Facial Recognition Software

From a recent multi-person correspondence, in which Dynamo was asked about his blog going dark as well as the lapses in his roommate's (mine):

I have a roommate? I've often wondered what the tall white guy was up to on the top floor of the flat; I always figured he was some sorta maintenance guy or something. This information comes as quite a relief as he always seemed to be on an extended break; I'd often find him laid out on the couch in front the tv and eating the food from the fridge!

This explains why he's always asking when things will be fixed and trying to give me money.

An Open Letter

Dear KTMO,

I have seen and heard your complaints about no new material on this blog, and want you to know I understand and share your confusion and frustration. I too have felt betrayed that this blog had stopped putting out revelatory and brilliant posts to amuse it's 5 readers. I too wondered why a blog that clearly has a gift for writing and making people laugh would go on hiatus. Perhaps it was hurt by the lack of reader responses, to the blind eye turned, to the inaction of no comments except by guys trying to sell gucci bags. Perhaps the creative and comedic well that supplies this blog with words, dipped into so frequently, had dried up. Or perhaps the blog just had new commitments and other things to do.

Whatever the case may be, I wanted to let you know we value your customer loyalty and hope we can do right by you. It is people like you, complaining about not being entertained and threatening to do bodily harm to the blog, that motivate us to put out a great product and service. We hope you enjoy the new material and pledge to keep updating you on our life more frequently.

Please feel free to constantly tell us what a great job we're doing and how funny we are, and that all of your hot female friends read this and want to sex the creative mind behind this. A lot. And immediately.

Yours truly,
L Bo

Spheres of Knowledge

I've always thought of myself as intelligent and smart. Mostly because people tell me I'm intelligent and smart, but also because I can fill out over HALF of the Metro crossword on a Monday, which is definitely the hardest day of the week. I surround myself with smart friends, and I only date smart women. Recently, however, I was dating a woman who made me question that fundamental belief in my own intelligence.

Some of my friends know things that I don't, and are really into topics, like computers and computer related stuff, that I'm not and I don't get. For example, there have been many conversations with Dynamo that have gone over my head, like this one, this one, or this one. With this lady, I was sometimes in awe of her intelligence. She seemed to constantly be able to speak intelligently and intellectually about whatever was in front of us, wherever we were. Her expertise, including Judaism, things Jews do and do not do, stuff Jews like, art, history of art, Jewish art and it's place in history, gender roles, sex therapy and gay affirmative therapy, seemed to pop up in everyday life all the time. My spheres of knowledge and expertise, which include the Mets, Thor, Green Lantern, bears, planting tomatoes, solving SAT geometry problems and knowing that cats are B-A-D/fundamentally evil, on the other hand, were not common in everyday life ever. Maybe in the future I'll stay out of gay Jewish art museums and stick to dates at Citi Field with women who work at a zoo.

This Relationship Life: Benefits

Now that I'm in a relationship, I get all the great benefits that come from having a devoted girlfriend. Someone to share new experiences, passions, dreams and other cheesy things with. Someone to give me a massage after lifting 5 times my weight at the gym. Someone to laugh with, or doze off on the couch with on a rainy day. But above all, someone with access to Costco.

More important than pudding, or watching a Mets game with me, I've realized what I was always looking for was a woman with membership to those sacred halls. I was in Costco once, with a former employer, and marveled at the great LCD TV deals they had: buy 4, get 2 free. However, I didn't fully get to appreciate the size of the store, or it's shopping carts, or the people inside, until recently. I saw a man with a double sized shopping cart filled past the brim, which isn't uncommon there. However, the entire cart was devoted to 50 giant-sized boxes of Instant Quaker Oats. Where else will you see dedication to healthy eating like this?

For me, Costco is all about the Skippy peanut butter deal. Two sixty four ounce jars for $8. They must be out their damned minds! Unfortunately, that only lasts me about two weeks, because I'm a glutton. That's fine though, because in two weeks, I can get another 5 pound bottle of honey for .20 cents an ounce less than the supermarket. Comparative shopping and buying in bulk are what keep me happy.

Rihanna, Pt. 4

Dear Rihanna,

You may have noticed I haven't been as attentive towards you recently as you would hope. As you can see from my last post, I currently have a girlfriend. Yea, we're exclusive and stuff. She even wears my promise ring.

However, I think it would be okay if you were to help me, say, combine my two interests.

As always, you know where to reach me.

PS I want to address some rumors you may have heard, spread by pkiller. You are NOT just a fetish.

Speak to you soon,
L Bo

This Dating Life: Series Canceled

Sorry ladies. This Dating Life has been canceled. I have found a lady friend who, against all odds, was not tricked into accepting that role.

Our Story, like any, starts with a beginning very familiar to most. At our first date, she was sick with the plague, but was kind enough not to pass it on to me by standing very far away and not wiping my shirt with her nose. It was attraction at first sight; I knew I had to have that snotty woman. After some great wine, great conversation, and mucus, we both realized what a stud I am and a 2nd date was sure to follow.

Luckily she made a quick recovery and became quite smitten with me when, during my road trip to Colorado, I called from the hotel in Nebraska and enthusiastically exclaimed I wanted to hug a lion. See, I had just seen a commercial for Chronicles of Narnia: CGI Lion Rules the Land, and one of the kids hugged the lion, and I got really excited and realized I was going to the Omaha Zoo the next day where there was sure to be a real lion and...afterwards I realized it was such an adult thing to do.

However, an excess of mucus (seriously...she was plague-y as all hell) is not enough to fully fuel a relationship. An exhibit on Houdini (I know, SUCH a romantic cliche), talk of fighting stances and a shared love of religious zealotry brought us closer. Close encounters with dangerous wild animals at Prospect Park (you do NOT want to get too close to bread a swan wants to eat) led to a budding romance. I know, I know. You've heard it a million times before. Really, just a typical boy meets girl kinda story.

Rihanna, Pt. 3

Dear Rihanna,

Thank you for the Te Amo video. This is one of the greatest things that's ever graced my computer screen. Over and over and over. And over, again.

Sincerely,
L Bo

It's Swedish to Me

From time to time, I like to exercise my reading muscles. This way, I never find myself walking up the down escalator at a department store, because even though it was broken and so it can be used as stairs in either direction, I would have read the "DOWN" and went to the other side, since I wanted to go "UP." Quite helpful.

Recently, and quite accidentally, I've found myself with novels from foreign authors taking place in foreign countries but thankfully written entirely in English. I was able to really get into the Kite Runner, despite many unfamiliar words, places and references to historical events. The story was beautiful and moving, though I think I'd have a hard time watching the movie if some of the more heartbreaking scenes are graphically portrayed. Even though many of the words and ideas were foreign to me, the author did a great job of explaining them, and sprinkled them throughout, giving the book that authentic cultural experience feel.

Before this enlightening read, however, I had tried reading Stiig Laarson's novel "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," but found it really difficult to get into. Everything takes place in Sweden and has a weird name. It's like the Swedish Chef teamed up with IKEA to take me on a verbal tour of Nonsense-Land. I made it 2 pages in and was overwhelmed by the amount of quadruple vowels and letters that have no business being adjacent to each other. It did leave me with a hankering for swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam. Or, just kotbuller and tyttebærsyltetøy* as they'd say in Sweden.

*technically, this is Norwegian, but there's NO way you would have known that without me telling you.

This Dating Life: Tortoises Are NOT Turtles

Sometimes I wonder if I'm too picky when it comes to dating. Perhaps I'm a snob, or I let stupid little things get to me. I screen my dates pretty well, ensuring they can spell, they're over 21, they don't have an Adam's Apple (funny story about that...one of my friends, when much younger, believed it was an item unique to him, in name. His name is Adam, and so he by this logic, I'd have an L Bo's Apple) and they're not interested in my millions. Of imaginary money. Still, sometimes in the middle of a first or second date, they will say something I find difficult to believe, as I considered them intelligent enough to go out with. For example, this woman told me, after my semi-long exaltation of the benefits of heritage animals and heirloom fruit that she didn't know what heirloom meant. I know it was wrong, but it made me think less of her. In the end, it didn't matter anyway.

After much debate back in December, I decided to give another online lady the benefit of the doubt and meet her for a first date. Somehow (as always), animals had come up in our correspondence, and she had this to say about tortoises and turtles: "I confess I don't totally understand what a tortoise is. I imagine them as being slightly less cute [than turtles], but I think that has more to do with children's stories than reality." This might seem insipid, even harmless, but then I got to thinking; what other species of animal would she be unable to identify or would she confuse? What if we were out for a night stroll and she remarked there was a really cute dog following us, and it was in fact a rabid wolf? Or we could be visiting friends who she said have a pet iguana, and in reality it was a tyrannosaurus rex? Thank you for saving my life, paranoia, instincts, and snobbery!

2011

Welcome, 2011! I'm so very glad you could join us, and I'm highly excited for your arrival. There's a great chance you'll be an amazing year!

The Green Lantern movie, which I've been waiting for for 15 years, is finally being made. And though I have questions about it, it's still Green Lantern. Even if the movie sucks, I'll still have a GL movie to watch and complain about. It's like they say, the worst sex is better than no sex. And if it's really that bad, there's still the Thor movie to look forward to. I'm not the biggest fan of 3D, but I pee my pants a little* every time I think about Mjolnir hurtling towards me.

*Not actually what I do, but my mom reads this.

Acronyms Are Fun

Recently I found out Drake, the Degrassi alum, crappy rapper and Lil' Wayne-jock-rider, is actually an acronym. I carefully studied his flow and lyrics, which prove it's possible to be asleep while rapping, in order to decipher his code. It also turns out his slow flow and need to hammer home all metaphors might not be his fault, actually. He's Canadian, and they're about to celebrate a new millennium, though they're quite worried about the Y2k bug. In the end, I realized the secret message buried in the letters was: Dumb Retarded Asshole Killing English.

Half Cocked at the Bar

Congratulations, Arizona, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee! You all voted to make it legal to carry a gun in a bar or restaurant that serves alcohol, and gave me one more reason to never visit.

Some people don't feel comfortable working in such an environment, but that's probably just because they haven't heard all the completely rational arguments:

• The best way to prevent getting shot is to arm everyone (historical fact: the Cold War was awesome, and well thought out. All arms races/weapon stockpiling for deterrence are.)
• “If someone’s sticking a gun in my face, I’m not relying on their charity to keep me alive,” so he should have a gun to protect himself (which came first, the gun in the face or the gun to protect?)
• Gov. Perry of Texas argues that guns should be legal in colleges after a shooting at U. Texas, stating that armed bystanders might have stopped the gunman (or perhaps one of them might have been in the shooter)

Sure, I know you're not supposed to be drinking alcohol while carrying a completely legal gun you have a permit for, but I just don't see that stopping everyone. Guns and alcohol are manly, and why shouldn't they mix? It's obviously safer than drinking and driving, otherwise that'd be legal too. People never go to bars to blow off steam. Historically, bars have allowed patrons to carry guns on them. And it's always worked out. Just ask any Wild West movie.

Guns don't kill people. Drunk people in bars in Arizona, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee who carried their gun in kill people.

Rihanna, Pt. 2

Dear Rihanna (again),

I noticed you haven't agreed to date me. Yet. That might be my fault. I didn't really give a time or place. Or tell you how to reach me. Also, the new wardrobe might have been an excessive request, especially before our first date. Which will be next Saturday. At your house. See you then!

Sincerely,
L Bo

Expendable Plot

I like action movies. It's hard no to. I'm pretty sure it was an evolutionary necessity. Previous to action movies, men were all just a bunch of wusses. Then John Woo started making movies. Men all over the world got excited and machismo flowed through their veins like blood of henchmen in Kill Bill. We were finally able to build up the courage, muscles, fighting skills, absurd weaponry, agility for outrageous stunts and logic that doesn't always make sense. And this was how humankind eventually destroyed the evil dinosaurs.

So it made perfect sense for me to see Expendables, which is possibly the ultimate guy movie. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, the honorable Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Terry Crews (the Old Spice "Building Kick" guy), Randy Couture, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, and maybe other people. Statham is amazing in almost everything, but that's not a good reason to make Crank 2 or Death Race.* Just keep making movies with the exact same plot and action scenes as Transporter 1 and 2. The action movie fan sub species seemed fairly hyped for the first ever time Sly, Bruce and Ah-nald shared the screen, but it was over in 2 minutes and boring.

Strangely enough, that's not my only criticism of this movie. It seemed that rather than hire writers, or even a single writer, to make a script that made sense and had a plot, Stallone decided to let all the "actors" make their own "plots." This must've made sense at the time for two reasons. First off, after hiring all of these action stars and treating his face like Mr. Potato Head, Sly probably had no money for writers. Secondly, everyone is familiar with the old saying "Too many chefs makes the soup delicious and even Oscar worthy." This led to lots of plot threads for each character and a twist that everyone saw coming and nobody cared about. Still, without this movie, I'd never know how to infiltrate any Third World Countries, and it's possible we'd all be speaking dinosaur now.

*Or even Crank, really. That movie was no good.

Life is Like a Box of RPGs

Not the rocket-propelled grenades, but the Role-Playing Games. Yes, I play some. Yes, I'm a bit of a dork, and I'm ok with that. Once I realized that many RPGs allow you to befriend bears or dragons, I was hooked. I draw the line at things like Magic: The Gathering, and I don't play World of Warcraft (but nor do I mock it). I recently got hooked on Dragon Age: Origins, which features many customizable characters who will join your party, including an intelligent, but non-speaking dog, a drunk dwarf and a sexy witch. One of the main aspects of these games is completing quests, which are divided into essential ones which advance the main story line, and side-quests, which you obtain by making conversation choices with characters you come across. Often times, you're forced to return to characters several times and make decisions as you pick up new information.

After playing the game for many hours over many days, I started to see my life as an RPG. Two relatives of mine were having issues with each other, and I accidentally got caught in the middle. After speaking with one, I went to the other, and heard a different side of it. It became a "he said, she said" situation, but with grown-ups. Luckily, my orb of truth was able to reveal any lies, so I transformed into a spirit wolf or some shit and attacked with my sword, Fangs of Carnage. Problem resolved.

I Can Trick a Twelve Year Old

When asked about how old I was in my SHSAT test prep class, I apparently told one of the girls 55. I say apparently, because I don't always listen to what I say. Additionally, I don't remember doing that, because it's a brush off answer, and 26 years in the future. However, when other girls in the class asked me, this girl said "Oh, he's 55," and then got flustered when I denied that outrageous lie. "But that's what you told me," she whined back.

When I finally admitted I was born in 1981, she confidently yelled out "AHA! You're 31!"

I apparently need to focus more on the math section of the test.

This Dating Life: More or Less

Okcupid.com has a feature that lists people who are similar to the profile you're checking out, with some quick thoughts on how the new person stacks up. Some I've noticed recently are similar, less spiritual, less kinky, messier, and more mathematical. This frees up a lot of possibilities. I'm so used to going on dates and thinking to myself, I like you, but I'd like you even more if you were less spiritual. Let's see....NoLoveForGod83 is looking pretty good. And finally, I have a quick way to find an atheist who likes calculators more than washing her hair or sex!

Waiting for Superman

Davis Guggenheim's exploration into our failing/failed educational system was an interesting documentary which raised many questions and had me thinking after (unlike Inception. Just saying.) Waiting for "Superman" follows 4 families in their quest to win the lottery so their children can go to a charter school, which are considered better, with almost no reason or stats given for why. There are plenty of poor man Monty Python-esque animations, which add some levity to an otherwise serious subject. The old thought that bad neighborhoods were responsible for bad schools is overturned, as Guggenheim postulates that bad schools cause dropouts, and with nothing to do all day, teens turn to crime and drugs. The teachers union is mostly villainized, with tenure being cited as a huge cause for sub-par teachers continuing to teach.

Without a doubt, this was a supremely entertaining movie which calls into question many of our current assumptions and shows that even schools in rich neighborhoods don't always properly prepare students with a great education. However, there were many flaws in the film. Not everything was addressed that could have been, and there were clear shortcomings. Unsubstantiated claims about success rates, arguments made without supporting stats, a less than objective view (without clear cut protagonists or antagonists), and an unsatisfactory ending (the rich white teen got into her lottery school, while the 3 minority kids, who were all easier to root for, didn't have their names called) were just some of the problems. The biggest one? Why was Green Lantern not in the movie?

This Dating Life: Oh, This is Your Apartment?

On a third date recently, I inadvertently (or unintentionally, if you prefer) walked my date back to her apartment. I knew it was her apartment because we stopped what I had assumed was our aimless walking, and also because she said "This is my apartment, in case you were wondering why we stopped walking." I had no problem with the walk home; we were close by, and I was going to offer to do it anyway. This just seemed like a strange way, a request-less transport. Our second date had went really well, and the third seemed to build on that. At this point, I was expecting an invite up for dessert (or, you know, maybe S-E-X), but unfortunately, that didn't happen. After some good night "discussions", she told me what a great time she had and how courteous, charming, gentlemanly and handsome I was and retreated to bed. I was left wondering why it was so difficult to gain access to a woman's apartment, and not in a creepy burglar or stalker way. Is there a magic password, like Pee-Wee Herman's word of the day?

A Joke

What's black and yellow all over, stings your ears and lasts too long? If you thought the punchline to this joke was a bee on Viagra, you'd be wrong, because the joke is Wiz Khalifa's song "Black and Yellow" and the punchline is, with this chorus, it still gets airtime.
"I put it down from the whip
To the diamonds I'm in
Black and yellow, black and yellow
Black and yellow, black and yellow."