-at-hadesraze.com
aim: hadesraze
yim: hadesrazeus